Kirby Brown's life goes horribly wrong on the night her best friend is killed, and now the killer is after her. Helen and she had grown up as orphans together, and now Helen is gone and Kirby has no one to turn to. The police are unable to protect her, so she turns to a mysterious stranger. She has no idea that she has entered a CIRCLE OF DEATH and her hidden memories are at the center.

Doyle Fitzgerald, an investigator for the Damask Circle, is in Melbourne in search of a killer. It is what the Circle does; they go after the things that go bump in the night which no one else can solve. What he doesn't expect to find is Kirby, who was as a child unknowingly involved with a bunch of inexperienced witches that were capable of controlling elements. Now someone wants to gain all that power, while exacting revenge for a childhood mishap.

As they work together to find the killer, they also find out what was in Kirby's past, a past that she doesn't remember, and one linked to today's events. They also explore the feelings that they are both beginning to have for one another.

CIRCLE OF DEATH has a fast paced fantasy storyline, filled with magic, both good and evil, a sexy thief/panther shifter, who finds himself involved with a strong, though at times, timid woman. Kirby didn't want the past to come back but when it was time to face it she did ... with a strength even she did not expect. Doyle has the perfect touches of humor and toughness to get the job done. They did the romance dance that I so enjoy and when finally time for both of them to accept the truth, they did so in very satisfying fashion. All this is done in the way only Keri Arthur can write ... fantastically. I love the flavor of Australia in her books. She always makes me feel like I have been there and am back again.

CIRCLE OF DEATH is the second book of the Damask Circle series and is a reprint, but having missed them the first time I am enjoying them now.