The fourth installment in the Falcon's End Series by Karen Wiesner & Chris Spindler mixes romance and police work in larger doses than in their previous book, The Fifteenth Letter, also reviewed here at Myshelf. First of all, Romantic Notions explores the burgeoning romance between Officers Amber Carfi and Warren Jensen that was made evident in the third book. But this romance, with its haunted secrets, is overshadowed by the gruesome murder of a young woman who had been raped and stabbed, then cleaned up and posed with a red rose in her hands and an intricate rose ring on her ring finger. Dubbed the "Romantic Notions Killer," the murderer seems most likely to be the dead woman's boyfriend; and Amber and Warren, as well as Detectives Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent, dig deep to find evidence, even putting Amber undercover as a sexy neighbor in the boyfriend's apartment building.

At first, I wondered why there seemed to be another story stream about Danny Vincent and his wife trying to have a baby and facing invasive questions from extended family members every time they had a family get-together. But that story was a foil to Warren's own history with his dead wife and how it complicated his new relationship with Amber. It was a nice touch.

Romantic Notions, however, was a little slow for me because it stressed the romantic scenes more than the police procedures. I really wanted to find out who the murderer was and wasn't much interested in how these people made love, though I did want to find out if they resolved a lot of their personal issues. But this may be just my reaction, because the sexual tension is always so much more intriguing than the act itself. As fans of X-Files would tell you, it was the spark between Mulder and Scully that kept fans glued to their TV sets. When they finally had that first kiss, viewership dropped some.

Neverheless, the ending of Romantic Notions was satisfying and the murderer was who I suspected very early on and was hoping the detectives would hurry up and come to the conclusion I did. It's not too often I know who did it so early.

Still, I would recommend Romantic Notions, especially for romance readers. And, I would want to read more by Karen Wiesner & Chris Spindler.