"Similar to To Catch a Thief"

FBI Agent Tristan Stewart captures notorious art thief Nick Jarrett, ending the infamous career of the Scorpion. However instead of jail Nick cuts a deal to enable the Feds to capture bigger fish.

When her mentor Dr. Garrow died in what has been ruled a suicide, UCLA art professor Dr. Janine Coulter takes over as the curator of a Versailles art exhibit he was to host. The focus is the three Pompadour Plum vases. However, security headed by Luc Tremont insists on safeguarding the vases rather than placing them in the center of the show. Janine and Luc argue, but he has a hidden agenda to catch a thief and he finds the American curator quite a distracter perhaps for the felon. When his plan fails, Luc knows he has a few days to recover the vases and catch the crook or face prison as the Scorpion. However, he never expected Janine to join him on his quest nor to fall in love with her.

Fans of the Grant-Kelly vehicle To Catch a Thief will appreciate this FRENCH TWIST version of the classic movie. Janine and Nick are a fine duo though each blame the other for the theft of the vases yet they work so well together even if neither welcomes the growing attraction. The support characters provide the reader with a deeper look at the prime pair whose desperation turns the tale into a terse romantic suspense as each has a different reason to recover the lost vases.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 25, 2004

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Summary

In the land of romance, there is love in the air...and danger in the shadows.

Acting as curator of the prestigious exhibit at the Palace of Versailles is Professor Janine Coulter's chance to prove herself and vindicate her deceased mentor and friend. She will stop at nothing to be sure the three priceless vases once commissioned by Madame du Pompadour but lost for centuries are showcased to the art world. Unfortunately, Luc Tremont, a security specialist, has made decisions without consulting her, undercutting her authority and threatening the success of the exhibit. Regardless of her sizzling attraction to the handsome Frenchman, Janine also has to fight the uneasy suspicion that he's not all that he seems.

Luc Tremont has lived a lie for many years and he finally has the chance to escape his dark past. All he has to do is follow a trail that leads directly to a vicious criminal and lead the FBI art crimes division to its target. To do so, Luc arranges an elaborate scheme to make it appear that the Pompadour Plums have been stolen. Unfortunately, Luc's nemesis is one step ahead of him and the plan is foiled—the real vases are stolen and it suddenly appears that Luc is the thief. Unless Luc can find the missing Pompadour Plums and turn his enemy over to the FBI, he'll never be free.

Janine and Luc are forced to ignore the powerful current that draws them to each other. With the same goal, but very different motivations, they team up as both the hunters and the hunted, racing across the lush countryside of Burgundy to the glamorous casinos of the French Alps. As danger mounts, so does their mutual attraction and the inevitable disclosure that will reveal Luc's true identity. Janine begins to fear the thief who will steal her heart more than the one who has stolen the famed Plums... and Luc knows that it's only a matter of time until Janine learns his true identity. That revelation will kill their chances of any future together...if his enemy doesn't kill them both first.