Title: Rogue Angel: Destiny
Author: Alex Archer
Publisher: Gold Eagle

“…The English commander took Joan’s sword and raised it high. The broadsword, plain and unadorned, gleamed in the firelight. He put the tip against the ground and his foot at the center of the blade. The broadsword shattered, fragments falling into the mud. The crowd surged forward, peasant and soldier, and snatched the shards from the trampled mud. The commander tossed the hilt deep into the crowd. Smoke almost obscured Joan, but she continued praying till the end, until finally the flames climbed her body and she sagged against the restraints.”

“Joan of Arc died that fateful day in France, but her legend and sword are reborn… with Rogue Angel.”

Conspiracies, puzzles, secret societies and alternate history are timeless obsessions. My favorite movies when I was a kid were high-adventure stories like Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Solomon’s Mines and Romancing the Stone. Most recently, some of my best guilty pleasures are flicks like Tomb Raider and National Treasure. One of my favorite new escape reading discoveries is the first installment of the Rogue Angel series, Destiny.

Annja Creed is an archeologist working for a sensationalist TV show called Chasing History’s Monsters. Our heroine is a sexy, tough, independent woman with undiscovered depths and a penchant for sharp objects. While on assignment researching the Beast of Gevaudan, she uncovers a deeper conspiracy, and an unexpected connection to Joan of Arc. With a mix of martial arts, clever tricks, blind luck and intelligence, she battles with greed, religion and the supernatural. Seemingly unrelated plotlines are skillfully intertwined for an edge of your seat read.

I really liked the development of the key characters in this tale, both the good and the evil. For the most part, they’re believable as well. One of my requirements for getting lost in a good book is that I want a minimal amount of pausing to say, “no freaking way”, and this delivered.

This will appeal to the armchair adventurer in you, and I’ll give it a B+. I'm also anxiously waiting to read the rest of the books in this series.

Annja’s story continues in September 2006 with Solomon’s Jar, and The Spider Stone in November 2006.