Most of Sheldon's books have characters similar to Lara Cameron, although she is much less vulnerable than earlier heroines. Sheldon's heroines seem to find Mafia leaders irresistible. His Jennifer Parker, in Rage of Angels (1980), first opposes but later has an affair with Michael Moretti, a New York racketeer. In The Sands of Time (1988), Lucia Carmine, whose family in Sicily has strong Mafia ties, hides in a convent in Spain after avenging the murder.