Sex, Lies and Online Dating by Rachel Gibson

While conducting research for her latest mystery novel, Lucy Rothschild arranges a series of online dates looking for men to serve as patterns for murder victims in her story. Posing as a nurse so as not to give any clues as to why she’s meeting them, Lucy finds most of her dates are men are just looking for quick and easy sex - not at all her type. One date and she has enough material to kill them off in her story, but a second date - no way. Then she encounters Quinn McIntyre, a man totally unlike the other men she met; a man she could fall in love with. She quickly agrees to a second and then a third date, even though she’s has more than enough information to kill him off in her story.

Quinn McIntyre’s latest assignment is to locate a serial killer, who meets her victims through online chat rooms. Posing as a plumber, he meets Lucy Rothschild, who dated all three of the victims shortly before their deaths. Despite the fact that she’s his number one suspect, Quinn finds himself strangely attracted to her. As they continue to date, Quinn realizes that she’s not the nurse she’s pretending to be when he finds incriminating evidence in her place describing each of the three victim’s murders, including details never released to the public. Now Quinn faces the possibility that the new love of his life is also his serial killer.

The plot is somewhat predictable in the beginning, giving the book a somewhat slow start. However, Rachel tosses in a few twists along the way, just to keep you on your toes. The book is filled with humorous situations and the main characters are full of personality and life. All in all, a nice fun read.

Details: Avon, February 2006

Bottom line: A very good book