Berkeley, California - Present Day

Thirty years ago, Eileen Stafford was meeting her ex-lover in an alley. She had no idea why he wanted to see her after eight months. Maybe what happened when she got pregnant will be overlooked now. But, when she sees her man and another woman walk up and make love against a wall, and then he kills the woman, Eileen flees in terror, only to get caught miles away with the murder gun in the front seat of her car. He always said "I can do anything...I own this town."

Now, thirty years later, Eileen is dying of cancer in the prison hospital, and only one man will try to prove her innocence and find her child so that perhaps she can get a bone marrow transplant. What will be Eileen's fate?

Miranda Lang is a Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley and has just written a book about the Mayan civilization, her passion. As all writers know, bookstores love to have authors come visit and read from their work, answer questions, and sign their books. Miranda's first book signing doesn't get off to a good start when a wild eyed man stands up to debate with her about the end of civilization as the Mayans predicted will happen in December, 2012. But a strange man in the back of the bookstore saves Miranda before a riot begins, and takes her to dinner. Is it just luck that Adrien Fletcher, Australian hunk and bodyguard, is attending a Mayan reading in California?

Adrien Fletcher is a Bullet Catcher, employed by them as a bodyguard, investigator, whatever is needed. Lucy Sharpe runs Bullet Catchers, and despite her reluctance, Adrien is working during is month off helping his mate Jack Culver. After a bad situation a year ago, Jack Culver is working for himself, trying to prove a woman was wrongly accused of murder thirty years ago, before she dies in a prison hospital. She gave up a baby girl for adoption at birth, and if they can just find her, perhaps a bone marrow transplant will work. Adrien has already checked with two other possible women who might have been the daughter, and Miranda is the next. There is only way to identify the daughter -- a tattoo somewhere on her body. Fletch is just the guy to give Miranda the "once over" and investigate every inch of her body. What a job!

Fletch persuades Miranda she needs his help and protection after the incident at the book signing. Together they drive to a place called Canopy, a real life model of Maya ruins built in the California desert by a fabulously wealthy couple. What was supposed to be a book signing and meeting with influential fans turns into a time of wonder and fear as they investigate all the features of the ruins and the weird personality of their hostess. Fletch is still trying to get the opportunity for an up close and personal look at Miranda's body to find the tattoo, and Miranda can't believe the safety and strength she feels whenever she's in Fletch's presence. No matter what, she knows she can trust him with all that she is. Oh, oh, I see disappointment and heartbreak ahead if she finds out Fletch's true reason for being with her.

Roxanne St. Claire is keeping up with her gloriously capable operatives and interesting storylines in FIRST YOU RUN. Not many authors have made Mayan history a central element, and here it works well. Whether or not Mayan history says the world will end in December 2012 or not, I certainly believe it and wonder why I had never heard of it. (Maybe I'm not a great Mayan aficionado, you think?) Written mainly from Fletch's and Miranda's points of view, along with some insights from Lucy Sharpe, action is always at a peak, and the sexual tension can ratchet up at any moment.

An unusual cast of characters adds spice and drama to our story. Victor Blake and his wife, Dona Talina Vasquez-Marcesa, have built a replica of a Mayan city and all its accompanying pyramids and statues in the middle of the California desert. The wild-eyed man keeps popping up at odd times, and his Armageddon Movement can be up to no good. Lucy Sharpe, head of Bullet Catchers, rules with an iron fist, especially when confronted with Jack Culver, ex-Bullet Catcher and a source of disappointment whom she considers a liar. Maybe a story between them someday, hmmm?

FIRST YOU RUN is the first in a series of three books trying to find the person who can provide the bone marrow for Eileen Stafford, and maybe solve the thirty-year-old murder she has spent her life in jail paying for. If you love the Bullet Catchers and their cast of hunky investigators, full of action and drop-dead good looks, you will be fascinated with this action-packed start to an exciting trio of stories.

Carolyn Crisher