Cover of Night: a novel by Linda Howard

Surprising twist*** May 30,2007

This novel starts in a small town called Trail Stop which might better be called Trail's End. Cate Nightingale, who lost her husband to an infection in Seattle, has moved to Trail Stop to run a B&B. Her problems start when a guest goes missing one morning, leaving his stuff behind. She packs away his suitcase and goes on with her life, briefly. Unfortunately the missing guest is a CA who has a flash drive with all the financial files of a big gangster. He is demanding a large sum for the return of the drive. But instead of paying the ransom the gangster boss hires assassins to track down the CA and the drive. This takes them to Trail Stop and Cate's B&B. Handyman Cal comes to Cate's aid and sends the two thugs packing. They come back with reinforcements and blockade the town, killing seven citizens. Cate discovers that Cal is a former Special Forces member who came to Trail Stop to see his former commander Joshua Creed, became smitten with Cate and stayed. Cate has a long history of mountain climbing and Cal has some so they decide to climb the mountains behind the town to go for help. Cal puts his skills to deadly use and dispatches a couple of the killers while the rest are betrayed by a comrade who hates his boss.

This novel starts slowly and you think it's a Harlequin romance until the plot takes a turn for the dramatic partway through.