Description:

When a superstar mystery writer visits her sister to unwind from a grueling book tour, she finds herself tracking a real-life killer who has already shattered her life...and now seeks to end it.
Brazen Virtue
Grace McCabe was shocked to find her sister Kathleen living in a grungy D.C. suburb, supplementing her income as a phone sex operator after a bitter divorce. But with the company Fantasy, Inc. guaranteeing its employees complete anonymity, how dangerous could it really be? Grace was soon to learn the answer when she returned home one night to a horrifying scene that might have come from one of her own novels. Ignoring the warnings of cool-headed detective Ed Jackson, Grace sets her own daring trap to rouse a killer out of hiding. But what can protect her from a brilliant madman whose lust for murder stops at nothing...and no one?

From New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes a novel that explores the dangerous side of desire, when a mystery writer in search of a little peace and quiet instead finds herself ensnared in the world of a real-life serial killer whose craving for murder stops at nothing . . . and no one.
 
After a demanding book tour, superstar mystery novelist Grace McCabe decides to visit her sister, Kathleen, who’s embroiled in a custody battle after a bitter divorce. Arriving in D.C., Grace is shocked to find Kathleen living in a run-down neighborhood and, hoping to afford a hotshot lawyer, supplementing her meager teacher’s salary by moonlighting as a phone sex operator.

According to Kathleen, Fantasy, Inc., guarantees its employees ironclad anonymity. But Grace has her doubts—which are confirmed one horrifying cherry-blossom-scented night when one of Fantasy, Inc.’s operators is murdered. As Grace is drawn to help solve the crime, her life turns into a scene from one of her own books. Yet as one of her biggest fans, investigator Ed Jackson, warns her: This isn’t fiction. Real people die—and Grace could be next. For she’s hoping to trap a killer more twisted than anything she could imagine. And not even Ed may be able to protect her from a rendezvous with lust and death.

Review

Praise for Nora Roberts

“Her stories have fueled the dreams of twenty-five million readers.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Roberts is indeed a word artist, painting her stories and her characters with vitality and verve.”—Los Angeles Daily News
 
“You can’t bottle wish-fulfillment, but Nora Roberts certainly knows how to put it on the page.”—The New York Times

From the Inside Flap

4 Cassettes, 6 hrs.
Performance by Carolyn McCormick

The steamy summer streets of Washington are no match for the phone lines of Fantasy, Inc., where every man's dreams come true. The "hotline" works perfectly for its annonymous clients, and the teachers and housewives who moonlight as call girls...until a brilliant madman plugs in with twisted passion, tracks down "Desiree" and murders her.

A different kind of passion brings Grace McCabe and Ed Jackson together-a passion for each other...and for justice and revenge. Grace, the bestselling mystery writer, is determined to trap her sister's killer, to bait him with the same seductive voice that triggered his deadly lust. Ed, the cop assigned to the case, knows he can't stop her, that he can only protect her.

Somewhere in the darkness, someone is waiting , listening for the voice that will bring him back to the scene of the crime for one last thrill, promising ecstasy-and death.

Grace McCabe was shocked to find her sister Kathleen living in a grungy D.C. suburb, supplementing her income as a phone sex operator after a bitter divorce. But with the company Fantasy, Inc. guaranteeing its employees complete anonymity, how dangerous could it really be? Grace was soon to learn the answer when she returned home one night to a horrifying scene that might have come from one of her own novels. Ignoring the warnings of cool-headed detective Ed Jackson, Grace sets her own daring trap to rouse a killer out of hiding. But what can protect her from a brilliant madman whose lust for murder stops at nothing...and no one?