Romantic, suspenseful --- stunning.

Jordan Dane combines romance and suspense in No One Left to Tell to the benefit of both. This book is the first part which works as a stand alone but develops a new level of intrigue found here in No One Lives Forever (May 2008). Jordan Dane is a 2008 debut author who will appeal to suspense and romantic suspense lovers as a fantastic pleasure read and also readers who want a little more in their pleasure reads than a fast-paced plot. The mystery here makes the pages fly and yet at the same time the author's imagery and finely crafted structure makes this a pleasure read beyond just a great story.

Father Antonio discovers a dead body in the chapel. Brutally slain, this body holds a message carved into the body, in its eerieness equal to the position of the body itself. The identity of the victim leads Detective Raven Mackenzie to the mysterious Fiona Dunhill, head of an organization rumored to have connections to the shady side of the law. When Fiona orders Christian Delacorte to assist the investigation, Raven suspects that Christian has his own agenda. Face to face with the mysterious and ever so sexy Christian Delacorte, a man who is both the key and the wall to her investigation, Raven must use all her detective skills and her heart to work through the maze of clues and obstacles before her. Raven’s investigation will put Christian's loyalties to the ultimate test, forcing him to choose between two women: Fiona, a woman who has been like a mother to him when tragedy turned his childhood into a nightmare and Raven, a woman whose body and spirit captivates him. As Raven hunts down the murderer, the clues keep taking her back to the past, a past which haunts and riddles her conceptions, a past which emerges from the darkness into an intricate layer of relationships. This case reaches down to the core of everything and everyone both Raven and Christian hold dear. Forced together by this investigation, Raven and Christian are attracted by a kind of hot chemistry that won't let up, a chemistry that inspires them to make choices that might lead either or both to slip in their carefully planned procedures and goals. As they hunt down the clues in a careful dance of revealing and hiding from each other to gain the advantage, Raven and Christian's hunt leads them to the dark place where their very lives requires looking into their hearts for answers.

Jordan Dane’s characters grab the reader’s heart in the way only the best Romantic Suspense can, with empathy from the heart and chilling open eyes as situations bring them face to face with heart-stopping danger and romance that heals inner wounds from their darkest past. From her father, Raven inherited a legacy, the law. She sees the world in terms of law and order, back and white. Intelligent, intuitive, and full of audacious spunk, Raven’s encounters with Christian challenge the hot chemistry and unexplained inner trust she feels with cold hard facts. When she crosses the line of the yellow police tape, she is all professional, a woman who seeks justice for the victims with every fiber of her being, understanding that justice leaves no room for privacy in the face of violent death. But when Raven crosses the line this time, her own heart is at stake. In order to solve the case, she must reach out to the past, to her father‘s case histories and into elaborate human interconnections past and present. Christian is a warrior, a master at night war games, a man obsessed by darkness while clinging to its anonymity. Face to face with Raven and the murder of a former Dunhill employee, will he risk crossing the line into a more dangerous night game, the maze of his own heart and past terrors? Jordan Dane creates a wonderful match between hero and heroine where each challenges the other to reach into the deepest parts of themselves. Brought together by a horrific murder and the machinations of a diabolical villain, the pairing of Raven and Christian adds not only exciting romance but their love makes them whole in ways they never could have been without one another.

Jordan Dane’s secondary characters add rich dimensions to No One Left To Tell. Father Antonio’s compassion for others matches Raven’s sense of respect for the victims for whom she must seek justice. Raven’s partner Tony adds a new dimension to Raven’s character while also showing the effects crime and police work have on an officer’s family. In the midst of a case that brings everything to the line, Raven and Christian’s romance and battle against crime brings romance and healing into ever increasing circles around them as love reaches out into the darkness of the human heart and beyond the hero and heroine, changing both family and friends. The structure of Jordan Dane’s work reinforces this theme, creating a beautiful symmetry in beginning and end, albeit an end that has been transformed by every moment that has led to its creation.

Jordan Dane creates an intricate maze of suspense in No One Left To Tell that heightens the suspense reader‘s delight. Each clue uncovers another layer of intrigue, each one more dangerous than the next. In a finely crafted work of interconnecting relationships and events, past and present, No One Left To Tell steps up the level of suspense as each new detail adds a thrilling web of deceit all the way to the final shocking conclusion. Jordan Dane leaves certain mysteries and levels for further development in her next book, No One Lives Forever, but No One Left To Tell also resolves the first level of her suspense maze, leaving the reader both satisfied and also anxiously awaiting the next installment. No One Left To Tell is fantastic ---romance, suspense, and more. Jordan Dane puts together an eclectic group of characters, bringing an unusual spirituality to the darkest corners of crime and the human heart. No One Left To Tell is both a thrilling pleasure read and a work of art. Another keeper!

Other works by debut author Jordan Dane, each released or to be released within a month of each other.
No One Heard Her Scream (March 2008) This work is a stand alone
These two works are related:
No One Left to Tell (April 2008)
No One Lives Forever (May 2008)

As of today, I have read the first two and highly recommend both. The discovery of this debut author has been one of the highlights of my reading experiences this year and in the genre period. After reading these two, I will definitely being reading the third!

Book Description:

A Dark Message

The body of a brutally slain man is found on the holy grounds of a chapel, and a cryptic message pinned to his chest unravels the lives of people touched by a dark secret. Detective Raven Mackenzie and her partner uncover the dead man's connection to a powerful female crime boss, leading them to her mysterious head of security, Christian Delacorte, who soon becomes the prime suspect.

Triggers His Nightmares

Yet when Raven sifts through Christian's past, she discovers the man is plagued by deeply rooted nightmares—and a shadowy childhood tragedy linking him to the case. Convinced his past holds the key to finding the real killer, she defies her partner, following her gut instincts and trusting her undeniable bond with Christian.

And Arouses a Killer

But Raven shares her own date with destiny when she crosses paths with a heartless killer. And when he unleashes his rage, there will be no one left to tell.