Murder List by Julie Garwood
This romantic suspense novel is part of a series, but I haven't read the others. The main character, Regan Hamilton Madison is the only daughter in a hotel-owning family. Her father died when she was young, and her mother was preoccupied, so she was mostly raised by her three older brothers, Aidan, Spencer, and Walker, who tend to be over-protective, although encouraging. She's smart and beautiful but hasn't had a lot of boyfriends, with the latest one dumped after revealing himself as after her money.
Her job in the family business has to do with the foundation, finding worthy causes to fund with the money earned by the hotels. Her two best friends date back to her kindergarten days, and one, Sophie, is a newspaper reporter with a loving, albeit criminal-minded father, and the other, Cordelia, a science teacher. Sophie is onto a potentially big story, looking into a pop psychologist who charms older women out of their money, and possibly more. Sophie suspects him of murder.
We also see the story unfold from the viewpoint of a killer, an unnamed man with a wife, Nina, in a wheelchair due to an accident. He is obsessed with Regan and determined to both kill her and somehow protect her as she aligns with his wife in his mind.
As the book begins, Regan and Cordelia agree to help Sophie look into the psychologist by attending one of his seminars. One of the activities during the seminar is to create a list of people in your life who'd be better off dead and then ritualistically burn it. Due to circumstances, Regan misses the burning portion of the exercise, and then is involved in a scary situation.
When people on her list start turning up dead, and someone threatens her more directly, she involves the police. But will they and her security team be able to stop someone as determined as the stalker behind the killings?
There is lots of suspense here, and some definite attraction between Regan and the police officer assigned to be her minder. A light, but engaging read.
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