Tuesday Review: Fatal Destiny

Fatal Destiny

By Marie Force
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: September 5, 2011
Five Stars

On September 5, “Fatal Destiny,” a novella that offers readers a look at the wedding week of Washington, D.C., Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and Senator Nick Cappuano, will be available free on the author’s website. Thanks to Carina Press and NetGalley, I had the opportunity to read the novella before the release. While the week before the wedding is filled with the tactics and tensions that fans of the series have come to expect, the wedding itself is perfection.

Sam is still grieving over her recent miscarriage and convinced that she can’t endure the risk of another pregnancy, but, fearful of an emotional meltdown if she talks to Nick about her decision, she has closed him out. Nick knows something is wrong, and he’s wondering if Sam is having second thoughts about the wedding.

Once the two work out their communication problems, Sam plays semantic games with a promise and ends up with another concussion after being shot at. Nick’s protective instincts save her when there’s another threat on her life. But she makes it to her wedding day with only a bruise and a headache.

The wedding itself is a dream from a Vera Wang bridal gown to an unexpected musical guest at the reception. It’s filled with family and sentiment and romance. For those who want visuals, Force has provided fan-voted choices for invitations, flowers, rings, etc. on her blog.

If you have read any of the other Fatal books, you won’t want to miss Sam and Nick’s wedding. If Sam and Nick are new to you, you can sneak in for the ceremony and the start of the honeymoon. My guess is that you’ll fall in love with the characters and go looking for the other Fatal books. Some readers have compared the series to J. D. Robb’s Eve and Roarke. I haven’t read enough of the In Death books to say aye or nay to similarities, but I will say this series now ranks just below Margaret Maron’s Deborah Knott and Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson/Russ van Alstyne books on my must-read-every-book list of mysteries.

FYI:

Fatal Affair (June 2010) opens the series.

Senator John O’Connor is found murdered. When Sam is assigned to the case, she finds that the senator’s chief of staff and best friend is Nick, a man with whom she’d spent an unforgettable night with six years earlier. Nick is a material witness in Sam’s case, and the last thing her career needs is for her to be involved in a scandal.   

Fatal Justice (January 2011) follows.

Sam and Nick’s personal and professional lives are filled with excitement and conflict. She has been promoted to Lieutenant, and Sam is about to be sworn in to fill his friend John O’Connor’s unexpired term as a U.S. senator from Virginia. The media is more interested in Nick’s love life than in his political positions, and Sam’s facing an internal affairs investigation because of her relationship with Nick. Then a Supreme Court nominee is murdered, and Sam’s past adds another layer of complications.

Fatal Consequences (July 2011) is the third book.

Sam and Nick are at her father’s wedding reception when a phone call involving a dead call girl and a senator once again entangle the cop and the politician in a case. Something’s rotten in Washington, D. C., and Sam’s on the trail. Her ex-husband is released from jail on a technicality, and he’s a threat she and Nick must live with. And they’re planning a wedding!

“Fatal Destiny” (September 2011) is being billed as Fatal series 3.5.

Fatal Flaw (February 2012) is next to be released. I have a feeling the honeymoon will be over and conflict and complications will once again be the order of the day.

Have you read any of the Fatal series? What series are must-reads for you? How do you feel about weddings?