A Touch of Panic — Laurali R. Wright / L.R. Wright

Karl Alberg investigates the mysteries of love -- and some peculiar goings-on -- in his supposedly sleepy town.

Gordon Murphy is charming, intelligent, the recent winner of the lottery -- and searching for the perfect woman. Four times he thought he had found her, but four times it didn't work out. Now he has his sights set on Cassandra Mitchell, who is living happily with Karl Alberg of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. While Murphy is preoccupied with Cassandra, Alberg is trying to keep peace in the small British Columbia town of Sechelt. A highly skilled burglar, whose peculiar taste in loot extends to his victims' lives as well as their possessions, is on the loose; an estranged couple is snatching their children back and forth; and a menagerie of other odd incidents are unsettling Alberg. In the meantime, Murphy will stop at nothing to possess Cassandra -- as Alberg learns all too well when the paths of his investigations begin to merge in one dangerous direction.