title: Friends And Lovers
author: Adams, Alexandra
description: A chance encounter between Cassidy Maxwell, a personable, serenely self-sufficient widow seeking a new life in a warmer part of the country, and a grizzled rancher who advises her to take a pasear through a unique community in the Southwest called the Valley, leads to Cassidy's buying a house there.  Her new home comes with the benefit of having fascinating neighbors, including four single, highly individualistic men: two virile martial artists, a shy but likeable builder, and a handsome, debonair, talented architect.  Eventually, the widow not only achieves unlooked-for happiness in an unconventional personal relationship, she also proves the means of enabling two close male friends to overcome dire problems in their own lives.
  A murder mystery arises that proves to have enormous consequences for several of the people for whom Cassidy has come to care deeply.  The suspense mounts, as a grim shadow falls over a group of people who simply can't believe that the person arrested for the crime could have committed it.  A succession of suspenseful twists and turns in this uniquely fascinating narrative leads to a dramatic, heart-wrenching climax.