Return to the dazzling world of Burning Cove, a place of fantasy and glamour…and also secrets and death. I fell in love with the world of Burning Cove in The Girl Who Knew Too Much and my enchantment with the town only deepened in The Other Lady Vanishes. The setting drew me in from the first; the flash of 1930s Hollywood stars meeting dirty secrets, blackmail, and murder is a potent combination. When you add in two engaging protagonists and an intriguing mystery then you know you’re in for a good time.

Heiress Adelaide Blake spent two months drugged and imprisoned in an insane asylum. When she’s finally able to escape, she makes her way to Burning Cove and finds work as a waitress. Though she’s careful, Adelaide’s true identity and knowledge of the experimental drugs that were being tested on her means she has to constantly be on her guard. She’s finally finding her feet in Burning Cove and her tea blends make her a success with locals and visiting celebrities alike. But when visiting “psychic to the stars” Madame Zolanda comes to town, Adelaide’s world is turned upside down. Madame Zolanda’s gruesome prediction sets off a chain of events that involve murder, blackmail, and drugs. Against her will, Adelaide is drawn into the mystery. And one of the few people she may be able to trust is Jake Truett, a former businessman with secrets of his own. The two of them will have to unravel a tangled web of secrets if they hope to live long enough to enjoy the new lives they’ve created for themselves.

Adelaide and Jake are two interesting, intelligent protagonists who are easy to root for. Adelaide has nerves of steel that I admired. She’s been through hell and has not only survived, but has built herself a new life from nothing. I adored her and was delighted to see her find happiness with Jake, a widower with more than a few secrets of his own. Jake is a clever, protective hero who fits Adelaide extremely well. They have solid chemistry and their romance was one you can cheer for.

There’s a lot going on in The Other Lady Vanishes, but Amanda Quick takes her time and sets the multiple stages and players up before drawing everybody in closer together. The story starts off with a bang, then slows down, building up the suspense again as the pieces of the puzzle are laid out then put together. I don’t want to say much about the mystery because that would truly ruin the fun, but I will say it’s well-crafted and engaging. By the book’s climax I definitely couldn’t put it down. My only complaint is that I finished the book wanting more Burning Cove stories. Ms. Quick has created an absolutely fascinating world and I have my fingers crossed in the hope she returns to this place and time again.

A Lady Makes a Daring Escapes from an Insane Asylum

Desperately afraid of being caught after her escape from a private asylum, Adelaide Blake settles in Burning Cove, California. In the 1930s, Hollywood starts, gangsters, and money men visited the beautiful area and were in need of the herbal tonics Adelaide knows how to prepare.

She finds work in an herbal tea shop where she attracts regular customers for her hangover cures and other remedies. One of these is Madame Zolanda, billed as psychic to the stars. Adelaide doubts her claim to being a real psychic, but she’s a good customer, and Adelaide tries to please her.

JakeTruett, an attractive divorced man, is another favorite customer. He’s supposedly in Burning Cover getting a rest, but Adelaide suspects that there’s more to it. She enjoys his company and begins to think she’s falling for him and the attraction is mutual. At Madame Zolanda’s invitation, they attend one of her performances which ends in a dramatic prediction. Someone is going to die.

Beautiful setting, delightful characters, and a clever mystery make this another must read book by Amanda Quick. This is the second book in the Burning Cove series, but it can be read as a standalone novel. Some characters appear in both books, but Adelaide and Jake’s story is their own.

Jake and Amanda are likable characters. You can’t help but root for Adelaide after her escape from the asylum. The book is filled with suspense and danger. The plot moves quickly with plenty of twists to keep you wondering what will happen. The budding romance is a nice counterpoint to the action.

If you enjoy mysteries with great background and interesting characters, I recommend this book.

I received this book Berkley Publishing Group for this review.

THE OTHER LADY VANISHES throws you into the action, hypnotizes you right along as the pages almost turn themselves and leaves you wanting more of this world. The setting is the 1930s, but there were times when I almost forgot the time period and then something would be brought up that took me back into that recent history. One of the clues to the different time was they kept stopping at what they called an auto court which we know as a motel in modern lingo, and the one item that I noticed missing the most - cell phones!

Ms. Quick knows how to take opposites and make them perfect for each other, each bringing out the best in the other. In this case both of them have secrets, a past that haunts them, and together they find the answers to his troubles, hers, and the inexplicable "suicides" that are happening in this sleepy area.

The ending surprised me, but I shouldn't have been as Ms. Quick does so like to send her readers on intriguing twists and turns. The supporting characters in THE OTHER LADY VANISHES are intriguing and I am really hoping there will be at least one more offering from this town. There is a certain private eye and club owner I would love to read more about.

Annetta Sweetko for Fresh Fiction

The complete review may be read at: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=65792

Amanda Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz aka Jayne Castle) brings the magic again with The Other Lady Vanishes. The twists as the mysteries unravel keep the suspense up throughout the novel.

The start, with Adelaide Blake breaking out of the sanitarium, is frantic, and shifts to calm two months later as she has been quietly working in a tea house in Burning Cove, California. Jake Truett is a regular customer and her boss hints that Adelaide is the reason he is dropping by. In the meantime, we learn that Conrad Massey is searching for Adelaide, aka Patient B, and those who are helping him already know where she is. As Adelaide and Jake get to know each other, they are drawn into the death of Madame Zolanda, where there are way too many suspects. There is also a mysterious drug in play that has great affect on different characters. I don't want to say more so you can enjoy solving the mysteries on your own.

The reader knows from the beginning that Adelaide and Jake have mysterious pasts that have lead them to Burning Cove. Their reasons for being there are carefully revealed as they investigate Zolanda's death and who is after Adelaide. She was living an isolated existence after her parents' deaths and now that she's out of the sanitarium, she's carefully making connections that won't jeopardize the safe life she's building for herself.

Recommended for romantic suspense readers. The historical setting (1930s California) add a unique touch.

Not as exciting as the first book in the series, but it's set during an interesting time period. The chemistry between the main characters is not as strong as the first book, BUT the suspense is greater throughout.

The Other Lady Vanishes is a step back to the golden age of Hollywood. And what a step it is! Adelaide who works at a Tea Shop and Jake who claims mental exhaustion and needs no excitement, might not be exactly who they say they are. They might find more intrigue than they had planned while visiting Burning Cove and isn’t it a coincidence that they have each other as an alibi when a body shows up?
There is so much happening and fun twists in this book. The storyline is wonderful with strong characters that are not always perfect. Some of the background people are familiar if you’ve read other Amanda Quick novels, and some might just earn their own book in the future. I loved the return to Burning Cove and look forward to more in the future.

A fascinating tale of Adelaide Blake, who escapes from an asylum where she has been imprisoned. She gets a job in a tea room in Burning Cove, California where she meets Jake Truett. Together they hunt down the people involved in blackmailing and drug dealing. Great characters, a real page turner.

The Other Lady Vanishes is...alright. The author knows her stuff for sure; she's a gifted writer. The book trots out all of Amanda Quick's tried and true formulas, which I'm ok with. I guess what I struggle with when it comes to Quick's more recent work is she's done better with it than her recent few novels. The characters are starting to get pretty bland and forgettable with each new novel, and the issue with that is when the plot follows a pretty generic formula from book to book, eventually the whole story becomes interchangeable with many of her other works.

*I received a review copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I love this setting, it's not an era you read a lot, but the author does a great job with the characters, setting & social conventions of the time.

Everyone has a past and Adelaide Blake is no different. In the California town of Burning Cove, Amanda Quick takes the reader back in time to the 1930's where there is an abundance of mystery. Adelaide is hiding out in Burning Cove with a different identity hoping that she is not discovered, but she can't hide forever and her past is quickly catching up. In classic Quick fashion, she provides a great mystery with a strong female character. If you are a fan of historical romances with a great mystery involved, this book will not disappoint.

The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick is the 2nd book in her Burning Cove series. This story takes place during the 1930’s in the small town of Burning Cove, California. Some of the characters we met in the first book have secondary roles, as we return to Burning Cove.

We meet Adelaide Blake, our heroine, from the start where she is in the process of trying to escape from an insane asylum. Adelaide knows she must run for her life, and someone is trying to kill her. Adelaide was locked up by her “husband” and the evil people in charge at the asylum, who were doing experiments with her and others using a hallucinating drug. Months later, Adelaide (now Brockton) is working as a waitress in a tea room in Burning Cove, where she help creates various types of herbal tea that has become popular, since it helps people with health issues, hangovers, tonics, etc. Burning Cove has many well known visitors, who spend time in the seaside coast, and the tea room has become a place to meet famous people.
Jake Truett, our hero, finds himself visiting the tea room, and becoming attracted to Adelaide. Jake keeps to himself, but he knows some of the people we met in the first book, but Jake also has ulterior motive, trying to follow someone he suspects of stealing something from someone close to him.

Madame Zoolander is a former actress who is now a famous physic, and she also visits the tea room for one of Adelaide’s famous brews. When Adelaide is invited to Madame’s show, she ends up taking Jake with her; during the show Madame makes a bold prediction that will come true the following morning.

What follows is an exciting story that never lets up, with Jake and Adelaide in the middle of all the action. When a number of deaths happen, the danger and risks escalate, as they will begin to discover that much of this will coincide with her false imprisonment at the asylum. This intriguing story is filled with blackmail, drugs, quack doctors, & physics, not to mention the ‘husband’ whom Adelaide never married (he wanted her inheritance), who was determined to find her and bring her back to the asylum. Almost at every turn, Jake and Adelaide found themselves in grave danger by those trying to kill them. I will not give spoilers, as so many things happen along the way, that saying anything more would ruin the book for you.

I loved Adelaide and Jake together, as they were a sweet couple, and they blended so well together. The slow built romance was so well done by Quick, not taking anything away from the tense exciting storyline. I really enjoyed seeing many of those we met in the first book, such as Luther, Raina, Irene & Oliver.

The Other Lady Vanishes was a wonderful intense suspenseful story, filled with secrets, betrayals, pulse pounding action, and a sweet romance. Amanda Quick once again gives us a complex mystery that had a bit of everything and the fun of being in the glamorous world of 1930’s. I suggest you read the first book to enjoy the setting of this series, but The Other Vanishes reads very well as a standalone.

Loved this book so much. Krentz's writing is consistently like coming home.

Readers who enjoy Amanda Quick's historical mysteries will not be disappointed. Her formula is much in evidence in this book -- super smart female protagonist with an offbeat talent, left alone to fend for herself in the world, meets unmarried man who is quirky but has a sterling reputation among the people whose opinions matter. It works every time and this book is no exception. A good one to recommend to readers who enjoy romance and mystery with a period setting.

Adelaide Blake is insane. Or is she? Wrongly confined to a sanitarium, Adelaide manages to escape and hides herself in Burning Cove. There, she works at a tea shop and custom blends soothing herbals for the rich and famous who flock to the idyllic seaside town to relax. Adelaide meets many people who aren’t what they seem and when her past finds her, she must find someone to trust to help her solve the mysterious and dangerous events surrounding her.
Everything about this romantic suspense by Amanda Quick was appealing. The novel is set in the 1930’s on the California coast. There is glitz, glamour and mystery. The tone was almost reminiscent of a Victoria Holt novel. And while there is some swearing, violence and intimate contact, the novel overall is quite mild. Not gentle but close and that is refreshing.
The plot -- beautiful, intelligent young heiress who is confined by not one but two villains, was what originally attracted me to this title. I enjoyed the story and while the concept was intriguing, I felt it was a little formulaic. The suspense wasn’t truly suspenseful. Even with these minor issues I felt "The Other Lady Vanishes" was a fun read and I would recommend it to library patrons looking for a mild suspense. 3 stars.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda QuickLike the other heroines of this series (only one other so far, but we're given the pattern), Adelaide Bankcroft has a reason to hide her past. She's in Burning Cove after escaping from an insane asylum; the place her husband consigned her to in order to get control of her inheritance. Now she's working as a tea shop waitress who also creates specific teas for the shop's customers - the tea can do things like create calm or help with insomnia.

Jake Truett is in Burning Cove ostensibly to relax his overworked nerves. But he has an ulterior motive, one that perfectly aligns with keeping Adelaide safe.

I quite enjoyed this book and hope that we get to see the full story of what happens between Raina and Luther.



Four Stars

This book comes out May 8

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

The draw of this book for me was the time period and locale, and it didn’t disappoint.

I really enjoyed this book. Once I started reading I could not put it down. The book opens like a classic Gothic mystery with a mysterious woman escaping a private sanitarium. She lands in Burning Cover and tries to make a new life for herself. Burning Cove is home to Hollywood's Rich and Famous and everyone has a secret. When the local physic to the stars is found murdered and they tried to frame Adelaide she and Jake set out to solve the murder and unlock her past. The author does a very good job with historical setting. The mystery was good with plenty of suspects and lots of twists and turns. The plot moves very quickly and the ending made sense. Enjoy.

There is nothing like curling up with a good book. Regardless of what name she pens them under, Jayne Anne Krentz always satisfies this reader. The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick is the second novel set in the Burning Cove series. Suspense, Hollywood glamour, murder, and an unexpected romance delivered the perfect Saturday afternoon read.

I enjoyed this book. I gave it 4 stars because it was a little convoluted to me. The ending was a little random and too neat for me. I do think that several of my patrons will like it.