The Stargazer

Michele Jaffe's sensual new novel Stargazer, set against the exquisitebackground of Renaissance Venice, is the story of a brilliant and beautifuldoctor's daughter and the aristocratic rogue who crosses her path. Eachsuspects the other of killing a well-known courtesan; when they're forcedto team up to prove their innocence, sparks fly. Jaffe is a Renaissancescholar, so she knows the era -- and she knows the romance as well: this istimeless historical fiction, with the kind of luminous heat that shinesfrom the romance shelves.