by Tara Gavin, Senior Executive Editor
I’m so excited that Diana Palmer has written Dangerous—and that I’ve been the first person to read it (other than DP, of course)! The book is wonderfully sexy and emotional—and Kilraven is one of my favorite Diana Palmer heroes ever. I’ve been waiting for his story since he first appeared in Fearless. He just jumped out of the pages, and caught at my heart.
Dangerous is the conclusion of a mystery that Diana has had brewing in her mind for a couple of books now. There have been some violent murders in Jacobsville lately, and Kilraven, along with lovely Winnie Sinclair (remember her from Heart of Stone?), are actively involved in trying to solve them. The investigation leads back to another unsolved cold case—the deaths of Kilraven’s own family. There is a lot of surprises in store for Kilraven and Winnie, as well as for Diana Palmer readers! And there’s a lot of very steamy romance…
Dangerous marks a milestone for Diana Palmer. She has written over 130 stories for Harlequin, Silhouette, Mira, HQN, Luna and Steeple Hill. She has over 86 million books in print. I’ve been her editor for 26 years, and she is a joy to work with. She is a born storyteller. When I first met Diana, it was in Atlanta, many years ago. Her son Blayne was just a little boy of about seven or eight. He was so cute, but like any youngster, he began fussing a bit at the table when we were at dinner. To occupy him, Diana started to tell him a story about fish and their lives and friends in the water. Well, when she was finished with the story, I almost burst out, “What happened to the fishes then?”
A couple of weeks ago, Diana and I were talking about Dangerous and Kilraven and Winnie. She told me she started to cry when Kilraven finally came to terms with the murder of his family. It is a very emotional part of the story, and I felt deeply moved by Kilraven’s courage in facing his demons. I also told Diana that I loved how Winnie grew through the book. She is shy and gentle, and somewhat intimidated by the world, although she is an expert at her job. Through Kilraven, she learns to stand up for herself and is able to shine as she should. There is a great deal of danger that she must go through during the course of the story, and Winnie saves the day!
Within the story, too, is a twist that I think readers will enjoy. The proposed villain of the story just refused to be a villain, Diana told me. When it came time for the murderer to be revealed as she was writing it, he just said, “no, I didn’t do it.” So Diana had to go back in the story and find the real killer—which I think makes the book even more exciting. I hope that you do, too.
Diana Palmer is dedicated to her readers, as we all are here at Harlequin Books. She tries in her Dear Reader letters to thank readers for all their good wishes throughout the years. So, I hope that I can join in with Diana, and thank all of her wonderful readers, as well. Thank you for all these years of books, reading and romance!
Editor’s Note: Dangerous goes onsale at eHarlequin on June 1. ‘Til then, check out the Browse the Book widget below for a preview of Fearless, where you first meet Kilraven, which is onsale in print and ebook format today!
