Heartbreaker — Laurence Gough

Shelley has it made. Not only is he tall, dark, and handsome, but he is blessed with a great body, a decided comfort to someone who truly believes that “skin deep is plenty deep enough.” Moreover, he has arranged his life in a way that affords him maximum enjoyment for minimum effort. He moves from one classy house-sitting job to another, supporting himself with petty theft and the occasional bouncing job in downtown Vancouver bars, using his spare time to work on his tan, develop his pecs, and polish his snazzy Datsun SX300.

But on one fine hot day in August, Shelley makes two big mistakes. First, he breaks into a car belonging to off-duty police detectives Jack Willows and Claire Parker �" and he lets himself be seen doing so by an old beachcomber with a good memory. Second, he picks up a particularly gorgeous beach-bunny named Bo, red-haired, long-limbed, and strong-willed, who works in real estate and says she'd just love to see where Shelley lives.

That same night, Detectives Willows and Parker are called to a murder scene in a luxury penthouse condominium. The victim �" the real-estate agent handling the sale of the condo �" was, everyone agrees, a bit of a louse, an enthusiastic-though-overconfident womanizer, and a pretty poor salesman. Recently, however, he's had money to burn, and he had been receiving visits from a sexy redhead.

Shelley, meanwhile, is astonished to find how quickly Bo has wormed her way into his car, his house, and his life �" but there are clouds on the horizon. Former “business associates” of Bo's want her back, and are willing to play very rough to get her.

When events bring everyone together, the results are explosive.