Charade

Charade is a romantic thriller by the American writer Sandra Brown, published in 1994. It begins with its heroine being given a new heart and then rebuilds the rest of her life around what that gift turns out to cost.

Cat Delaney is a television personality whose medical miracle changes everything. She gives up Hollywood for San Antonio, where she presents a programme for children with special needs and meets Alex Pierce, a former police officer who now writes about crime, and the first man since her surgery to see her as a woman rather than only as a survivor.

Her new life turns sinister when recipients of other donor hearts begin to die in what are reported as accidents. A stalker begins following her movements, and Cat has to work out whom she can trust: Alex may be the most important ally she has, or the danger may be attached to the heart she was given. The novel moves between the hospital, the television studio and whoever is watching her.