Meet Me In Venice

St, Martin's Jul 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780312364472

Thirty-eight years old American expatriate Precious "Preshy" Rafferty loves living in Paris. She especially enjoys owning and running an antique shop, but also frets that she has never met the right one though she has had her lovers. That is until now when she meets American businessman Bennett James at a caf ; he is visiting the city but is based six thousand miles away in Shanghai.

At about the same time in Shanghai, Preshy's cousin antique dealer Lily Song possesses a valuable necklace that others covet. Especially wanting to steal and sell the jewelry is Mary-Lou Chen. Her lover, American businessman Bennett Yuan, is halfway around the world seeking a buyer. Lily warns Preshy that a schemer seeks the latter's necklace and the former's inheritance. The cousins who never met before agree to meet in Venice where they hope to expose the thieves even as Preshy wonders who to trust, her cousin or her lover.

Suspense readers will want to meet Elizabeth Adler in Venice as this fast-paced thriller is loaded with fascinating characters who have no qualms about underworld trafficking except apparently the naive heroine. Preshy is precious as she finally finds love, but her cousin raises issues of trust and betrayal. Fans will be hooked from the first encounter in the Happy Bird Teahouse in Shanghais and remain entranced wondering along with the heroine who to trust until the Venus climax.

Harriet Klausner