Until she begins to learn disturbing facts about this innocent client of hers. Messages appear on her fax machine accusing Keith of having stalked his girlfriend, of having destroyed her face with acid. Cass doesn’t know if the messages are a warning or a threat, but she knows this could be a dangerous situation.

Meanwhile, Cass seems to have found herself in the middle of a volatile property dispute between a divorced couple. Both of the parties are more than a little obsessive, and Cass is in danger of being hit in the crossfire.

Odd things begin to happen. Cass feels as if she is being followed, being watched. Things are disturbed in her home. Someone is attempting to systematically destroy her reputation and her career. Given Keith’s past history, the culprit seems obvious -- or is it? With the three creepy characters who have recently entered her life, Cass has an overabundance of suspects.

Sworn to Defend is fast paced and interesting, with a mystery that continued to puzzle until the very end. For some reason, though, I didn’t particularly like it. I think it was mostly that I found Cass tiresome. Between the way in which she lets her client clearly overstep boundaries from the very beginning to the way in which she seems totally helpless in the face of disaster, I was often frustrated with her. Add to that a solution that, while a true surprise, never felt emotionally “righ.t” I didn’t get that “aha!” feeling at the end, when everything clicked into place; somehow it all felt flat.

Wheat creates some intriguing situations and definitely kept me guessing, but for me the irritation factor was a bit too high.

--Jeri Wright