Please Don't Tell by Elizabeth Adler - A Book Club Discussion

Please Don't Tell was a page-turner filled with several interesting characters.  There was Fen Dexter, a 50-something aunt who's quiet life has settled her in a cottage nestled on a cliff high above the roaring ocean of Big Sur, a small community located between Carmel and San Francisco in California.  Beside Fen is Hector, a Labrador she rescued twelve years earlier when she first bought the cottage. Her niece Vivian (Vivi) Dexter is an ER doctor in a large San Francisco hospital.  Jane Cecelia (JC) Dexter is a wannabe pop star who is facing the fact that at twenty-eight, her dreams have slid out from beneath her leaving her lost, broke, and alone.

On top of the Dexter family, there is Alex Patcevich, a man who shows up at Fen's cottage on a dark, stormy night with a knife in hand, claiming to have wrecked his car into a tree at the top of her driveway.  Doctor Ralph Sandowsky, a renowned psychiatrist and international speaker who holds a practice at the hospital.  And Brad Merlin and Jerusalem (Jerry) Guiterrez, both Detectives with the San Francisco Police Department.  And let's not forget Flyin', Brad's pink poodle sidekick.

After Alex arrives at Fen's cottage during the storm, bloody from a head injury and a knife in hand, she has to figure out if he's telling her the truth.  Meanwhile, Vivian works to save a young female patient with life threatening injuries.  When the woman is treated and sent up for emergency surgery, Vivi learns from Detective Merlin that she is the fourth victim left behind by a local serial killer.  It's imperative that she remain alive.

While the always optimistic Fen decides that Alex Patcevich is who he says he is, she indulges in an evening of food, wine and conversation that leaves her quite smitten.  Vivian, on the other hand, who has just broken up with her French fiance, finds herself with two dates before leaving her shift at the hospital.  One with Dr. Ralph, and the other with Detective Merlin.  Upon arriving at her apartment, she finds JC on her doorstep, clothes in hand with no place else to go.

I don't want to give you spoilers so I will say that this story takes off from here, each of the characters spiraling around each other, romance sparking, and all the while, a killer hides among them.  As the puzzle pieces come together, you as the reader make your own conclusions.  There is a climatic ending as well as new beginnings for some of the characters.  I'll leave you to figure out which ones.

I found this to be an entertaining read and would recommend it.  If you read the book, let me know your thoughts about it.  Did you enjoy it?  Did you figure out the plot before it unfolded on the pages?  Would you read another Elizabeth Adler novel?