When the first note shows up at the restaurant where he works -- when he isn't designing costumes for a local theater -- Jim Foster laughs it off. When the notes keep coming, he doesn't find the fact that he might have a secret admirer quite so amusing. Alan North, a lonely, bookish customer at the restaurant, is too shy to even think of talking to Jim -- as much as he wants to. Then the killings begin. Two of Jim's friends are murdered in what appear to be muggings. However, the detective in charge of the cases believes they're more than that, and that Jim is either the killer ... or being stalked by one. When Jim and Alan finally connect, can they help find and stop the stalker, or will Alan end up dead before their budding relationship can become more than friendship?

His Secret Admirer

“I almost hope there is another note, tomorrow. Not that there will be. They always showed up Saturday mornings when I arrived at work,” he told Callie when she curled up beside him. With her there, purring softly, he was able to fall asleep, praying that Detective Baines would catch the killer before he struck again. 6


Alan smiled shyly in response when his waitress—he was sure her name was Mazie—handed him a menu. It was Monday morning and he was in his usual spot, at a table for two in the far back corner of Bannock’s.


He’d debated long and hard whether he should return, after promising himself he wouldn’t. He’d seen Jim twice since then. Once at the club and then, all too briefly, when Jim had appeared on stage at the end of the show that he’d costumed.


I’m crazy, coming back here. He never knows that I’m here. Never sees me. Never smiles at me. If I vanished off the face of the earth it wouldn’t bother him because he wouldn’t have a clue


Chapter 15