WHITE LIES by Jayne Ann Krentz

The Arcane Society is a secret organization devoted to psychic research and investigation and overseen by the Jones & Jones group. In the late 1800s, the Jones Scale was developed to measure the strength of a person's psychic energy. According to her files, Clare Lancaster is a level ten on a scale that goes no higher, and she's consider an exotic for her exceptional ability to sense when others aren't telling the truth. In other words, Clare is a human lie detector. This trait has made her life a hard and lonely one, for she makes even other parasensatives uneasy.

This attribute does, however, prove beneficial when Clare is able to save her half-sister Elizabeth's life after seeing the evil intent Elizabeth's husband, Brad, has for her. It's also the reason Clare is now in closer proximity to a family she's never known. When Brad is murdered, suspicion falls on Clare, since she's the person who found his body. But with no actual evidence, she's allowed to leave Arizona and return home to San Francisco, until her father offers her an opportunity she can't ignore.

Jake Salter is a level 10 psychic hunter who's been sent by Jones & Jones to investigate the rumblings of the resurgence of an evil cabal that may have some connection to Brad's unsolved murder. Working undercover as a consultant to Clare's father, Jake is stunned by the level of her psychic ability. He has to trust that she won't figure out and then reveal his true purpose for being there. Though Clare knows Jake is not exactly who he appears to be and there are some half-truths about him, she's still attracted to him. She also feels strongly that he can be trusted. As another murder takes place, the bond Clare and Jake have made just might save their lives.

The Arcane Society was first written about in SECOND SIGHT (Putnam hardcover, 5/06), a historical novel written under Krentz's pseudonym Amanda Quick. The evolution of this society to a modern-day setting is exciting and suspenseful. The treatment of the psychic elements is so skillfully written as to make it almost believable for the unbelieving. So don't pass up this first-rate novel simply because "I don't read anything paranormal." You'll be missing out on a great romantic suspense.

Learn more about WHITE LIES

SUMMARY

Petite, thirtysomething Clare Lancaster is a Level Ten para-sensitive—and a "human lie detector." Over the years, she's come to accept that someone with her extraordinary talents is likely to have trouble in the relationship department. And she's even resigned herself to the fact that everyone, to one degree or another, hides behind a facade. . . .

And now it seems that meeting the half-sister and family whom she never knew until seven months ago was a mistake. Her father summons her from California to play a role in his business empire, and Clare doesn't intend on making the same mistake twice. But after meeting Jake Salter, Archer Lancaster's "financial consultant," Clare is convinced that things aren't what they seem.

Salter's careful conversation seems to walk a delicate line between truth and deception, revealing and resisting. Something sparks and sizzles between them—something more than the usual electricity between a man and a woman. Caught in a dizzying storm of secrets, lies, and half-truths, Jake and Clare will plunge into an investigation that demands every bit of their special gifts—together they must overcome their mutual distrust in order to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder.