Emergency room physician and former Air Force Flight Surgeon, K. Carothers shows that she’s as talented with the pen as the scalpel in An Eternity in a Moment, a page-turning romance crossed with detective mystery plus a pinch of the paranormal.
Carothers’ protagonist, Dr. Erin Pryce, is a talented and driven Boston emergency room doctor with a tragic past she hoped to outrun when she left New Dublin, Wisconsin, years earlier. But when she learns that her closest childhood friend, the witty and wise-beyond-her-years Jenna, is dying from cancer, she returns to New Dublin to help and to confront her shadows.
There, Erin encounters Luke Mathis, another childhood connection and now the town’s detective, sparking sizzling chemistry and launching two driving mysteries, one of the heart and the other a lethal whodunit that has gripped the town. As present collides with past, a tense tug of war unfurls between motives, passion, and reason.
Carothers has created an authentic world. The rich medical details are insightful and add to the tale, and erotic scenes are elegantly written and natural. Paranormal experiences, especially revelations about Erin’s mother and grandmother from a blind girl with a sixth sense, poignantly deepen the story’s mysteries.
Generally fast-paced, the narrative lags in a few places due to either too much dialogue or backstory. Most of these are easily overlooked, with one exception: During a life-and-death emergency in the denouement, Erin tells a dying man, “Stay right here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” But instead of running for help, she stays and engages in a long philosophical discussion with him, leaving readers feeling as if the young man —and the story—will expire on the spot.
This aside, Carothers delivers an excellent romance-detective story, tight in plot, pacing, and character. The author plants two mysteries in the narrative that remain unsolved to entice us back to the town of New Dublin for a sequel. That will be a treat.
Also available in hardcover, ebook and audio book.
