Book ~ "Sweet Dreams, Irene" (1994) Jan Burke

From Goodreads ~ Irene Kelly is a reporter with a fierce integrity. Detective Frank Harriman is her lover and friend. Now they're both about to be plunged into political hellfire when a ruthless politician rocks a race for district attorney with a stunning allegation: his opponent's son is in the clutches of a satanic cult. The charge takes a fatal turn when a local woman is brutally murdered and the grisly crime scene bears unholy implications. Tracking the clues takes Irene behind the closed doors of an isolated home for troubled youths, where obscuring the truth is only part of a stranger's diabolic game. To win it, Irene will have the devil to pay.

This is the second in this series of nine (as of 2011). I'd read it years ago and am now rereading the series.

I enjoyed this one. It's been a while so I'd forgotten whodunnit so the mystery was still there for me.

I like the characters of Irene and Frank ... they are nice people who have recently found each other and care about each other. The other characters are secondary and there's no one annoying.

There is a kidnapping and beating situation that I thought was a bit extreme ... if anyone had taken that kind of punishment, there's no way they could have survived.

I am looking forward to rereading the third one!