When a Texas Ranger shows up at your door asking for help, this Christmas might be more suspenseful than expected in a DEADLY HOLIDAY REUNION. Ella Terrell is surprised that Jake Cavanaugh wants her aid, but he tells her that his daughter Macey has been kidnapped. Before Macey's mother came on the scene, Ella and Jake had an understanding - but that's ancient history. Her decision to join the FBI put paid to wedding plans. Now she's an ex-agent, but her skills might still be useful.

Jake believes that a serial maniac called the Dead Drop Killer is responsible and has targeted his teenage daughter personally. With winter turning bitter in Caddo County, East Texas, he has a strong hunch that the kidnap victim is being held out of doors near a wooded lake. Ella fights back the trauma she suffered which caused her to leave the FBI. She prays that she can stay strong enough to find the missing girl in time.

Crime scene investigation and evidence handling are well described, and the initial chapters certainly set the scene extremely well. In this land where people are courteous and know their neighbours, a stranger knocking over a female jogger and running off is suspicious and frightening. Following a trail of deliberately-left clues brings Ella and Jake to talk with many well-drawn local characters in locations from a church to a stable. The town will shortly be putting on a Christmas Festival, but who will attend when bad publicity emerges? This economic pressure on the law officials is another factor that adds realism.

DEADLY HOLIDAY REUNION could be any good novel from an experienced crime author. The fact that we also get a romance interwoven by Lenora Worth seems like two books for the price of one. Widower Jake and unmarried Ella will have to survive this experience if they are to progress. Like the addition of rosemary to a beef stew by Ella's grandmother, the story is seasoned by the flavour of a love that never really stopped for either person - but now threatens to distract them from the grim purpose of finding a girl alive and a suspected killer. Lenora Worth has kept the inspirational mood with Ella's prayers, trust and determination, making DEADLY HOLIDAY REUNION a well- rounded Christmas tale. I'll definitely be reading more romantic suspense by this lady.