When Night Falls Now on Sale

When Night Falls Now on Sale.

I love When Night Falls, which involves historical roses and a sleepy Oklahoma town. I fell in love with the sisterhood of the women, their family histories, and of course, the yummy bad boy heroes, Michel and Roman.

Here's the blurb and reviews of When Night Falls...

When Night Falls Blurb
As the town's secret keeper, Uma Thornton has lost a baby and is fending off an ex-husband-suitor. She's built a quiet, safe life, until the drive-by murder of her best friend. Tormented by his past, Mitchell Warren returns to Madrid, Oklahoma to find peace; suspicion turns to him as a serial killer stalks the quiet streets and rose gardens. The town never liked the Warrens, and when Mitchell's bad boy brother, Roman returns, old hatreds and new desire throb in the rose-scented air for Uma's friend, Shelly. Suddenly, Uma is torn from her safety, and tossed into passion and danger with Mitchell when the killer wants his secrets hidden forever....

Reviews:
A supposedly sleepy town burns with dark emotions and dangerous impulses in Cait London's romantic thriller. The complicated relationships between characters make building, or in some cases rebuilding, trust and love a challenge that Ms. London accomplishes nicely. Jill M. Smith, Romantic Times Magazine.

Fans of romantic suspense will thoroughly enjoy Cait London's latest tale that focuses as much on the tension as the two love stories ... The cast is strong and inviting while the identity of the killer is impossible to name. On top of that are two beautiful romances that lead to a pleasant time for the audience. Harriet Klausner The Best Reviews

***** There is much more going on than I could tell you in the synopsis. In fact, more than one romance blooms in the story. A secondary couple adds more spice and the third girlfriend has husband trouble. Good luck trying to figure out who is behind it all. I had several suspects in mind. I gave up trying to figure it out and just enjoyed the story. I loved it and do not hesitate to recommend it to all. *****
Detra Fitch Huntress Reviews
The deathly suspense, danger spreading across the rose gardens as a serial stalks the town, begins with this sampler:
***


At ten o'clock, the night was heavy with honeysuckle, and moths fluttered against the neon lights of Madrid's closed stores. Inside Peggy's Ice Cream Parlor, the jukebox was playing Peggy's favorite housecleaning song, "La Bamba."

What was that ominous quiet within herself? Uma wondered. That stillness as if everything had stopped turning, waiting....

She dreaded that certain stillness, because it usually signaled unhappiness, like the death of her mother....

She studied the insects that twirled in the shaft of a streetlight as though caught inside an imaginary cage. The light pooled onto Main Street's pavement, gleaming on the few cars and form pickups that passed beneath.

Since the day Bonnie Parker had posed for a picture with Clyde Barrow on their "running car," nothing had ever happened or changed in slow-moving, safe Madrid. Crops and cattle and sweet iced tea on a hot summer night ruled, punctuated by small town gossip and tips on growing roses. Excitement ran to the town dances, high school graduations, weddings, and Norman Evans's old Holstein bull sashaying down Main Street. Every year, he ate the beautification club's "city-pretty" flowers, and the club threatened to barbecue him on the next Fourth of July picnic.

Uma licked the tiny trail of melting strawberry ice cream from the waffle cone, then inhaled the scent of honeysuckle and roses and newly mowed lawns. The ordinary night in a rural town seemed too perfect, as if time were held on a sliver of glass, balancing back and forth, waiting to be shattered. She'd sensed that unnerving stillness the early morning she'd gone to her baby's room. And then, her world had stopped...

"I just can't make up my mind whether to keep this scarf or not," Pearl said suddenly, always vain about her appearance. She held out the brightly colored floral scarf. "Here, Shelly, you try it on. I want to study how it looks."

"Give me that." Lauren grinned and playfully grabbed the scarf, swirling it around her cotton dress. She danced away from Pearl, who tried fiercely to grab it away.
Smiling at Lauren's teasing play, Uma barely noticed a car rumbling out of the night and passing under the streetlights. It was unfamiliar, but looked like any other car passing through Madrid on a quiet evening.

Within Uma, that fragile sliver of glass quivered and she turned slowly to study the car. It bore Oklahoma dust, this two-door Chevrolet Impala, just like Ed Jones's powerful '71 model, dark navy blue body, white hardtop. But unlike Ed's, this one's windows were tinted the color of death. Once more the glass shattered within Uma and her heart stopped.

Then, in the open window, a man's narrow face caught the light, and with a blaze of fire, the sound of gunshot split the quiet night. The tires squealed and the car shot out of sight.

Lauren immediately crumpled to the sidewalk, the rose sprigs of her bodice stained with a widening dark circle of blood.

Uma dropped to her knees. She prayed that her mini-course in emergency care would save her friend's life. She placed her hand over the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood. "Call the clinic! Get the doctor!"

One glance at Pearl's stunned pale face and rounded eyes, and Shelly sprang to her feet. "Never mind. I'll do it. There's a phone in Peggy's."

"There's no pulse. She's gone," Uma stated grimly as she removed her hand from Lauren's throat and began to stroke her hair. A selfless heart, Lauren had never failed to understand, comfort, and support. Oh, Lauren, why you? We need you.

In that moment, with her friend's head upon her lap, and the police siren screaming in the hot, sultry night, Uma knew that all their lives had changed forever.
Then Uma heard Lauren's whisper, like the soft wind teasing the tendrils near her ear. I'll always be with you....

She lifted her hand and found Lauren's blood staining it—she was gone. Like a treasured pioneer patchwork quilt ruined by a willful child's scissors, their lives had been torn, and would never be quite the same.
*** ***

With dual romances, and lots of suspense and an unusual twist, When Night Falls also includes just a touch of humor between Uma and Mitchel and the family relationships, new discoveries amid the darker elements.

I designed this cover, using a photograph of the roses I took on my daughter's California street.

I hope you enjoy When Night Falls and look for more of my romantic suspense and other books soon.