The Property of a Lady
From the author of Leonie and The Rich Shall Inherit comes thiseventful novel of romantic intrigue, briskly plotted and wellresearched, centering on a fabulous emerald--a maharajah's gift to aRussian prince on the eve of the Revolution. Fleeing in 1917 withtheir gems, Princess Anouska Ivanoff, her children and their Englishguest Verity ("Missie") Byron, 18, had been waylaid in a snowy wood bydrunken Bolshevik peasants. Brutally raped, Anouska had died. her sonAlexei was adopted by a kindly officer and raised as aCommunist. Missie, however, took Anouska's daughter Xenia to America,became a Ziegfield girl and Hollywood star. Now white-haired, Missielives in Maryland among her rich memories; her flashbacks eventuallyilluminate contemporary events. Meanwhile, three drinkers in a Genevabar want to find the eponymous "lady" who put up the newly cut emeraldat auction: Genie Reese, the Washington newswoman assigned to thestory; likable Bronx-born politician Cal Warrender; and CommunistValentin Solovsky, elegant cultural attache to Washington, who isreally Prince Ivanoff's descendant. But Valentin's malevolenthalf-brother Boris, head of the KGB, is bent on destroying Valentinand the mysterious lady. A boozy gem-cutter in Bangkok, a captivewife, a murderer in Dusseldorf add to the story's zesty cast, whoselives come together in its surprising conclusion.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.