Book Review: Heron's Cove by Carla Neggers

Heron's Cove
Author: Carla Neggers
Series: Sharpe & Donovan (Book 2)
Publication: MIRA; Original edition (July 31, 2012)

Description: Get swept up in this nail-biting tale from New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers as FBI agents Sharpe and Donovan fight to outwit an enemy set to tear them apart.

After escaping certain death, deep-cover agent Colin Donovan is back home on the Maine coast with his new love, FBI art crimes expert Emma Sharpe. Then Tatiana Pavlova, a London-based jewelry designer, arrives in Heron’s Cove, asking for Emma’s help—a prized collection from a lost era of Russian opulence, decadence and rare beauty has resurfaced, and Tatiana warns Emma it’s about to be stolen again. And Colin realizes his nightmare isn’t over. It’s just begun.

Emma guards her past closely, and Colin is determined to unlock her secrets. As they investigate the mysterious collection and the equally mysterious Tatiana, they confront their greatest challenge. Now they must count on their expertise—and each other—to outwit an enemy who wants to destroy them and everyone they love most.

My Thoughts: Colin Donovan went back undercover to try to finish up his previous case and then goes silent for three weeks. His family and Emma are concerned and. Emma is wondering if she should do something when she gets an tip from an anonymous source giving the address of where to find Colin. Just in time too. The villains had put him on a boat with the intention of taking him out to deep water and killing him. Colin rescues himself but the help arrived in time for the clean up.

He's back in Rock Point concerned that the villains might still be looking for him and might be able to track him home. He arrives to find that things in Rock Point and Heron's Cove aren't as serene as they could be. Emma has gotten a visit from a young Russian woman based in London who tells her that the Rusakov cache of art objects is coming to Heron's Cove and might be stolen. Emma's grandfather was called in when the cache was discovered in the walls of a mansion Dmitri Rusakov was renovating in Moscow twenty years earlier and Emma was called to London four years earlier when the cache went missing.

It is possible that Colin's Russian villains and Sharpe's former client are connected. When Dmitri and his colleague Ivan bring Dmitri's huge yacht to Heron's Cove and park it outside Sharpe's front door, both Colin and Emma are suspicious of their motives.

Emma feels certain that the art objects - jewelry and objects d'art with an Art Nouveau approach to Russian folklore - were stolen by Dmitri's American ex-wife. Now that woman's daughter is also in Heron's Cove wanting to sell her illegally gained inheritance back to Dmitri.

And while all this is going on, Colin and Emma's friend Father Fin Bracken is worrying about putting on his church's beanhole supper and having various encounters with Russian artists, American heiresses, and other assorted suspicious characters.

This was an engaging and entertaining thriller with great characters. I especially like the relationship between the four Donovan brothers. I also like that both Colin and Emma are private people with confidence in their own abilities who are still trying to fit each other into their lives. 

This is the second of a nine book series but would stand alone quite well since enough information is given to briefly summarize the first book and understand where the characters are coming from. 

Favorite Quote:

"Your brothers aren't here yet, I see."

"On their way. Finian too. Word travels fast in Rock Point." He touched a hand to her cheek. "How are you, Emma?"

"Glad to see you back in one piece."  

"I came close to being eaten by alligators." He tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. "Yank says you  saved my ass."

"We all help each other."

I bought this one September 13, 2013. You can buy your copy here.