Courtney's latest jam is more than just a little trouble. While meeting her former lover, a masked man jumps into the backseat of Courtney's car and holds her hand against the gun while he shoots David Alvin.  Courtney manages to escape by spraying Mace in the attacker's face.  However, her nightmare's just begun: she's soon to become the primary suspect in an extremely high profile case.

An expensive prosecutor, David Alvin was a partner in an elite law firm and married to a wealthy heiress whose father plays golf with the chief of police.  Not only is there pressure to solve the case quickly, the facts seem pretty straightforward: Courtney, the other woman, met with David after a tricky breakup.  There had been demanding messages from her on his phone. Her fingerprints are on the gun, a witness saw the two arguing, and this supposed gunman is nowhere to be found.

Courtney knows she's being set up.  For one thing, she hadn't contacted David in six months, since she discovered he had lied to her about a number of things - the most serious of which being his marital status.  For another, she knows darn well that there was a masked gunman; she's just not saying that he made her shoot David.  However, despite her sister Fiona's pull with the local law enforcement, Courtney's having a hard time convincing the cops that she's not a murderer.

Initially, Will Hodges agrees that Courtney is the most likely suspect.  Despite the fact that circumstances and evidence keep piling up against her, Will quickly starts to believe her story. Even Will's best efforts can't keep Courtney safe, and she takes matters into her own hands by fleeing. Eventually Will's involvement with her begins to interfere with his work, and when he is reassigned, both Courtney's physical well-being and her criminal case are in serious danger.

Will's and Courtney's romantic relationship is well-crafted; it's nice that the reader can't be sure from the get-go how things are going to end up.  Though I liked Thread of Fear, I found Whisper of Warning to be more enjoyable, even though it really wasn't any better organized.  Whisper of Warning takes readers just about everywhere anyone could expect in a romantic suspense.  There is the romance, obviously, as well as murder, changing of identities, assassins, fleeing through dark alleys ...  At one point, Will even stakes out Courtney from the woods near her new location.  However, the tangled mess of clichés actually weaves a very involving book.

--Sarrah Knight