Cat and police detective Victor Cardenas have plans for a romantic getaway over Valentine’s Day when Victor get called in on a brutal slaying of a former prostitute. Secretly relieved by the postponement of the trip, Cat throws herself into writing up the case for South Jersey magazine. While doing the background research, she stumbles upon evidence that this most recent murder might actually be one of several recent unsolved murders. Is this the work of a serial killer?

When she questions Victor, he is unaccountably silent and forbids Cat to get involved. But Cat quickly figures out the victims all had one thing in common -- they all attended St. Agnes’ church. And since Cat’s brother Dominic is the priest at St. Agnes, Cat has to get involved to prove her brother’s innocence. Cat knows Dom is innocent, Victor wants to believe it, but the evidence is mounting and Dom himself isn’t helpful, refusing to break the seal of confession. A second murder, this time of a waitress friend of Victor’s, tests Victor’s ability to isolate his feelings from the facts. Now torn between her growing feelings for Victor and her loyalty to her family, Cat finds the only way out is to solve the murder.

Her investigations take her from the questionable business of lingerie modeling to the Church’s redemption of lost souls. Victor may not be talking about the case, but the news media is, and when Cat reveals in a news conference several clues she’s uncovered, Victor’s superiors accuse him of leaking information and contaminating the entire investigation.

Ongoing family issues include friend Ellice’s and brother Joey’s impending mixed marriage, a runaway boy who may have been an eyewitness to one of the murders and a TV casting crew in town to film a highly glamorized version of Cat’s first case (Death of a DJ), giving everyone audition fever. Just an average day for the Fortunati clan.

Rubino has a good way of capturing the feelings of the different family members, ranging from Cat’s secret insecurities to a four-year-old’s disdain for the new baby in the family. While the body count seems excessive, and it won’t take that long for the reader to figure out the bad guy, Cat’s mother, brothers and associated other relatives and friends all add a lively New Jersey/Italian background chorus to an enjoyable book.

--K. W. Becker