We know what we are going to get when we read a romance/mystery by Jayne Ann Krentz, and her newest novel in a new trilogy, “Sleep No More,” doesn’t disappoint. Krentz is the master at writing suspenseful mysteries that, at their core, are also very much about attraction and romance. We keep reading her novels because of the way she brings new characters, new situations, and new mystery into each new piece.

Interestingly in this trilogy, the three women who will be the main characters in each of the novels met six months prior to the beginning of the first book. Indeed, there was a cataclysmic event that brought them together and bonded them as friends and partners in a new joint enterprise, a podcast appropriately named The Lost Night Files. It’s an appropriate name for the podcast, as all three women lost their memory of a single night they spent together at an abandoned hotel one night in the California desert in Lucent Springs. Since their “lost night,” they have experienced heightened paranormal abilities. Before that fateful night, each had a slight awareness of her paranormal abilities, but after that experience, their sensations were on a different plane. Literally.

When they are contacted by a writer, Ambrose Drake, about an abandoned insane asylum and a missing person that he thought would make a good podcast episode, one of the three women, Pallas Llewellyn, arranges to meet him there. Her paranormal ability is that she can sense emotions and is able to understand them after drawing them on a sketch pad she is never without. We quickly realize that Ambrose Drake also has paranormal abilities, and he can not only see auras on people showing their emotions, he can also sense what they will be doing in the immediate future. Unfortunately, he spent a night at a sleep clinic in Carnelian, where he is pretty sure he witnessed a murder. Since that time, he has been unable to sleep soundly, as he sleepwalks and has found himself in dangerous situations. As a result, he’s not allowed himself to sleep deeply.

It quickly becomes apparent that both Ambrose and Pallas have more in common than just suffering amnesia and having heightened paranormal abilities. There is a connection they feel, but Pallas, especially, is reluctant to allow those feelings to surface as she has not been completely forthcoming to Ambrose about the extent of her abilities.

There are multiple bad guys, red herrings, and a conspiracy that encompasses much more than just what is happening at Carnelian College. There, a mysterious benefactor has donated huge amounts of money with the stipulation that a sleep clinic be established on campus—the same sleep clinic where Ambrose is sure he was drugged and witnessed a murder. Will the pair be able to get to the bottom of the mystery before they suffer the same fate as those who have disappeared?

Readers will enjoy Krentz’s trademark humor as Pallas clumsily stumbles around, avoiding the “hot spots” she senses where there were episodes of heightened emotions (like murder). We also enjoy Ambrose’s humility, as when he tells people he’s an author (a real one; he’s published two books and is under contract for a third. But because of all the sleep problems and anxiety, he’s been unable to write it), they respond that they’ve never heard of him. He says, “Yeah, I get that a lot.” The mystery has equal weight with the romance, but both parallel each other smoothly and effectively. Readers will anticipate getting to know the other two women in the next installment of this very promising trilogy.

Please note: This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.