Sacred Sins: A Novel (D.C. Detectives)

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for years and I have finally gotten around to reading it. It is, by far, one of the best Nora Roberts books I've ever read. It has everything-suspense, murder and romance and they don't get much better than this. The detective Ben Paris couldn't have been molded any more perfectly and Tess was pretty likeable even given her determination, as a pyschiatrist, to treat the man who ultimately tries to kill her. I loved the relationship between Ed and Ben and the dialogue, again, couldn't have been written any better. This is one of those books that you don't want to start reading unless you have a lot of free time because it's hard to put down. The only complaint I have is that it didn't end with much of a bang. A surprise, but not really a bang. It would have been more exciting, I think, to see Ben lose a little control.

The novel Sacred Sins is an exhilarating adventure involving a woman and a man on a trail of a crazy killer. During the story they find themselves on the verge of dangerously falling in love. This novel will make you want to keep reading and reading until you reach the end. While reading the novel there will be many moments that will make you want to flip to the last few pages to figure out the ending of the novel. The novel Sacred Sins begins at the end of a miserable two-week long heat wave in Washington D.C. The heat wave is the city?s top news story. But the headlines quickly change when a young woman is found strangled to death with a priest?s white silk amice pulled firmly around her throat. Pinned to the priest?s amice is a note that simply reads her sins have forgiven her. This first murder is followed by a second and then a third and then a fourth. Soon the young woman?s death becomes the front page story in all local papers. Suddenly the headlines have nicknamed the murderer as ?The Priest.? The slayings of these young women catches the attention of Dr. Tess Court, a superlative psychiatrist dedicated to treating the problems of the human mind. With the police making little progress in solving the crimes of ?The priest?, Dr. Court is called in to create a detailed psychological profile of the murderer; she come up with a troubling portrait of a twisted soul who believes he is not committing murders, but rather ministering to his victims. Detective Ben Pairs does not care at all about the killer?s mind. He makes his opinion very clear to everyone that calling in a psychiatrist is useless act that will not help solve the crimes. Even though Detective Paris objects to the meddling of a psychiatrist in the case. He can not face the fact that he can?t dismiss his attraction to Dr. Court. He finds Dr. Court very attractive and irresistible. Detective Paris is a very tall, handsome, and dark skinned man with a reputation that is well-known with the ladies. However, Dr. Court does not react to Detective Pairs like the other women in his life. Now that Detective Pairs and Dr. Court are thrown into solving the murders together the flames of wild hot passion are soon ignited. But someone else has their eye on this beautiful tall blonde, someone who dreams of cleaning her soul and saving her from all of her sins. Dr. Court starts receiving telephone calls from ?the priest.? She is sure that she can help the madman with counseling. Detective Pairs worries if he will be able to keep Dr. Court from becoming ?the priest?s? next victim. Will Detective Paris be able to put a stop to ?the priest?s? reign of terror? Will Dr. Court be able to stop him with counseling before time runs out? Will Detective Pairs and Dr. Court find love with each other? This book is definitely a page turner for anyone who is into murder mysteries with a touch of love mixed in. I would recommend the novel Sacred Sins to any murder mystery lover. I would also recommend th

I love Nora Robert's books and have yet to find mediocrity in her work. This book is no exception. Although it's one of her earlier works, the only way you can tell is by looking at the copyright page. I won't bore you with the details of the storyline except to say that as usual, there is a strong current of love that runs through the story with the bad guy being who you least expect. This is definitely a must read. If you've read some of her other books I'll term "whodunits", you won't be disappointed. And you'll never guess who the bad guy is, just like you never really can with her other works of this genre.

I agree with those reviewers who are calling Sacred Sins somewhat dated and formulaic because it does feel that way if you're reading it now for the first time. But as a long-time Nora fan who read Sacred Sins when it was first released back in 1990, I'd just like to remind everybody that this was the START of Nora's career!! These two characters, more than any others from earlier books illustrate the archetype characters that we know and love Nora for! Ben Paris is a classic hero and still possibly my favorite Nora hero, though it's a tough call after all this time. I don't think Sacred Sins should have been released again in hardcover - that seems like a stretch. But if you're just discovering romantic suspense, and just discovering Nora, to start with Sacred Sins and build from there is exactly what her career did. I am a grateful and appreciative fan, more than a decade later. I guess it's all in the perspective. At a recent Nora booksigning I chose to have Sacred Sins and The Villa signed because they represent to me the spectrum of her career and my following of it.

In March of 1997, I asked readers of Nora Roberts & Patricia Cornwell to convince me which author's stories I should try next. I was convinced to try Nora -- with a little nudge from Nora (she posts on boards on AOL). Nora suggested that I pick up a couple of her titles from used bookstores and see if I liked them or not.My first read was SACRED SINS. Now, a year and a half later, my life has completely changed -- all due to reading this WINNER and meeting Nora & her wonderful, wonderful fans (w/them, we created a website in Nora's honor!).I digress.Why should you read SACRED SINS? When I first read it, I could NOT put it down. I wanted to not only read about the developing relationship between Ben & Tess, but I also wanted to find out who was killing these women in Washington, D.C. My initial impression was that it was a good, fast read.Then, in June, I re-read it. It was even BETTER the second time around. In fact, I put it right up there as my favorite romantic/suspense stories of Nora's -- with DIVINE EVIL, MONTANA SKY, CARNAL INNOCENCE, & her DEATH books.Why is SACRED SINS such a great read? First, you have a very believable killer. Second, you have real cops in Ben & in Ed (read BRAZEN VIRTUE for Ed's story) -- their rapport is outstanding. Third, you have a very true-to-heart developing relationship between Tess & Ben. Fourth, Tess is extremely convincing as a psychiatrist. Her attempts to reach Joey were so compelling -- I wanted to reach into the book & slap his parents -- this was as real as it gets. Nora wrenched my heart w/it.This is an excellent story to give to a NON-reader of romances -- who believes that he/she knows what romances are all about. While there is romance in this story, the emphasis is on the suspense -- wondering who the killer really is.