Title: The Watchman's Circle
Author: Kerrie Dobran
Published in December 2002 by New Concepts Publishing
Genre: Mystery
ISBN: 1-58608-403-8
Maya Jaspers is a domestic violence prosecuting attorney for the city of Phoenix. She lives out in the middle of nowhere where the nearest neighbor lives miles away. Her home, much like herself, is a work in progress. Until Maya can heal wounds inflicted in the past, she has no desire to work on her run down house. Maya is a very lonely and vulnerable woman, with a terribly violent childhood and a very bad marriage under her belt, she has to constantly fight to go on. Maya believes that pain is what makes her strong. She also believes this pain is a necessary part of life and a necessary part of love. She believes pain is something that she could change, if she wanted to, but she doesn’t want to. She also has to fight the feelings of abandonment. She keeps motivational messages on her bathroom mirror to look at everyday to keep her motivated to do her job. After her mother died from domestic abuse, Maya used her experience with mother’s plight as a motivator to go out and get the bad guy. After seven years of domestic violence prosecution, it hadn’t jaded her. It had only dulled her passion for it.
When Maya sees her fellow colleague, Elyse Tannen’s, beaten body lying the desert, ghosts from her past came back to haunt her. Based on the evidence found, the prime suspect is Elyse’s husband, Charlie Tannen. A memory of her mother’s beaten and broken face arises which causes nightmares for her. This murder also caused old wounds to reopen. Memories of her cruel and vicious ex husband also assail her. She is trying to put that part of her life behind her. Before the bail hearing, while holding the case box that could seal Charlie’s fate, Maya meets Guy Tannen. When they first meet, they size each other up and there is instant animosity and attraction. Maya is the prosecuting attorney in this case and Guy is Charlie Tannen’s defense attorney.
Guy Tannen is a rich, big shot divorce lawyer who hides behind fancy suits and an arrogant manner to disguise his pain and suffering. Wallowing in the guilt from his past, Guy is a very lonely and guilt ridden man. Because of tragic events from his past, he feels he has debts to pay. After losing his wife to breast cancer two years before, Guy cannot get over the guilt of being at a court hearing instead of being with his wife when she died. Guy is no stranger to tragedy. Memories of his dead brother overwhelm him. Because he believes that silence is preservation, he never spoke out when he should have. Guilt over his selfishness and the promise to his wife before she died that he would make family a priority is what motivates him to do the right thing now.
Guy’s foster brother, Charlie Tannen, is in big trouble for allegedly brutally murdering his wife. Because of a childhood secret and his promise to his dying wife to mend his workaholic ways, Guy feels that he owes his brother his legal help in order to prove his innocence. Guy does not particularly like his brother, because of the way his brother abused his wife and the way Charlie treated him as a child. Guy had not seen nor talked to his brother in years before Elyse’s death. Before Guy talks to his brother he is unsure whether his brother is innocent or not, but after talking to him Guy sets out to prove his brother innocent. At the bail hearing Guy meets up with his opponent Maya Jaspers. When they first meet the sparks seem to fly immediately and Guy finds Maya more attractive than he remembered her to be.
Kerrie Droban does an excellent job of keeping the reader spellbound in this wonderful story. Maya is being stalked and threatened while Guy is probing for evidence to prove his brother innocent. As they spend more time together, the more their feelings grow for each other. With them being on opposite sides in this murder case, they try to suppress their feelings for each other. Is someone out there framing Charlie Tannen for his wife’s murder? Or is Charlie Tannen, a known wife beater, guilty as they come? Will Maya and Guy unlock the mystery of The Watchman’s Circle? Also, will Maya and Guy be able to work together to help each other put their tormented pasts behind them?
The Watchman’s Circle was a new one for me. I am not normally interested in police stories, but this one had my attention throughout the whole book. I have never read anything quite like this before. I liked watching Maya and Guy come closer together with their budding romance and them working together to try and solve this murder case. I felt that Maya and Guy were such real people that I could have met people like them on the street somewhere. Their lives were something many people could relate to. I could even relate to some of things that Guy and Maya went through in their lifetime. Mysteries are not my normal reading material but I really liked The Watchman’s Circle and would recommend it to anyone. I believe that anyone who is looking for something new and different to read, then they should try this book. I am going to look for Kerrie Droban’s backlist because I will gladly read more of her work. The Watchman’s Circle by Kerrie Droban was published by New Concepts Publishing in December 2002.
Enjoying good romance,
Rachel Merkley
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