Jordan Langley, computer programmer, hermit, and brooding male hero, possesses the ability to sense and share other people’s emotions. This a rather uncomfortable gift and after experiencing the death of a child, he retreats to a sequestered life. When his best friend’s brother-in-law is murdered, Jordan is reluctantly dragged into the noise and inconvenience of normal living once again. The only witness to the murder is a ten year old autistic child and Jordan’s friend, a detective, hopes Jordan can read the child and find out who the killer might be.

Lauren Sadler is actually the detective assigned to the case. She’s a skeptic until she sees Jordan’s calming effect on the child…and experiences it herself. Then lust and need kick in. Cue steamy sex scene. But Lauren has her own insecurities and secrets and the thought of Jordan being able to uncover them drives her away.

Will Lauren be able to find the murderer before the murderer finds Jordan? Will Jordan be able to convince Lauren to let him help heal her broken heart? And will either of them be able to articulate their needs outside the bedroom?

The answer to all the questions is ,of course, yes, but you’ll have to read the story to see how the plot unfolds. Bonnie Dee deftly misdirects the reader away from the murderer in this short tale of wounded anti-hero meets tough-exteriored heroine. I initially cringed at the introduction of Mike, the autistic boy, thinking that Jordan’s gift might be used to “fix” the boy. But Ms. Dee steers clear of unrealistic-rainbow-and-sunshine there and instead, focuses on the unique attributes of an autistic person. For that alone, she deserves a bravo. The characters are well-drawn with believable motives and neither hero nor heroine do things just to further the plot along (no TSTL heroine here, hurrah). If you want a short mystery with a bit of sex to whet your appetite, you can’t go wrong with Empath.