She’s a lounge singer. He’s a linguistics professor (and a spy). Together they hunt bad guys

Laney Lancaster has been on the run from her monstrous ex-husband for the past two years. While he’s in jail (because of Laney), she knows that there is no way he’d let his many efficient and ruthless henchmen stop looking for her. Hiding as a lounge singer in a hotel in Bangkok, Laney is aware that the brothers of her friend Rajini may be involved with organised crime, but they have also been keeping her safe, with a job and a place to stay. She would love to have other options, but her husbands criminal contact network runs far and wide, and she’s terrified of falling back into his clutches. She’s deeply cautious and barely ever even leaves the hotel grounds, but makes an exception to celebrate her birthday.

Peter Macmillan is an Associate, one of many undercover operatives working where other law enforcement agencies can’t always operate. He used to be a linguistics professor at the top of his field, until he lost all he held dear in a tragic accident and became obsessed with revenge. Using his unique skills of determining minute dialect and speech markers to track those responsible for the accident, he nearly got himself killed, but also caught the attention of the leaders of the Associates and offered a new chance to make a difference. Now he tracks down criminals, terrorists and arms dealers, able to track and identify them from the way they speak and their vocabulary choices. There’s going to be an auction for a devastating new weapon in Bangkok, and Peter needs to track down the arms dealer, based only on the vocabulary quirks caught in the encrypted messages announcing the auction. When he realises that Laney sings in the hotel every night and records herself and everyone surrounding the stage, he realises that this is his best chance to identify the arms dealer. He just needs to get close enough to copy her recordings.

This is another great romantic suspense from Carolyn Crane. My full review is on my blog.