Everyone likes a good “meet cute” story. When billionaire Logan Crawford spills his coffee all over Philadelphia heiress Emma Brockton Wadsworth, you almost have to sigh. Ah, true love. Unfortunately, that’s about as good as it gets. Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception is basically all over the place, and with so much intrigue and chicanery going on, the romance gets lost in the shuffle.

Emma is the proverbial poor little rich girl. Her parents died in a car accident when she was young, and she was tenderly raised by her trustees, a group of Philadelphia’s old guard (with an emphasis on the old. Since then, she’s been the darling of the city. Though she’s well known for her philanthropy, Emma’s married life was a private hell. Her ex-husband Phillip conned her into marriage at an early age, and though he presented a good face to the public, in private he was cruel, abusive, and unfaithful. Emma really wasn’t too upset when she saw him dead on the bedroom floor nearly six months ago.

When Logan comes into her life, he changes everything. After spilling his coffee on her sweater, he feels like inviting her out is the least he can do. They end up spending an entire day and night together, and Logan falls instantly in love. Coincidentally, Logan had an epiphany the night before, when he was in bed with someone else. After nearly two decades of womanizing, it’s time to settle down. But convincing Emma that he’s serious about her is not easy. She is wary of all men after her bad experience with Phillip, and she doesn’t believe she is deserving of love.

While Emma is in the midst of all this angst, two people plot to ruin her life. First is her husband’s ex-mistress Leslee, who, as it happens, was the last person Logan slept with, and who is dying to take her down. Similarly, a DA (one of the city’s mayoral candidates) blames her for everything that’s ever happened to him, and he is determined to send Emma to jail. If you think revealing the villains is a huge spoiler, not to worry; the reader is in on their identities from the get-go, and is privy to every last evil plan. Since Emma and Logan fall in love more or less instantly, they are free to spend the rest of the book fighting the villains and trying to figure out why they want Emma in prison in the first place.

As you may have guessed, this is not particularly romantic. Perhaps the bigger problem is that it is not particularly believable. The whole premise for the plot against Emma requires tremendous suspension of disbelief, and I really had trouble buying any of it. I understand how women can feel helplessly trapped in an abusive marriage; I’ve even seen it. But I had trouble believing that a wealthy woman would be so easily cowed by her evil husband. She didn’t seem to have any resources at her disposal, either as an abused wife or later as an accused thief/murderer, which just didn’t make sense. Her rights are completely trampled on at every turn, most tellingly when she has a bail hearing without an attorney present. The reader is left shaking her head at a plot that is neither romantic or credible.

Adding to the outlandishness of the plot is the cast of mustache-twirling villains. Granted, there are some truly evil people in the world, but these folks have no shades of gray in their personalities. Leslee is probably the worst. She’s a conniving other woman who:

• Slept with the heroine’s evil husband
• Tried to land Logan in her bed (again)
• Staged a public scene to embarrass Emma
• Planted evidence
• Participated in a splendid series of international crimes
• Tried to have someone else killed, and
• Had a nasty cocaine habit.

The other villains are of the same ilk. If you are fond of subtlety – or villains with more depth than a mud puddle – you’re bound to find this lot dissatisfying. Too bad so much of the book centers on their antics.

Somewhere behind the villainy and lame plotting, there is a decent book that’s just dying to get out. Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception actually has a sense of place, which is a big plus in my book. I couldn’t remember the last time I read a book set in Philadelphia, and after a decade and a half of romance reading, I really appreciate novel settings. Also, Emma was a perfectly nice person (once she stopped blaming herself for her past and overcame all the evil plotting). And while Logan’s abrupt transformation and tumble into love is a little hard to believe, his devotion to Emma is immediate and exemplary.

If this book were a rough draft, I’d advise the author to pump up the romance, give her villains a little humanity, and rein in the plot so it wasn’t so far-fetched. As the book is actually a finished product sitting on the shelves, I’d give it a pass and hope for better from this author next time.