Protection for Hire

October 10, 2011
Tang (Sushi series) opens a new series introducing Tessa Lancaster, a former Japanese mafia enforcer who becomes a Christian during a prison stint. Upon release, Tessa volunteers at a shelter where she befriends Elizabeth St. Amant, a spouse abuse victim who requires a bodyguard. Without other employment opportunities, and with the requisite skill set for the job, Tessa reluctantly accepts. Elizabeth also engages lawyer Charles Britton, but Tessa soon discovers that Charles hides a secret connection to her own past. Unfortunately, Tang fails to maintain credibility as the plot twists and turns amid situations that lack plausibility, including Elizabeth’s destitute financial situation despite access to an “obscenely large trust fund.” Tessa is inconsistent; she waves the flag of a changed conscience in the face of her relatives and former mob connections, but takes moral shortcuts whenever it suits her. Accepting employment from her uncle is out of the question, but stealing cash from her mother, which she plans to repay with a loan from her mafia-connected cousin, is okay. The story is never predictable, however, and the most unlikely of characters emerges as the ultimate hero.

November 15, 2011
How can you change your life when the past is always close behind? Inspirational-romance writer Tang answers that big question in her latest wasabi-spiced novel of suspense as Tessa Lancaster struggles to shed her tough yakuza, or Mafia, image after she's released from prison. But her unusual skill set and ex-convict status ensure that she will remain an outsider. Elizabeth St. Amant is fleeing from her abusive husband and needs protection for herself and her son, Daniel. Tessa hires on as her bodyguard, and the women bond despite their differences. Elizabeth's lawyer, Charles Britton, worked on Tessa's trial, and he's having trouble adjusting to the upstanding woman she has become. Even as Tessa and he work together, and even as he is thrown by their undeniable chemistry, he still expects her to return to her criminal roots. As danger confronts them all, it looks as though Elizabeth's husband is involved with Charles' law firm and Tessa's uncle Teruo, head of the yakuza. Tang maintains her usual blend of wit, suspense, and romance as she launches a new series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)