The Chilling Deception - a Guinevere Jones novel (Book 2)

I hope this series does not make the same mistake Moonlighting and Remington Steele did back in the '80s.  Part of the attraction for both of those shows was the sexual tension between the two lead characters, with the constant question of "will they?" or "won't they?"  The moment the writers put the leads together in a relationship, the shows faltered and were ultimately cancelled (and while I'm sure there were other reasons for the cancellation as well, I believe a big part of it was removing that tension).  With the Guinevere Jones series, a large chunk of the enjoyment in the first book was how reminiscent it was of the early seasons of both Moonlighting and Remington Steele.  The female and male leads clearly had some attraction, but they were also always at odds with one another, having completely different styles for getting their jobs done.  This is exactly what author Jayne Castle has crafted here with Guinevere Jones and Zachariah Justis.  I just hope this book is not the beginning of the end for that relationship...

 

The Chilling Deception takes place some weeks after the events of the first book. Zac is between jobs in his security business, but Guinevere has a rather posh position as a temporary secretary for Edward Vandyke, the owner and founder of Vandyke Development.  But Gwen is concerned something is off with her boss.  He has been overly concerned about an upcoming business deal and trusts no one around him.  He has also been fighting with his wife, and he has shown signs of agitation and nervousness.  The final straw for Gwen is when she finds a gold-plated gun in Vandyke's personal executive restroom just off of his office.  Something is amiss, and she is concerned for the man.  So, when he asks her to go to the San Juan Islands for the final business meeting that will seal the deal with Washburn, she convinces him to hire Zac for his security, to protect the briefcase that contains all of his important papers for the deal.  Zac is hesitant at first, but the thought of a weekend on an island with Guinevere is too much temptation to say no.

 

Castle (also known as Jayne Ann Krentz) builds the mystery rather slowly.  Guinevere and Zac make the trip to the San Juan Islands with Vandyke, with Zac set up in a room next to Vandyke, and Gwen in a room further down the hall.  It's apparent from the get-go that Vandyke is concerned about more than just the papers in his briefcase, since he fairly well demands Zac remain close to him at all times.  They begin to suspect he fears someone may be targeting him.  Is the business deal really so important that someone would want to kill him?  Only one way to find out, Zac reasons, so he opens the briefcase - and inside, he and Gwen find a flight log for one of Vandyke's business planes from way back when he and his partner, Gannon, ran a courier service to the islands.  The only problem is, the last trip logged in by Gannon on the list was dated after Gannon died!  So, how does a dead man make a delivery flight?  It is at this point that the story starts to heat up.

 

Is a dead man coming after his former partner?  Is someone in this whole business deal not who they say they are?  And why would anyone want to go through Gwen's hotel room when she is ... ahem ... otherwise engaged in Zac's room?  The suspects are plentiful.  There is Washburn.  And Washburn's personal assistant, Springer.  And the local pilot named Cassidy, who has taken a liking to Gwen.  And then there is that mysterious person following Vandyke, who keeps to the shadows and disappears before Zac can get a bead on him.  The deal gets made, the weekend comes to a close, and everything appears to have gone off without a hitch.  Until the next morning, when Vandyke disappears.  And Zac finds out some startling information about the accident that supposedly took Gannon's life  And Vandyke's wife reveals something even more important to Gwen about her husband's past.  It all comes to an exciting climax as Gwen and Zac face off on an isolated, uninhabited against an unscrupulous man who is out for revenge and will stop at nothing to get it!

 

Castle, according to her bio at the back of the book, resides in Seattle, Washington, so it makes sense that her stories are set there - write what you know!  The San Juan Islands are, indeed, a real locality located about 70 - 90 miles northwest of Seattle, and, like in the story, you can get to the islands by ferry or plane.  There are plenty of uninhabited islands, ranging in size, so the one such as Castle uses in her story likely exists.  

 

The conclusion to this story takes place a couple of chapters before the book actually ends.  The last two chapters give readers an epilogue of sorts - first, an opportunity for Guinevere and Zachariah to come to terms with the scope and direction of their relationship; and the second, a scenario that appears to be a set up for the next book (at least, I hope, because I like the character this chapter introduces!).  The first book merely gave a previous of the first chapter of this book; but this one seems to have integrated the "preview" into the actual story - sort of like a television episode that wants to provide a lead-in to the next week's episode!

 

The cover art is gorgeous, even with Gwen's very '80s teased hairstyle.  The scene appears to meld some of the story elements together - from the all-important briefcase, to the wooded area of the island, to the fun in Zac's hand (which actually never takes place, since Zac does not carry a gun with him in the story, and when he's fighting the villain, he knocks the gun away and does not pick it up).  I love how the artist has the rays of sunlight streaming through the trees, which gives the scene a rather chilling effect.  The cover has the artist's signature:  CLIFF MILLER. This is a pleasant surprise, as Miller provided cover art for a number of the Nancy Drew Files back in the 1990s (and I actually own several of his paintings that were used for those covers!).  

 

RATING:  9 pairs of nylon panty hose with runs in them out of 10 for a tale filled with intrigue, mistaken identities, and a great soap-opera style return from the dead story! 

The Desparate Game - a Guinevere Jones novel (Book 1)

The advertising for this series says, "If you like Moonlighting ... If Remington Steele turns you on,you'll love ... THE GUINEVERE JONES NOVELS."  Growing up in the '80s, I watched both of those shows and loved them.  Thus, it was pretty much a no-brainer that I was going to pick up these books.  Now, I honestly cannot recall where I first saw them - maybe it was on Amazon, or perhaps eBay.  All I do remember is that I loved the cover art and cover design, and when I read the description, I was immediately hooked.  The author, Jayne Castle, I was completely unfamiliar with; however, I have since learned that Castle is actually Jayne Ann Krentz, who has written a number of bestsellers under various pseudonyms, including Jayne Castle, Jayne Taylor, Stephanie James, Amanda Quick, and others.  This four-book series was originally published back in 1986, which explains the Moonlighting and Remington Steele references - clearly, she was cashing in on the success of those two shows and their format!

 

The Desperate Game is the first Guinevere Jones novel, introducing readers to the thirty-something business woman with coffee-brown hair that runs a pretty successful temp agency. Unfortunately for her (or fortunately, depending on your point-of-view), while temping herself as a cocktail waitress, she happens to meet Zachariah Justis, a "frog that never metamorphosed into a prince" (p. 7). She is determined to ignore his not-so playful passes until he says the magic word - "StarrTech" (p. 10).  And with that begins the hate/love relationship of Guinevere and Zac.  What starts as a matter of blackmail in order for Zac to get Guinevere to work for him turns into a heated and passionate one-night stand that leads to a deadly partnership to uncover the truth behind missing shipments of technology.  Both have secrets and both have attitudes, but in the end, they find they must put aside any feelings of distrust if they are going to stop not only a thief, but also a murderer!

 

Castle (Krentz) writes a wonderfully engaging murder mystery (even if the murder does not actually get discovered until nearly half-way through the book), and the banter between Guinevere and Zac reads so smooth and natural, it brought a smile to my face on more than one occasion.  I love Guinevere's quick wit and snarky remarks, and Zac's no-nonsense, do whatever it takes to get the job done attitude compliments her nicely.  The pair make a great team, and I could easily picture this as an '80s television hit.  And, as silly as it sounds, I like the fact that Castle did not make the two characters perfect specimens - neither are described as overly beautiful or handsome, and they both have their flaws.  It makes them considerably more real than most crime-solving duos (who, on television at least, are always portrayed as gorgeous and the ideal model-type women and men).

 

The mystery itself seems simple enough - Zac engages Guinevere to return to StarrTech where she had previously temped and try to uncover some clues as to who has been diverting shipments of expensive technology.  A number of shipments have gone missing, and no one seems to know how.  Guinevere has no desire to return to StarrTech (her previous dealings with the company were, let's just say, less than amicable), but she has no choice, as Zac knows something that could send her to jail.  So, she goes along with his plan.  She gets back in with some of the people she used to work alongside when she was there before, and learn that one of the computer programmers has not shown up for work in more than a week.  No one has heard from him, and a fellow programmer with whom he had been developing a video game is beginning to worry.  A quick trip to the missing programmer's house leads Guinevere to take a disk containing the game in development - a game that has been drastically changed, with changes that could potentially hold the key to the missing shipments!

 

While I was a bit underwhelmed with the opening chapters, feeling they moved a bit slow, I soon realized that the slow build-up made for a much better payoff at the end, as Guinevere finds herself not only getting deeper into the undercover work, but she also finds herself falling for her new "boss."  As with any couplings, the two go from hot to cold and back to hot again, as they learn to trust one another and gradually open up about their respective pasts.  The final confrontation with the thief/murderer in the company warehouse is fairly exciting - although the cover is misleading, as Guinevere does not carry a gun at any time in the story.  Also, I'm not really sure what the spider and the web in the background of the cover are all about, unless it is simply to imply the "web of lies" surrounding the investigation.  And all of the talk about computers and video games, I had to keep reminding myself that this was written in the mid-1980s, when home computers and computers in the everyday workplace were just starting to become a thing.  Reading this book was almost like stepping back in time.

 

I would say this was a solid read and a great introduction to the main characters.  We even get a couple of supporting cast members introduced that I hope will pop up in at least one or more of the other books.

 

RATING:   9 glasses of straight tequila out of 10 for a terrific tale of murder, corporate larceny, and technological intrigue that introduces a great new team of detectives!