Rich detail brings the tale to life for us: Esther has experienced personal tragedy and survived cancer, and her raw feelings about marriage make her unwilling to continue with the bread and butter infidelity cases. The pair take on the assignment of finding out whether the dancer Jane's death in the fire was accidental or malicious. The girl's grieving mother is sure someone trapped her in the building. Why? The trail leads to New York, where the ill- fated ballet artiste had just accepted a role in a corps. Simone, the girl left for dead, grew up here and has bravely returned to her art. Esther loves attending ballet and the chance to poke around behind the scenes appeals, even in such tragic circumstances.

Both Esther and Mac have to come to terms with their pasts and move forwards, to stop themselves being shadowed by regret. The danger they face now helps them to understand what they mean to each other. They, not the investigation, are the focus of this book for me, though the twists of the ballet mystery are fascinating and well worth a read for mystery lovers.

THE NIGHT SHADOW by Chéri Vausé is a well- written period piece which I hope will be the first of a series. This author has also written an FBI crime story, The Truth and Nothing but Lies.

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