The Collector / Nora Roberts / 483 pgs

"People just don't go from meeting - and under horrible circumstances - to mutual interests, to sex, to love, to marriage all within a matter of weeks.  But then, people didn't generally work to solve murders, discover priceless objects d'arts, fly off to Italy and back, and step into a vicious spider's web to trap him in it.  All while essentially finishing a book, creating paintings...and faux painting a bathroom."  But this is exactly what befalls Lila Emerson and Ashton Archer.  Lila is a professional house-sitter and author of a YA series featuring high school age werewolves.  She meets Ash at the police station.  Engaging in one of her hobbies - viewing neighboring windows through binoculars and weaving plausible stories about the inhabitants, Lila has witnessed a murder and unfortunately it involves Ash's brother, Simon.  This romantic thriller is rife with tense, bite-your-nails suspense, ahhh! romantic moments, and features a look at the last days of Russia's tsars and their legacy (Faberge eggs).  I am truly in awe of Nora Roberts.  She is so prolific...and so utterly awesome!!