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. ( )

Great book ! Can't wait to read the next book in the series. ( )

I listened to the audiobook while nursing a cold and found myself at the end of the book having only vague recollections of the plot's details. I can note however that the ending is pretty neat in that it seems to tie up various threads developed earlier, foggy memory notwithstanding. This might have been a more interesting read if it weren't for the bug, but there you go. May try another Neggers book again sometime. ( )

I just received this book and the first in the series as a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway winner.

I like this book. It was good, fun, entertaining. It's well written and the characters are lively. If you liked the first book, Saint's Cove, you will definitely like this book. I'm quite pleased and am looking forward to reading the author's other books since I'm so happy with this series. This series is a good mystery. Not necessarily the "who's going to die next" suspense, but the "what's going to happen next?" suspense. Like the last book, I really couldn't guess who it was and what was going to happen. I had my suspects, but did not come together the way I thought it would. I'm glad this time around it wasn't all on Emma's should with who's fault it was things went down in Heron's cove. It's nice that this series isn't falling into too predictable format. There are things you expect to happen due to the characters and all but that's about it.

There are only a few things bugging me about the book that I don't get. I don't get why everyone makes such a big deal about Emma being a novice in a nunnery previously and why people just invite (seemingly) random strangers into their place. No one, not even the FBI agents question this hospitality at all? Maybe it's just different where I grew up. I also don't buy into Emma and Colin's fast fallen hard love for each other. Those things just don't seem to happen and it would be nice to get more time with them as a couple to understand what is going on there. I mean how the act together in different situations, normal situations. Get them alone though and it might dissolve into mushy talk and constant sex. I just don't see it as a realistic relationship. Maybe I'm just a cynic. The sex in the book is the classic trope of best sex ever. It would be nice if books treated sex more realistically instead of just pages of cliches.

Those reasons are just for me personally and the reasons why the book is 3 stars instead of 4. They are really nit-pick things, that while they irk my whiskers (so to speak) they don't detract much from the book and the book was still plenty enjoyable. I maybe coming into the books with a different perspective and understanding, but plenty of other people have given this book 4 stars.
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I hope in the next book in the series the problem comes just from Colin, instead of Emma or Emma & Colin. It's nice though that the author didn't stick with making it all Emma's fault, as much as it appeared to be. It's be nice to see Emma with the team in Boston more, to see how those people are (we don't even have basic descriptions of them, they are just "the team") and how they interact with Emma and Colin. There's also Fin's brother and his connection with Emma's Grandad that I'm unsure of and would like to explore. I have a feeling there's more beneath Fin and his brother then we are getting. I like Fin and am curious as to how this series to going to go when it's time for Fin to return to Ireland. But that's still several months away in the book's world. ( )

4 STARS This is the second book of the Sharpe and Donovan Novel that I have read. I have enjoyed both and would read more in the future. Emma Sharpe has a interesting past. Her family has been in the art theft recovery for generations. So she is very knowledgeable in art. She was close to being a nun never took her final vows. After she decided to be a nun Emma went to Irland to work for her grandfather as Sharpe art recovery. Next she joined the FBI Agemt. She is now in a small special group of FBI out of Boston. Colin Donovan is a FBI Agent all he tells his family is he is a pencil pusher out of Washington DC. But he is working deep undercover assignments. He has lots of brothers some in law inforce and others lobsterman. Colin and Emma grew up in little towns close to each other but did not know each other or that they both work for FBI until Emma found a nun murdered that had called her about something and needed to see her. Colin's deep cover was blown and he was beat up and tied up and got away. Before he got far the calvary came. Emma and Colin's family has been worried about Colin because no one has heard from him for awhile. Emma knew what he was doing his brothers was guessing. When Emma got a phone call from a sorce saying a agent needed help. So she was able to send it in for Colin. Colin was working to find the buyers of ilegal arms that some russians were trying to sell when they tried to force him by beating him up. Sharpe agency has worked with russian billionare a couple of times the first time was in Russia when her grandfather went in to look at a collection that was found in the wall during demolition and than 4 years ago Emma was sent to London to look into the theft of the same collection. Emma has a Russian Jewelry designer from London come to her family business and warn that this collection was coming to Heron's cove and would be stolen. Emma's sorce that called her is Russian and so far his information has panned out. A Russian yacht sails into Heron's Cove that Emma's billionare client and her sorce is on. Emma and Colin have to decide what they both want in the future and how much they can tell each otherl I really enjoyed this novel and was not sure who was the bad guys till the end. It kept my interest in the book and would like to see more Sharpe and Donovan novels in the future. I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley. 07/31/2012 PUB HarlequinMIRA ( )