Sam’s boyfriend, private investigator Gabe Pulizzi, has bought the adjoining office space to her dating service, Heart Mates. The plans are to tear down the adjoining wall, slap on a fresh coat of paint, lay down some carpeting and work together. Sam continues to run Heart Mates and works towards getting her PI license by moonlighting for Gabe. However, it’s not going as smoothly as she had hoped. Gabe’s brother is in town and the two are fighting constantly. Sam is feeling like a nuisance and worse, thinks Gabe is shutting her out of his life. She’s a single mom with two young boys to raise. She cannot let a man break her heart – there’s just no time. Lucky for our girl that murder soon takes her mind off her love life.

Magician Shane Masters is in town to perform a magic show that MTV is broadcasting. Shane used to be a protégé of Sam’s grandfather, Barney, a magician who mentored many magic enthusiasts over the years. However he cut Shane off when he learned Shane was doing “spoiler” shows. Essentially his act revolves around revealing magician secrets – showing the audiences how it’s all done. Shane takes it once step further by targeting one particular magician and revealing their whole act.

It’s not long before someone threatens Shane and he points the finger at Barney. Sam is determined to protect her beloved grandfather and starts snooping around. Then Shane ends up murdered, and Sam’s investigation gets a bit more complicated.

Apodaca continues her trend of seamlessly blending romance and mystery with Thrilled To Death. While the mystery is always center stage, the relationship between Sam and Gabe also takes on a new dimension in this installment. Naturally gun-shy thanks to a philandering former husband, Sam is taking cautious steps towards a deeper commitment. Nevertheless, with his and her sets of emotional baggage, it’s not always smooth sailing. Sam and Gabe do argue, but they argue about real issues that real couples tackle every day. Their relationship is never going to be perfect, but they are trying.

The tone of the mystery is always light and fun, with the crimes still taking on a serious tone. This time around Sam finds her family directly affected, as Barney is her father figure. She depends on him deeply, as do her two boys. The very idea that he is threatened sends her protective instincts into overdrive, and that is what keeps her motivated. While the character has always exhibited a tendency towards bumbling, Apodaca wisely keeps the slapstick to a minimum. Sure Sam has a tendency to ruin clothing while working a case, but back her against a wall and she’ll gouge your eyes out. Threaten someone she loves and she’ll fight to the death.

There’s a lot going on here, with not only the romance and mystery – but also the wide array of secondary characters. Several other magicians show up in Lake Elsinore, California, providing a bevy of suspects. In addition, Detective Logan Vance is back on the scene threatening to kill Sam – or kiss her. He can’t decide which. However, as always, Sam keeps the banter up with Vance while making it well known that she can barely handle the one man she’s got in her life right now. Besides, Gabe isn’t about to let Sam out of his sights.

This is book five in a series, and while Apodaca brings some history into play, readers looking for more in depth character development might find themselves wishing they had started with book one. However, as a whole, this story stands alone very well and is fun and frothy way to spend an afternoon. Gabe and Sam continue to sizzle off the page, with Vance not doing so bad himself. The mystery is fun, but manages to convey the necessary serious tone that murder does imply. It was nice to see Sam in action, not only slightly bumbling, but kicking butt as well. This is one former soccer mom you don’t want to mess with.

--Wendy Crutcher