Rating: 
Summary: DEADLY AFFAIRS is Joyce's beautiful coup de grace
Review: Writers take several experiments to get it right - and Joyce in her third installment of the Deadly series, Deadly Affairs, triumphs gracefully as she juggles a sleuthing mystery and stunning revelations on passion and family ties beautifully. Her protagonist, social reformer Francesca Cahill renders her sleuthing services this time to Lydia Stuart, checking on her husband who she suspects he is having an affair. Her outing gets haywired when she discovers a female corpse branded with a cross. A serial killer is on the loose - and Fran must team up with Bragg to find out the connection before a third woman is victimized.Blending a more credible and intricate mystery this time, Brenda Joyce provides delicious twists and complexity within the plethora of characters. Every page in the book holds surprises and is emotionally-gripping with family melodramas, feuds between brothers (Bragg and Hart), blossoming passion between Evan and Maggie (gasp!) and the struggle in Fran's and her sister's love-life. The story moves dramatically fast and is woven tightly through Joyce's atmospheric prose. This book is summarily, Joyce's most adroit coup de grace yet.
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