White Lies (Arcane Society Series #2)

by Jayne Ann Krentz, Kathy Garver (Read by), David Colacci (Read by)

Overview

Relationships are challenging enough for most single over-thirty women. For level ten parasensitive Clare Lancaster, they're a minefield. The elite few who know her secret call her a human lie detector, and any falsehood, no matter how subtle or well hidden, sets her blood racing. Over the years, Clare has come to accept that someone with her extraordinary talents is unlikely to find a suitable mate. And she's even resigned herself to the fact that everyone, to one degree or another, hides behind a façade.

Including her recently deceased brother-in-law. When Clare finds the body of Brad McAllister, the golden child of Stone Canyon, Arizona, the posh residents turn a suspicious eye in her direction. As Archer Glazebrook's daughter, Clare is shielded from the law, but not the gossip. It seems that meeting the half sister and family whom she did not know until seven months ago was a mistake. Now her father summons her from California to play a role in his business empire, and Clare doesn't intend on making the same mistake twice. But after meeting Jake Salter, Archer's "business consultant," she is convinced that things aren't what they seem. Salter's careful conversation walks a delicate line between truth and deception, revealing and resisting. Something sparks and sizzles between them - something more than the usual electricity between a man and a woman.

Caught in a dizzying storm of secrets, lies, and half-truths, Jake and Clare will plunge into an investigation that demands every bit of their special gifts. Together, they must overcome their mutual distrust in order to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469270944
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	01/01/2013
Series:	Arcane Society Series , #2
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.00(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Jayne Ann Krentz is the author of fifty New York Times bestsellers. She has written contemporary romantic suspense novels under that name, as well as futuristic and historical romance novels under the pseudonyms Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick, respectively. She lives in Seattle.

Hometown:

Seattle, WA

Place of Birth:

San Diego, CA

Education:

BA in History, University of California at Santa Cruz, MA in Librarianship from San Jose State University (California)

Website:

http://www.krentz-quick.com

Interviews

Heart to Heart Interview with Jayne Ann Krentz

Heart to Heart: It's a brilliant idea to come up with an organization -- the mysterious Arcane Society -- that can become the focal point for both your Amanda Quick historicals and Jayne Ann Krentz contemporaries. How did you come up with that? What are the challenges in developing the two time eras?

Jayne Ann Krentz: I'm so glad you love the idea because I am absolutely enthralled by it. I can't begin to tell you how much fun I am having with this series. The Arcane Society, a secretive group devoted to paranormal research, makes an ideal backdrop for the kind of story I love to do most: romantic suspense with a psychic twist. Each novel will feature a different hero and heroine, and each will stand alone and can be read on its own. However readers who take up the series under both my Quick and Krentz names will get to discover all sorts of interesting stuff about the Arcane Society, past and present.

HtoH: Tell us about your interest in the world of paranormal/psychic research. For your Amanda Quick titles, certainly we saw that element in Wait Until Midnight, then fully developed in Second Sight, the first Arcane Society title.

JAK: I should probably explain first that, as a writer, I draw a bright line between the psychic stuff and the supernatural. The Arcane Society books fall squarely into the psychic category. I see the paranormal talents of my characters as extensions of natural human intuition -- not magic; not supernatural. My characters' psychic abilities tend to cause them a lot of trouble. But they also add an intriguing twist when it comes to the romantic relationships in my books -- and if you read me, you know that there is always a strong romance at the heart of all my books.

HtoH: We love your main character in White Lies -- Clare Lancaster, a Level 10 parasensitive, a virtual human lie detector, who can't get a date. And the only guy who might interest her is working undercover, and she's the only one who could tell. What are some of your favorite scenes with this couple?

JAK: Poor Clare. What guy wants to date a woman who knows for sure he's lying when he says he'll call? But the hero of White Lies, Jake Salter, has a few unusual psychic quirks, too. One thing he can't resist is a challenge, and Clare is definitely a challenge. I had a lot of fun with the swimming pool scene. Clare has never gone skinny-dipping at night but Jake talks her into it. After all, the pool lights are all off. Turns out that Jake can see in the dark….

HtoH: What's coming up in 2007 -- for Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick, and Jayne Castle? Can we expect more Arcane Society titles?

JAK: The next Amanda Quick is The River Knows. It is not an Arcane Society novel. Not every book will be an Arcane book. The River Knows features a heroine with a secret past that could get her killed. I'm going to wait and see how readers respond before I decide how far to take the Arcane books. As for the next Jayne Castle, it will be another book in my Ghost Hunter series. The heroine is in desperate need of a bodyguard who can double as a date for her sister's wedding. There is also another heroic dust-bunny named Araminta.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
The mysterious Arcane Society, first introduced in Amanda Quick's Victorian thriller Second Sight, takes center stage again in this contemporary romantic paranormal thriller by Jayne Ann Krentz. Her main character, Society member Clare Lancaster, is a Level 10 parasensitive. This means she's a virtual human lie detector, a talent that makes her a very bad blind date -- but she's also the only one to believe that the husband of her half sister, Elizabeth, was really abusive. Having saved Elizabeth, Clare begins to get to know her very wealthy biological father, Archer Lancaster, who summons her to the family estate in Arizona. Tensions begin to swirling when Elizabeth's husband is murdered, and both Elizabeth and Clare become suspects. When Clare meets her father's associate, the very alpha, very mysterious Jake Salter, she knows right away he is not who he pretends to be. Jake, on the track of a mysterious Arcane Society cabal, finds it most inconvenient to be attracted to the very woman who can blow his cover. Their instant chemistry and their psychic talents take them into dangerous territory, both in and out of the bedroom. You may never feel relaxed at a spa again. Ginger Curwen

This spirited paranormal romance is the latest in Krentz's Arcane Society series (which includes some novels, like the recent Second Sight, written as Amanda Quick). Clare Lancaster, like her parents and grandparents, is a member of the clandestine Arcane Society, an association of parasensitives who are dedicated to the study of the paranormal. Clare's extraordinary abilities as a human lie detector make even other paranormals uneasy, with the exception of her half-sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth's troubled marriage brings Clare to Arizona and into the family circle. There, Clare finally meets Archer Glazebrook, her biological father, but she also meets Jake Salter, another highly talented parasensitive who turns out to be on assignment from Jones & Jones (the investigative arm of the Arcane Society) to track down a possible plot to take over the society. The cabal he's after has some connection to the still-unsolved murder of Clare's objectionable brother-in-law months before. More murders follow, and Jake and Clare have to work together to save themselves and the society. Krentz delivers another evocative romance, complete with engaging dialogue and explicit sex scenes, but the real meat of the plot concerns the sleuthing: that a charismatic alpha male finally meets his mate is icing on another densely plotted Krentz confection. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Claire Lancaster has had an interesting year, having discovered that she is the daughter of Archer Glazebrook, owner of a huge corporate empire in Arizona. She meets her half-sister Elizabeth and determines that Elizabeth's husband, Brad, is trying to kill his wife. Yet it is Brad who ends up dead, with Claire discovering the body and being accused of his murder. Though she is never charged and returns to her home in California, she loses her fiancé and her job when word gets out. Now Archer has called Claire back to Arizona to ask her to chair his new charitable foundation. Little does Claire know that she is stepping into a new adventure that leads to additional murders, a conspiracy, and the love of her life, Jake Salter. This book is part of Krentz's Arcane Society series, where the characters have paranomal powers. Claire is a natural lie detector and Jake a hunter, with skills they both use to solve the various murders and discover the plans of the Cabal, an organization that wants to destroy the society. Kathy Garver and David Colacci do a masterly job of reading, alternating chapters while acting out the various parts. Some may find it disconcerting; others will enjoy the idea. For public library romance collections and libraries where Krentz has a following.
—Danna Bell-Russel

Library Journal

A wealthy family of Arizona paranormals wrestles with the murder of one of its favorite sons, in Krentz's latest standardized romance-suspense hybrid (All Night Long, 2006, etc.). The Glazebrooks are a family of psychics-each ranking higher or lower on the Jones Scale of the Arcane Society, an organization devoted to psychic and paranormal research. Six months ago, Clare Lancaster, the highest ranker on the Jones Scale, was sought out by her stepsister Elizabeth for help with her abusive marriage. Clare and Elizabeth, who share the same father, met for the first time-Clare's mother had an affair with Arizona businessman Archer Lancaster more than 30 years ago, and Clare never knew him growing up. After the two met, Elizabeth's princely husband, Archer's colleague Bradley McAllister, was murdered, and Clare was roundly blamed because she meddled in his and Elizabeth's marriage. Now it's July, and Clare has been summoned by the patriarch to the Stone Canyon, Ariz., family estate to discuss her taking over a new charitable foundation Archer wants to establish. Soon, Clare meets Jake Salter, the seemingly plain but sharp-eyed private investigator for the Jones & Jones firm hired independently by Archer and the Arcane Society. In fact, the elusive Jones & Jones firm's main task is to guard the founder's psychic formula, which apparently transforms its users into "ruthless, psychically enhanced, highly unstable sociopaths." While Clare, the human lie-detector, swoons over Jake, who has misrepresented his psychic abilities in order to work undercover, and the two delve deeper into Brad's shadowy dealings, Clare is attacked by Brad's deranged-by-grief, alcoholic mother, Valerie Shipley. Thepsychic edge intrigues, but the effect is diffused in this small society of sameness.

Kirkus Reviews

Whether the plots are contemporary, historical or futuristic, Krentz delivers the punch her readers are looking for, with imaginative story lines, strong characters, intriguing plot twists and plenty of hot romantic chemistry.”—The Seattle Times
 
“Krentz adds an intriguing paranormal twist to her already irresistible, deliciously dry humor.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“Krentz delivers another evocative romance…[a] densely plotted Krentz confection.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“This lively romance with a paranormal touch has the potential to appeal to Krentz’s fans across the board…Compelling and well done.”—Library Journal
 
“A seductive, sharply witty, and paranormal-flavored thriller in which she deftly infuses an expertly crafted plot with sizzling sexual chemistry between two intriguing protagonists to create another of her supremely addictive tales of romantic suspense.”—Booklist

“Intriguing suspense and captivating romance expertly crafted by Jayne Ann Krentz.”—The State (Columbia, SC)

From the Publisher

In this Arcane Society novel, human lie detector Clare Lancaster comes under suspicion for murder. Romantic sparks fly when Jake Salter, an agent for Jones & Jones, meets Clare and finds her a fascinating but infuriating distraction to his mission. The story is typical Krentz—great fun—but the presentation is not. David Colacci's voice work is perfect, but Kathy Garver's is both poorly cast and irritating. Her character accents aren't consistent, and she runs out of breath and drops her voice repeatedly. Furthermore, she makes little differentiation between narrative and characterization. There is even a noticeable difference in the volume of the two narrators' mikes in the first part of the story. All in all, one to skip. A.C.P. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2008 - AudioFile