Description de l’éditeur
After a murder at the Plaza, a society columnist races to save a model's life
A daytime fashion show at the Plaza Hotel attracts the most beautiful, cynical, and useless people that New York society has to offer. Swimming among them is A. C. James, who has been making enemies on the Upper East Side ever since trading in his life as a war correspondent to become the most vicious society columnist in the city. A notorious flirt, James spends the fashion show eying Camilla Santee, a stunning blonde. He is walking with her down the Plaza steps when a motorcyclist stops, draws a gun, and fires. Camilla survives. The model behind her does not.
The bullet was intended for Camilla—not to kill her, but to warn her. The gunman is her stepbrother, just one of her mad relations who is desperate to get her out of the way. To save this beauty from her family, James must risk everything he has.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kilian ( By Order of the President ) immediately wins readers in this initially intriguing thriller, only to lose them when the plot takes a different direction. His hero is A. C. James, reporter turned social columnist for the New York City newspaper owned by his wife. After a fashion show, at which he is smitten by ravishing blonde model Camilla Santee, A.C. witnesses the shooting of model Molly Wickham by a passing motorcyclist. Black detective Ray Lanham is assigned to the investigation, during which A.C. meets Camilla, whose air of mystery excites him as much as her beauty. While A.C. searches for the truth about Camilla and her family, Lanham investigates the murder; the two plot lines converge as many of Camilla's acquaintances add to the body count. Kilian's story gets out of hand as the corpses pile up; Camilla lacks emotional credibility; and Lanham, more appealing than A.C., uncharacteristically throws police procedure out the window. Readers may wonder whether the resolution of all this justifies their patient efforts.
