Deadly Force

Deadly Force is a romantic suspense novel by the American writer Beverly Long, published in 2013.

Detective Sam Vernelli has one case he was never able to solve, and it is also the most personal one he has ever had: the murder of his fiancee, more than ten years earlier.

The dead woman's younger sister, Claire Fontaine, is determined to keep looking into what happened, and somebody has begun threatening her in ways that are both frightening and uncomfortably familiar. Sam is not willing to let her go up against whoever it is alone.

Protecting her means dealing with the anger and doubt she has about him, understanding fears she does not talk about, and letting her get closer to him than either of them intended, while one dead end after another pushes what trust exists between them towards breaking point. What Sam slowly comes to understand is that the answer has been nearer to home than either of them imagined, and that bringing it out into the open may cost more than they are prepared to pay.