Book review: Saint's Gate by Carla Neggers

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mira Books; 1 edition (23 Aug 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0778312356
• ISBN-13: 978-0778312352

When Emma Sharpe is summoned to a convent on the Maine coast, it's partly for her art crimes work with the FBI, partly because of her past with the religious order. At issue is a mysterious painting depicting scenes of Irish lore and Viking legends, and her family's connection to the work. But when the nun who contacted her is murdered, it seems legend is becoming deadly reality.

Colin Donovan is one of the FBI's most valuable assets—a deep-cover agent who prefers to go it alone. He's back home in Maine after wrapping up his latest mission, but his friend Father Bracken presents him with an intrigue of murder, international art heists and a convent's long-held secrets that is too tempting to resist. As the danger spirals ever closer, Colin is certain of only one thing—the very intriguing Emma Sharp is at the center of it all.

A ruthless killer has Emma and Colin in the crosshairs, plunging them into a race against time and drawing them deeper into a twisted legacy of betrayal and deceit.

Saint’s Gate was an awesome read of mystery, action and attraction. FBI agent Emma Sharpe is called to the Sisters of the Joyful Heart convent one night by one of the sisters. While Emma is waiting for the gate to open, the sister was murdered.

Emma finds herself in the middle of a complicated plot regarding a mysterious piece of artwork. The Sharpe family are art detectives, and are employed in the cases when artwork is stolen. To Emma and her superior, Yank, it doesn’t feel like coincidence that she was called to the convent when she was.

Yank arranges for the tall, dark and handsome Colin Donovan to keep an eye on Emma as she investigates the crime and it isn’t long before he realises he wants to see a whole lot more of Emma.

But both Emma and Colin have their secrets that may or may not hinder them on the investigation. The book was wonderfully written, engaging the reader so they felt right in the thick of things as the mystery unfolded.

The first in a series, Saint’s Gate is sure to be a hit, especially with the electric tension between Emma and Colin.