Long and Short Reviews

The Dark Lighthouse by Jane Toombs
Champagne Books
Contemporary Romance, Suspense/Mystery
Full length, Spicy
Review by Cherry Blossom

Both love and danger confront P. I. Lisa Womack on the Northern California coast as she searches for her dead father’s past. She’s attracted to the man living in the Keeper’s cottage at the lighthouse, but why does Mark Trenton seem to know her, when she’s never met him before? And how can she trust him when she knows he’s hiding secrets?

As their relationship heats up, Lisa becomes convinced someone is trying to stop her from learning anything about her father’s past. Who? Mark has told her he thinks someone is watching her—truth? Or his cover-up?

Neither of them have any idea that her worst danger comes from her own past .

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It's always a pleasure to read a well-crafted story. Multi-published author Jane Toombs rises to the expectation with her romantic-suspense novella The Dark Lighthouse. From the opening lines, makes us aware of the heroine's, Lisa Womack's, strength and of her fragility—and it's the very precariousness of the balance in her character that sends her into the most dangerous situation in her life.

A case that almost costs New York P.I. Lisa Womack her life brings on a flashback to her childhood and to the moment when she lost her childhood. She can no longer bury her memories, and embarks on a journey of discovery. But finding her lost father—lost at sea sixteen years earlier, never really known to the little girl she was then—is only a small part of what she will find on the Western coast.

Jane Toombs weaves together a vivid portrait of people who forgot, or wanted to forget their pasts, and striking descriptions of the North California seacoast, creating for us a fascinating world of old mysteries and buried memories. She can make the reader feel the cold, spray-laden wind, and hear the waves crashing on the rocks. Lisa's remembrance is ours, and together with her, we fall in love with the standoffish owner of the old lighthouse.

The skill of an experienced writer is apparent on every page of The Dark Lighthouse, from the way the motivations of the characters are interconnected, to the way the setting echoes the plot and the life of the characters themselves. And finally, Jane Toombs ties up all loose ends in her climactic conclusion without resorting to absurd coincidences or relying on broad and obvious clues that could irritate her readers. A wire-taught thread of suspense, a touch of mystery, warnings ignored by people too immersed in their own personal dramas—and the stage is set for a high-action finale. Thank you for a good read, Jane.