Decoy

January 26, 2004
Art gallery curator and former supermodel Melody Beecham, the daughter of an aristocratic English mother and a millionaire father, has led a blessed life, but all that changes the day her mother, Rosalind, dies under dubious circumstances. In Rosalind's will, she informs her daughter that Wallis Beecham is not her actual father. Shortly thereafter, Wallis denounces Melody. With retribution in mind, Melody begins investigating Wallis's involvement in the possibly sinister Bonita partnership, led by clues from her mother's files. Melody's transformation from curator to amateur spy is unlikely, as is her eventual alliance with a covert government agency known as Unit One, which intends to use her as bait to trap Wallis. In Cresswell's descriptions of Unit One and their clever gadgetry, Cresswell satisfies readers' cravings for high espionage and macho men who stay cool under fire, but she fails to tie off major plot threads involving Melody's search for her father's identity and her budding romance with Unit One Chief of Operations Nick Anwar. Cresswell throws in a few unexpected plot twists, but not so many that readers won't notice the story's loss of momentum or its disappointing conclusion.