In 2011, readers of Carla Neggers's Saint's Gate met ex-nun Emma Sharpe, now an FBI agent specializing in art crimes. While investigating a murder at her former convent, she met Colin Donovan, a handsome deep-cover agent working on the same case. As Heron's Cove begins, Emma and Colin are back in Maine, ostensibly to get some rest and figure out whether their new romance can survive the pressures of their jobs. But Emma's past (she comes from a family of art detectives) and Colin's instinct for trouble ensure they won't be at peace for long.
As Colin extricates himself from a situation involving Russian thugs and illegal arms dealings, Emma meets Tatiana, a Russian jewelry designer who wants Emma's help in preventing the imminent theft of an exquisite jewelry collection. But Tatiana's visit to Heron's Cove, just before the arrival of a yacht bearing a Russian millionaire with connections to the jewels, along with appearances by Emma's family and the men who are pursuing Colin, is no coincidence.
The plot of Heron's Cove is intriguing, if a bit predictable, but the real fun lies in Emma and Colin's encounters with the novel's supporting characters, from Father Finian Bracken, the whiskey-distilling Irish priest, to Colin's three tough-guy brothers, who aren't quite ready to accept Emma yet. Though Neggers's characters occasionally veer into stereotypes, she knows how to keep things moving and hold readers' attention, making Heron's Cove perfect escapist reading for a long weekend. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams