The Other Lady Vanishes

March 26, 2018
Fans of The Girl Who Knew Too Much will find that Quick’s complicated but entertaining follow-up, set in Hollywood’s golden age, hits the spot. The tea shop in Burning Cove, Calif., attracts movie stars and the tourists who want to gape at them. Adelaide Blake’s special tea blends always bring back return customers, such as handsome widower Jake Truett, who is visiting the seaside community to soothe his “exhausted nerves,” and Zolanda, a psychic to the stars. Adelaide understands botanicals because her parents were scientists who were killed after they developed a dangerous hallucinogenic drug. She landed in Burning Cove after being kidnapped and experimented on by doctors who were looking to develop that drug for street use—and to serve secret political agendas—on the eve of WWII. After Zolanda correctly predicts her own death, Adelaide and Jake wind up in the crosshairs of the sophisticated and violent drug ring that Adelaide only barely escaped. This romantic thriller requires careful tracking of numerous characters, but the effort pays off.