When Nicola Ward inherits a trunk filled with family photographs, jewelry, and papers that apper to be writeen in Chinese and Russian, she dispatches them to an auction house to he appraised. But her family memorabilia may contain startling information about a Soviet spy ring, and together with Neil Walker, the ex-CIA agent hired to research the documents, Nicola plunges into a dizzying game of international espionage and politics that will have her questioning her own identity -- and fighting for her very life...
This is quite a good mystery and involves the fall of Shanghai at the beginning of World War II in the Orient. It is a story of espionage, the CIA and the dark side of foreign affairs in the USA in the post WWII era.. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it highly. Genny
I loved this book! Fast moving, well-written and great intrigue to keep you hooked.
This book is so much better than its review: Nicola Ward is a divorced schoolteacher living in Maine, when one day a mysterious trunk arrives, sent to her long ago from China. Inside are family papers, photographs . . . and a Russian diary. To translate the diary, Nicola hires Neil Walker, a burnt-out spy who turned to scholarly research after one too many missions went sour. â Neil's past comes in handy, though, when Nicola starts receiving death threats clearly connected with the contents of the trunk. But what stirred up the hornets' nest? The diary, which appears to identify Nicola as the heir to the Romanov throne? Or could something else be pointing the way to a Soviet mole in the U.S. government?
This is one of the few books I've read recently that deserves 5 stars! Wonderful characters, great story and the tension increases ever so gradually! It's a little over 500 pages, but I finished it in 3 days.
After the death of her step-father Nicola, a middle-aged, divorced schoolteacher, receives a 40-year old trunk in the mail with lots of papers in Russian, plus a few rather nice trinkets, one of them a genuine, lost imperial Faberge egg. After handing over everything to an auction house so the papers can be translated and the history of the "trinkets" researched, some fairly alarming things start happening to Nicola - and to the researcher who studies the provenance of the jewels and translates the papers. Luckily, he is an ex-CIA operative who soon realizes that they are both in grave danger. Apparently, someone does not want made public what was found in the trunk.
After the death of her step-father Nicola, a middle-aged, divorced schoolteacher, receives a 40-year old trunk in the mail with lots of papers in Russian, plus a few rather nice trinkets, one of them a genuine, lost imperial Faberge egg. After handing over everything to an auction house so the papers can be translated and the history of the "trinkets" researched, some fairly alarming things start happening to Nicola - and to the researcher who studies the provenance of the jewels and translates the papers. Luckily, he is an ex-CIA operative who soon realizes that they are both in grave danger. Apparently, someone does not want made public what was found in the trunk.
