About NIGHT KILLS
Maggie Winner 1999

In a small town, everybody knows everybody... The local good–time girl has just been brutally murdered, shattering the tranquillity of Lee Cates's sleepy Southern hometown. Everyone in Comfrey is relieved when an outsider who'd spent that fatal night with the victim is arrested––until it begins to look like maybe he's not guilty. Rashly probing into the murder, the blindly loyal Lee learns that not everybody loved the fast–living woman––though too many men had. Then one night Lee's business is vandalized, and more mysterious events ensue. And Lee realizes––maybe too late––that in a community this small, one sister's secrets may lead to the other's death... **Five Stars, Winner of Prestigious Maggie Award

Avon ISBN 0380792206 December 2004

Reader Comments & Reviews

Five Stars - "...escalating events of mounting suspense tied together by a difficult to detect common denominator. NIGHT KILLS is true suspense that scares the audience at every twist and turn."
—Harriet Klausner, Romantic Times

"A riveting read... I loved it.
—Janet Evanovich, author of To the Nines

"Lee is typical Hughes heroine – quick-tempered, independent and smart-mouthed, but also warm-hearted."
—The Mystery Reader

"Hughes's clear language is a pleasure to read."
—Publisher’s Weekly

"Lee's sister, Lucy, has been brutally murdered. Lucy had been married to a wife abuser for many years. After a fire that scarred her, the plastic surgeon made her into a beauty so she used her beauty to taunt and tease the married men in the community. She had adopted a son who at seventeen years old, is a troubled youth who feels unloved. Lee is devastated at her sister's death and wants to take care of her son, Stevie.

Jack McCall came to town to inherit his father's vast estate. He is bitter because his father had always shunned him and when events took place that made him lose his license to practice law, he moved to Florida and took menial jobs and drank too much. He remembered meeting Lucy and even bringing her home the night of her murder, but he knew that he hadn't killed her even though the police thought that he did. He was determined to find the real murderer and to protect Lee.

There are several people involved in this twisted tale of murder and madness. The old man, Hyram, seemed to know more then he is willing to say and Lee's friend, Wade, is suddenly wanting more than friendship. Who wanted to see Lucy suffer so much and to die in such a gory way?

This is a gritty story with a few inconsistencies but overall, a very good read. The hero sees his salvation in the strong and determined heroine and she is attracted to his tenderness as well as his strength. Charlotte Hughes romantic suspense novels are not to be missed."
—Reviewed by Marilyn Heyman

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