Haunted

Tepid sex scenes and clichéd characters sink this absurd romantic thriller from Martin (The Ghost Illusion). In 1898 Arizona, miner Boris Koblinsky fatally strangles sex worker Jenni Bauters in the Copper Star Saloon after she objects to his rough treatment. The story then skips ahead to the present, when the saloon has been converted into a successful hotel managed by spunky Jenny Spencer. After dashing millionaire Cain Barrett offers Jenny a temporary position helping him set up his own hotel nearby, the two swiftly and predictably fall in love. As Jenny's infatuation grows, however, she starts having ghostly visions, and soon learns that the Copper Star was the site of other hauntings 15 years earlier. Then a flurry of unexplained events throws things further out of whack: Cain stops a biker from assaulting Jenny, a male guest is found dead in his room at the Copper Star, and someone steals one of Cain's valuable stallions. Unfortunately, those mysteries are frequently sidelined in favor of lukewarm erotica ("Jenny moaned, and Cain just kept kissing her, taking what he wanted, the rush growing stronger, his arousal strengthening"), and Martin's flat characterizations don't help matters. Even bodice ripper fans are likely to be bored. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, CAA. (Oct.)

Jerome, Arizona, was once known as the Wickedest Town in the West. And in some ways, things haven't changed. Jenny Spencer inherited the Copper Star Saloon and Hotel from her uncle, much to the dismay of his feckless son, Eddie. Jerome's reputation for ghosts draws tourists, but Jenny finds herself facing problems with some new rooms she installed in an area of the hotel her uncle left unused. Then she meets Cain Barrett, the new owner of the Grandview Hotel, and her hormones go into overdrive. Cain, who sported a bad-boy reputation even when he was a few years ahead of her in high school, turned his life around and went into mining, making a fortune he's now plowing into remodeling the Grandview. Jenny accepts his offer of a part-time job advising him on hotel management, despite the dangers of her attraction to him. Cain also owns a ranch from which an expensive cutting-horse stallion has gone missing, and he hires a detective to help find the horse, along with some horses that are missing from other ranches. Meanwhile, Jenny does some research to determine whether the ghosts in her hotel are real manifestations of evildoers or just illusions created by someone who wants to ruin her business. After the missing horses are found, Cain is furious to learn that his stallion has been gelded and mistreated. Then a man is found brutally murdered in a room in the haunted area of the Copper Star. While she and Cain are riding at his ranch, Cain is shot and wounded, broadening their search for two prospective killers. It's all here: ghosts, mysteries, local history, and steamy romance. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.