Close Encounters

Accidentally wounded in a police bust gone terribly wrong, African-American woman Carol Taggert finds herself re-evaluating her views on race and romance when one of the cops present that fateful evening--a handsome white man--begins to show interest in her. By the author of Family Affairs. Original.

A late-night dog-walking jaunt lands heroine Carol Taggert in the cross fire of an undercover drug bust in Kitt's (Family Affairs) latest African-American romance novel. It seems the bullet wound Carol sustains is not from a criminal but from Lt. Lee Grafton's gun. The divorced police officer and Carol immediately connect over a shared artistic sensibility, and he plays guardian to her as she recovers. Their attraction, however, faces a major roadblock. The heroine, after all, is an innocent black woman, and, by all appearances, was recently shot by a white cop. Carol is urged by friends and family to sue, but she does not want to become part of a media circus. Her musings over whether to file a lawsuit will strike readers as endless and her eventual decision seems an odd, unsupported choice. Kitt enlivens the tale with a dangerous felonAwho was on the scene the night of Carol's injury and fears being framed for the botched incidentAstalking Carol with deadly intentions. The interracial aspect of the love affair is handled very well, and the main characters are a good fit. Still, the novel fails to sustain the energy and interest established early on. (July)
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