Meet Me in Venice

May 21, 2007
In this globe-spanning, intrigue-filled thriller from veteran bestseller Adler (Hotel Riviera
), an American antiques dealer working in Paris, 38-year-old Precious “Preshy” Rafferty, is drawn into a scheme that also ensnares a cousin she's never met in person, Shanghai antique dealer Lily Song. Lily owns a fabulous, superexpensive necklace that Lily's business associate, Mary-Lou Chen, is out to steal. It's the job of Mary-Lou's paramour, American businessman Bennett Yuan, to find a buyer. As the suspense builds, Lily and Preshy must travel to Venice to meet and, among other things, protect the fortune Preshy is due to inherit from her Aunt Grizelda. Adler remains as adept as ever at making her various locales come to life and doesn't disappoint in keeping the mystery surrounding the necklace, and the two cousins, swirling.

June 1, 2007
With plots lighter than air and settings that include some of the worlds most exotic cities, Adlers romantic suspense novels aim to please. And please this one does as Parisian antiques dealer Precious Rafferty grapples with stolen artifacts and a turbulent romantic life. When handsome Bennett James, a seemingly wealthy Shanghai businessman, sweeps her off her feet, Precious plans a lavish wedding in Venice. Her fabulously wealthy aunts fly in for the ceremony, but when Bennett learns the aunts intend to leave their fortunes to charity, he stands Precious up at the altar. A devastated Precious spends the next 30 days wallowing in self-pity before she is drawn into the life of her cousin, who is in possession of a valuable family heirloom that once belonged to a Chinese empress. A gruff American mystery novelist helps Precious both to mend her broken heart and to track down her cousin, whose life is in danger. Adler packs her brief chapters full of tantalizing descriptions of the luxurious lifestyle of the jet set, providing her many fans with plenty of vicarious thrills. Joanne Wilkinson(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)