#TBRChallenge Review: Presumed Guilty

The Book: Presumed Guilty by Tess Gerritsen

The Particulars: Romantic suspense, Harlequin Intrigue #238, 1993, (maybe) out of print - hard to say it's been reprinted a bunch!, available digitally - and at the time of this posting through Kindle Unlimited

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I discovered Gerritsen through her Rizzoli & Isles suspense series, so of course I went back and collected her romantic suspense backlist. 

The Review: I have zero patience for readers who poo-poo Gerritsen's romance past. I contend what makes her a successful suspense writer IS her romance past. She excels at writing relationships (romantic or otherwise) and she doesn't shy away from emotion. All good fiction needs emotion or else why are we even bothering? That said, even I'll admit her romantic suspense backlist has been hit or miss for me so far. This one was mostly a hit that I inhaled in two sittings, but the reader has to accept a couple of things or it's just not going to work.

First, this book was first published in 1993. It's set in a very small town on an island off the coast of Maine. As someone who remembers the 1900s and grew up in and around small towns - yes, people really did leave their homes unlocked and the keys in their cars (and yes, cars had keys not ignition buttons...).

Also, a reminder that once upon a time Harlequin would take a chance on a risky premise. This one is even risky by today's standards - the heroine has just broken off an affair with her married boss.  Naturally she believed all his pretty little lies, until she no longer did. Which makes her a dumb bunny, but I would argue a believable dumb bunny. As far as any 1990s grossness that creeps into the text? Not as much as I've seen in other books from this era. There's the obvious slut shaming and misogyny and the hero is described as having "Gypsy eyes" - but other than that? I mean, kind of par for the course for 1993. 

The story opens with Richard Tremain (said married man) calling our heroine, Miranda Wood, begging her to take him back. Miranda has had enough. At one point she thought she loved Richard, she thought he was "a good man" (I mean, other than the cheating on his married wife thing...) but soon his carefully crafted mask starts to slip and she realizes she doesn't know Richard at all. She's broken it off and given her letter of resignation at the small town newspaper that Richard's family has owned and run for generations. Richard says he's coming over and Miranda decides to leave thinking he'll give up once he sees she's not home. She goes for a walk along the coast, a suitably crap alibi because nobody sees her. Why would Miranda need in alibi? Well once she gets home she finds Richard, naked, stabbed to death in her bed, with one of her kitchen knives. 

Miranda is arrested in short order and the grieving widow calls her estranged brother-in-law, Chase Tremain. Chase had a falling out with his brother years ago and has built a life for himself away from Maine and away from the Tremain money - Chase being the black sheep of the family. But his brother is now dead and that changes everything. It robs Chase of a chance of the possibility of amends and forgiveness. He's all set to tar and feather Miranda until he sees her in the police station and overhears her interrogation (small towns AMIRITE?!). Suddenly he's not so sure. He becomes less sure when a mysterious benefactor posts Miranda's bail and an attempt (the first of many) is made on her life. As they cautiously team up and start digging they realize that more than one person in that small town may have had reasons for wanting Richard dead.

The suspense plot is very good and kept me greedily turning the pages. You've got a vengeful (like, duh) widow, her pompous Big Fish Small Pond father, her two kids (the golden boy heir, the neglected ugly-duckling daughter), the staff of the newspaper, a development deal threatening protected coastal land, oh and the minor fact that the murder victim couldn't keep it in his pants. Richard was the type of guy always looking for validation, for adoration and a fan club. He went chasing after his wife looking for just that, but realized too late that given who her father is he couldn't just dally with her and toss her aside. So he traps himself into a marriage and continues to collect mistresses like Pokémon cards. He strings them along until he gets bored, and/or someone newer and younger rolls into town. He breaks it off with them, not vice versa. Miranda calling it quits first puts a dent in his considerable ego. 

The romance on the other hand is a bit harder to swallow - I mean, the heroine was having an affair with the hero's married brother. She's a perfectly OK character, albeit too trusting and naïve which lands her in the affair. She's worked past that by the start of the first chapter but I suspect some readers will take issue with her character. Me? I mean, not so much. Should she have had an affair with her married boss? Absolutely not. Did she fall into a sad story that A LOT of women fall into? Yes, she did. So while she is a dumb bunny, again, believable dumb bunny. She also has enough starch in her spine after she's arrested for murder that you can't help but root for her. 

There's obviously trust issues that simmer for most of the story. It certainly seems like there is more to the story of who killed his brother, but that doesn't mean Chase entirely trusts Miranda. Even after he witnesses the first attempt on her life he's not completely there - mostly there, but not completely. I will say the author does the smart thing by not having them fall into bed right away. They do eventually have a perfunctory, PG-ish sex scene, mostly because I think the Intrigue line dictates it, but I think this would have worked better for me had it been jettisoned completely. I mean, it's a lot for a romantic couple to overcome!

Gerritsen rounds out the story with interesting secondary characters (there's an older woman named Lila St. John and her Portuguese Water Dog that were real stand-outs) and throws in enough blind alleys on the mystery of who killed Richard that I didn't want to tear myself away.  No small feat these days when few books seem to be holding my attention.

Final Grade = B