Madison is doomed to replay that night over and over. In her mind, she had seen the murder happen that night; saw the knife, saw the blood, heard the screams. If only she'd been able to see the killer's face… And now, twelve years later, the dreams have returned. This time, she not only dreams of her mother, but of other women as well, women with red hair, women who end up murdered as her mother was.

Madison is now a divorcee with a young daughter. She's unsure where to turn or who to confide in. Her large and complex extended family includes numerous step- and half- siblings, including stepbrother Kyle Montgomery. Kyle is an FBI agent assigned to the most recent murder, which appears to be shaping up as the work of a serial killer.

Madison had a huge crush on Kyle as a teenager, and he's now a widower. Their instant attraction to one another is regarded with suspicion by both of them. But Kyle can't ignore the fact that Madison really does seem to have visions of the crimes, so their interaction is necessary to solve the murders before the killer decides to attack red-haired Madison.

There are enough red herrings in this story to fill a fish barrel. Madison's large family offers numerous suspects. Even Kyle himself isn't above suspicion. The secondary characters are interesting and help carry the story along, especially the characters of Madison's sisters. I liked them both, especially street-smart, independent Jassy.

In fact, I liked them a lot better than either of the two leads. Their romance consisted of scene after scene of "I'm lusting after you and I don't know how to handle it so I'm going to call you rude names and act like an ass/shrew". Frankly, I didn't think Madison acted maturely enough to handle ANY romance, and Kyle seemed to be more interested in getting Madison into bed than anything else. After a while, I began to lose interest in them.

There were lots of plot elements to like, though. Jassy's romance is interesting, as is the rocky marriage of sister Kaila, a full-time mother of three young children. They were handled honestly and realistically. This is in contrast to Madison. As if to underscore how beautiful she is, she's a model and singer in a nightclub, which didn't work particularly well for me as it felt like a cliché.

If you're a fan of romantic suspense, If Looks Could Kill might not make your keeper shelf, but it's an entertaining read for a night or two.

--Cathy Sova