Jayne Ann Krentz begins a new contemporary/paranormal/romantic suspense series with Copper Beach. The main characters are Abby Radwell and Sam Coppersmith. Abby works as a dealer in the rare paranormal book market because she has the unique talent of being able to unlock encrypted books. Unfortunately, her family is far more likely to think that she is crazy than to celebrate her talent. In fact, they sent her to a special boarding school in her youth to "cure" her. She made lifelong friends among the other students with paranormal talents and developed a distance from her family. She also became very self-reliant and confident in her skills. She has also become very reluctant to trust anyone outside of her small circle.When Abby begins to be blackmailed, she is directed to Sam Coppersmith. Sam is the son of the head of Coppersmith Inc which made its fortune in the rare earths business. He also has paranormal skills. He takes one look at Abby and falls in love. Naturally, he is determined to solve her problem and along the way solve his too. His girlfriend was murdered by someone trying to break into his home lab and his family is searching for a lab book that contains experiments on some dangerous crystals the his father and his partners discovered years ago. Sam is a typical Krentz hero. He is attractive, single-minded and very, very competent. He is also dangerous.This story was a fast-paced thriller as Abby and Sam try to track down the person (or people) who want the encrypted lab book and who are willing to kidnap Abby and kill anyone who gets in their way. The dynamics between the two of them as they slowly find their way to romance was very engaging. I loved Abby's reluctance to trust and her constant effort to keep the relationship between them a business one. I also liked Sam's desire to protect Abby and his need to get her to see their relationship the way he sees it.This was an excellent romantic suspense title filled with fascinating characters. I was really fond of Abby's dog - Newton - who was, as Sam says, a condo-sized junkyard dog. I recommend this one to JAK's many fans and for fans of the paranormal in their romantic suspense.
