Nora Roberts flies us into Lunacy, Alaska, population 506, and into a colorful, compelling new novel about two lonely souls who find love--and redemption. Lunacy is Nate Burke's last chance. As a Baltimore cop, he watched his partner die--and the guilt still haunts him. Maybe serving as chief of police in this tiny, remote town, where darkness falls by midafernoon and temperatures plunge to zero and below, will bring some kind of solace. It isn't as if he had anywhere else to go. Aside from sorting out a run-in between a couple of motor vehicles and a moose--and pulling apart two brothers who are beating each other silly over a disagreement about John Wayne--Nate's first weeks on the job are relatively quiet. But as he wonders whether this was all a big mistake, an unexpected kiss on New Year's Eve under the brilliant northern lights of the Alaska sky lifts his spirit--and convinces him to stay just a little longer. Meg Galloway, born and raised here, is used to being alone. She was still a young girl when her father disappeared, and she's learned to be independent, flying her small plane, living on the outskirts with just her huskies for company. But after her New Year's kiss with the chief of police, she allows herself to give in to passion. She doesn't want commitment--yet there's something about Nate's sad eyes that gets under skin, and warms her frozen heart. And now, things in Lunacy are heating up. Because years ago, on one of the majestic mountains that shadow the town, a crime occurred that is unsolved to this day--and Nate suspects that a killer still walks the snowy streets. His investigation will bring out the secrets and suspicions that lurk beneath the placid surface--as well as the big-city survival instincts that made him a cop in the first place. And it will threaten the new life, and the new love, that he has finally found for himself.

Gift 1 c. 4.21.2008.