Kane, Andrea

PERSONAL:

Married; children: one daughter.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NJ. Office—Rainbow Connection Enterprises, Inc., P.O. Box 309, Martinsville, NJ 08836-0309. E-mail—WriteToMe@andreakane.com.

CAREER:

Writer and novelist.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE NOVELS

My Heart's Desire ("Barretts" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Dream Castle, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Masque of Betrayal, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Samantha ("Barretts" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Echoes in the Mist ("Kingsleys" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1994.

The Last Duke ("Thorntons and Bromleighs" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Emerald Garden, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Wishes in the Wind, ("Kingsleys" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1996.

The Black Diamond ("Black Diamond" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Legacy of the Diamond ("Black Diamond" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1997.

The Music Box, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1998.

The Theft ("Thorntons and Bromleighs" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1998.

The Gold Coin ("Coin" series), Sonnet Books (New York, NY), 1999.

The Silver Coin ("Coin" series), Sonnet Books (New York, NY), 1999.

THRILLER NOVELS

Run for Your Life, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2000.

No Way Out, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Scent of Danger, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2003.

I'll Be Watching You, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2005.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time ("Pete Montgomery" series), William Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.

Dark Room ("Pete Montgomery" series), William Morrow (New York, NY), 2007.

Twisted, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to anthologies, including A Gift of Love, 1996, and Wait until Dark.

SIDELIGHTS:

Among the early influences on romance writer Andrea Kane were Walt Disney movies and Nancy Drew mysteries—elements that, she later wrote, would be incorporated in her writing. Her career began with historical thrillers, most set in the Regency period of early nineteenth-century England. Among these books are The Gold Coin and its companion work, The Silver Coin. Kane has since gone on to pen contemporary romantic thrillers, starting with Run for Your Life, a New York Times best-seller. Many of her novels focus on the members of a single family.

The Music Box tells the story of Gabrielle Denning, orphaned in a fire when she was just a child, whose only real treasure left from the life she lived with her parents is a lovely music box. Gabrielle has grown up as the ward of Lady Nevon, who has been kind and has given her everything she could want or need, but despite this charmed existence, Gabrielle still suffers from violent nightmares and has been known to sleepwalk. Lady Nevon also cares for her illegitimate nephew, Bryce, whom her brother abandoned and whom she supported through school, and she has great hopes for him and Gaby once she puts in a bit of a matchmaking effort. Kathe Robin, writing on Romantic Times Online, found the book to be "like a perfectly pitched tune that will play upon readers' hearts again and again."

In The Theft, one of the Regency romances, Kane writes of Lady Noelle Bromleigh, the adopted daughter of Eric, earl of Bromleigh. As The Theft begins, she attempts to find her biological father, Franco Baricci, who has opened an art gallery in London. Also seeking Baricci is Earl Ashford Thornton, who wants Baricci for a very different reason: Thornton is an art detective, and he suspects Baricci of selling treasures he has stolen. Meeting on the train to London, Noelle and Ashford fall in love and join forces against the man who abandoned Noelle long before.

"Kane's tale is fast-paced," wrote Deborah Rysso in Booklist, "and although historical, the language flows easily. The characters are likeable." According to Maria Simson in Publishers Weekly: "There are lots of good plot twists cleverly woven into Regency mores and styles to keep readers intrigued and entertained."

The protagonists of The Gold Coin, Anastasia and Breanna Colby, are identical, but not twins. As children, the two cousins recognized each other as kindred spirits, alike in soul as much as appearance, and pledged to come to one another's aid when needed. Now, fourteen years later, Anastasia desperately needs Breanna's help. Her problem is not financial: she has a sizeable inheritance, but Breanna's unscrupulous father, the Viscount George Colby, wants to get hold of it by making himself Anastasia's legal guardian. Anastasia's late father, however, entrusted Damen Lockwood, marquess of Sheldrake, as trustee over the estate. Colby's ambitions are further thwarted when he discovers a new complication: Anastasia has fallen in love with Lord Sheldrake. Now the marquess and the two ladies must work together to protect Anastasia's life and fortune.

"This tale delivers excitement and romance," according to Rysso, who added that "Kane's lyrical flair and courageous female characters ensure a satisfying and suspenseful read." Mark Rotella wrote in Publishers Weekly: "Kane's engrossing plot and her quick-witted, passionate characters should make readers eagerly await this novel's companion, The Silver Coin … in which Breanna may pay the price for her bravery."

In Run for Your Life, Kane shifts the setting to modern-day Manhattan, where she makes use of a device employed often in her historical romances: a crime that forces heroine and hero to make common cause. In this case, the details of the crime are at first unclear to Victoria Kensington, an attorney whose mentally unstable sister Audrey runs through Central Park in a hospital gown, supposedly chased by would-be assailants. The trail leads back to the mysterious Hope Institute, but in order to go further, Victoria needs the help of Zachary Hamilton, an intelligence expert. The problem is that she and Zachary are former lovers and must overcome their past before they can solve the problem at hand. "What sets this book apart from other romantic thrillers," according to Rotella, "is Kane's deft skill in defining the actions of her lead characters: her love scenes, for example, are exceptional, neither euphemistic nor clinical."

Kane's next romantic suspense, No Way Out, features Julia Talbot, a teacher who is concerned by behavioral changes she sees in seven-year-old Brian Stratford. Intent on determining if there are problems in his home life, Julia ignores the fact that Brian's father is the local mayor, or that he is preparing for a bid for the senate. All that matters is the child's welfare. Her determination has her butting heads with Brian's uncle, Connor Stratford. Connor knows that his brother is feeling the stress of a political career that's been foisted onto him by their overbearing father, but he firmly believes any issues can be taken care of within the confines of the family. However, he wasn't quite expecting Julia Talbot, or the rush he gets from dealing with her. A blackmailer and a kidnapping plot ramp up the suspense and make a strong balance for the budding romance. Jill M. Smith, in a review on Romantic Times Online, declared that "exciting suspense and terrific emotional drama round out this new romantic thriller."

The protagonists of Scent of Danger are Sabrina Radcliffe and Dylan Newport. Dylan is an attorney for Carson Brooks, a perfume magnate who has sustained a gunshot wound in the kidney and needs a transplant if he is going to live. Brooks had no children he had ever met but, remembering a sperm donation he made thirty years ago, instructs Newport to track down his child—who turns out to be Sabrina. Brianna Yamashita in Publishers Weekly wrote: "Kane's … diverse cast of characters and careful balancing of romance and mystery will keep readers from dwelling on the unlikelier twists."

Psychologist Taylor Halstead is a radio talk show host and a counselor at an elite prep school in New York. In I'll Be Watching You, the normally poised and collected Halstead finds her life threatened by a stalker who, by all appearances, should be dead. When Taylor comes home from a tiring day at work, she expects her cousin and roommate Stephanie to be out of town, on a cruise with her boyfriend, Gordon Mallory. Instead, she finds Gordon waiting for her. Mallory assaults her and attempts to rape her, but flees when Stephanie arrives. Gordon's final warning to Taylor is, "I'll be watching you." Later, Gordon and Stephanie are apparently killed in a violent yacht explosion. Grieving her cousin, Taylor soon begins to receive threatening e-mail messages and phone calls, recollecting Gordon's final warning to her. The situation is complicated by the arrival of Jonathan, Gordon's twin brother, who reminds Taylor of the man who assaulted her. As she embarks on a relationship with attorney Reed Weston, Taylor must learn who is behind the threatening messages and whether or not her life is actually in danger. Booklist reviewer Patty Engelmann called the novel "an exciting thriller right up to the last page."

An overheard argument means life-threatening danger for the protagonist of Wrong Place, Wrong Time. When fifty-two-year-old Sally Montgomery, a kind and good-natured preschool teacher, overhears a conflict in a neighbor's upstate New York barn, she begins to receive threats on her life and must go into hiding. She flees with her trusted neighbor, Frederick Pierson, but the house where they conceal themselves is burned down, and Frederick is killed. Soon, Sally's ex-husband, a former police detective, sets out to help her, along with the couple's veterinarian daughter, Devon. Soon, Devon becomes involved with Blake Pierson, Frederick's nephew and a member of the wealthy Pierson family. However, it also becomes apparent that Frederick's murderer is somehow connected with the Piersons and may be a member of the family. Devon's emotions are complicated when a second Pierson, Blake's cousin James, also tries to woo her. When the truth about Frederick's murder finally comes out, all of the novel's main players will be shaken to their core. Englemann, in another Booklist review, concluded that "Kane is an adroit master at romantic suspense, and she keeps the reader guessing to the very end."

Dark Room features former New York City Homicide Detective Pete Montgomery, now working as an investigator in the private sector, as he looks into the long-closed case of the Winters, an assistant district attorney and his wife, who were murdered on Christmas Eve in 1989. The man who initially copped to the crimes has just been revealed as innocent, as it has been determined he was actually elsewhere at the time of the crime, busy killing a local gang leader. Knowing he was going to prison, he claimed the attorney's murder as it was less likely to get him killed while behind bars. Aided by his son Lane, a photojournalist, Montgomery attempts to get to the bottom of the crime, while Lane finds himself falling for Morgan Winters, the daughter of the victims and the person who discovered their bodies Christmas morning all those years before. Harriet Klausner, in a review for the Casa Mysterioso Web site, remarked that "though there is too much coincidence in the plot, fans of romantic police procedural will appreciate this fine thriller."

In Twisted, Sloane Burbank finds herself involved in the hunt for a missing woman from her childhood at the request of her parents. A former agent with the FBI, as well as a hostage negotiator, Sloane uses her skills throughout the investigation, first as she is forced to deal with her ex-lover Derek Parker, who has joined the FBI and is in charge of the case of the missing woman, and later as she goes up against a serial killer who has made her the focus of his hunt. Much to her chagrin, Sloane finds herself pairing up with Derek again, both on the case and off, in an effort to stop the killer in his tracks. Mary K. Chelton, writing for Booklist, dubbed the book "a superb, read-in-one-sitting nail-biter of a story, right down to the last word." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented that "a wealth of red herring suspects will keep the reader guessing until the conclusion."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 1998, Deborah Rysso, review of The Theft, p. 212; July, 1999, Deborah Rysso, review of The Gold Coin, p. 1929; November 1, 2004, Patty Engelmann, review of I'll Be Watching You, p. 468; December 1, 2005, Patty Engelmann, review of Wrong Place, Wrong Time, p. 28; February 1, 2007, Patty Engelmann, review of Dark Room, p. 37; February 15, 2008, Mary K. Chelton, review of Twisted, p. 42.

Chicago Sun-Times, March 16, 2003, Dolores Flaherty and Roger Flaherty, "An Irish Lass in Slavery," p. 15.

Competitive Intelligence, September-October, 2001, Sarah Davis, review of Run for Your Life, p. 54.

Cosmopolitan, March, 2003, "A Night of Sexual Healing," p. 212.

Publishers Weekly, August 10, 1998, Maria Simson, review of The Theft, p. 385; July 19, 1999, Mark Rotella, review of The Gold Coin, p. 192; October 30, 2000, Mark Rotella, review of Run for Your Life, p. 53; December 16, 2002, Brianna Yamashita, review of Scent of Danger, p. 51; December 6, 2004, review of I'll Be Watching You, p. 45; October 17, 2005, review of Wrong Place, Wrong Time, p. 42; February 5, 2007, review of Dark Room, p. 41; February 18, 2008, review of Twisted, p. 136.

ONLINE

Andrea Kane Home Page,http://www.andreakane.com (August 27, 2007).

Best Reviews,http://www.thebestreviews.com/ (December 5, 2004), Harriet Klausner, reviews of I'll Be Watching You and Wrong Place, Wrong Time.

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (August 27, 2007), Amie Taylor, review of Dark Room.

Casa Mysterioso,http://casamysterioso.com/ (May 6, 2008), Harriet Klausner, review of Dark Room.

Mystery Reader,http://www.themysteryreader.com/ (August 27, 2007), Terry Lawrence, review of I'll Be Watching You.

Road to Romance,http://www.roadtoromance.ca/ (March 25, 2007), Stacey Brutger, review of Dark Room.

Romantic Times Online,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (August 27, 2007), Kathe Robin, review of The Music Box; Jill M. Smith, review of No Way Out.