Temptress - Lisa Jackson

I always thoughts that Lisa Jackson wrote contemporary thrillers so it was with some surprise I heard of a medieval mystery. Medieval is my favourite period in history so when A. offered to lend it to me I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by.

I quite liked the the idea behind it: a wounded and unrecognisable man is found unconscious at the castle gates. The ring he wears makes everyone think he may be Carrick de Wybren, a man known to have abandoned Morwenna - the lady of the castle - after seducing her and believed to have set the fire that murdered his own family.
At the same time another assassin lurks in the shadows spying and planning other murderers.

We are gradually made aware of the story behind each of the characters at the same time the wounded man's health improves and he starts to question his identity and the identity the others give him. He has to comje to terms with the fact he may have done some terrible actions...

However I was very disappointed that right in the middle of all this emotional turmoil the author makes Morwenna and "Carrick" fall in lust and engage in a night of passion. That was, from my point of view, totally unnecessary to the actions and happens when Morwenna is still not sure who the stranger is. I found that unbelievable because the whole book reads like a mystery - who killed Carrick's family?, who is the wounded man? who is killing now? - and suddenly we have some hot sex scenes thrown in. The romance could have been a bonus but this way it ruined the story for me.

I was hopping the final chapters would redeem it some how with the mysteries being solved but it didn't happen. The killer was a surprise but again the romance bits grated on my nerves. New characters are added just because there has to be closure regarding past events and once again I couldn't see why the two main characters should have feelings for each other. Can't get into the reasons for that because it would be a spoiler but I would love to discuss this one with someone who has already read it.

I would have given this one a B if it had just been a mystery but this way it falls into the C category.