Meet Me in Venice [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Adler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2008

FOUR WORDS WOULD CHANGE HER LIFE...

Precious Rafferty is an American antiques dealer living in Paris.  Though Precious--known as Preshy--lives in the world's most romantic city, she keeps her feet firmly on the ground.  No man will ever sweep her off her feet.  Until she meets Bennett James.  He's perfect in every way.  Is he too good to be true?  Granted, she doesn't know much about his business or personal life in Shanghai, but isn't it time to stop being so jaded about romance? And then her long-lost cousin Lily Song sends her an urgent message about Preshy's new love.  "Meet me in Venice" are Lily's cryptic words.

ONE MAN MIGHT POSSIBLY END IT...

Lily lives in Shanghai and knows the antiques underworld there--and she has a secret important enough to draw her to Venice to meet Preshy for the first time, face-to-face. Ruggedly handsome, world-weary writer Sam Knight senses there's a story afoot. Precious senses he's getting closer and closer to her and enmeshed in this tangled web of danger and desire. But is Sam also not all he seems to be? Does he have a terrible secret he's keeping from Preshy? In Venice, Precious will have to weave through a maze of betrayers and seducers to discover who she can trust with her heart...and with her life. 

Page-turning, lushly descriptive, and intelligent, Meet Me in Venice is a cat-and-mouse game with plenty of twists and wonderful characters you'll never forget.  It is Elizabeth Adler at her storytelling best.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this globe-spanning, intrigue-filled thriller from veteran bestseller Adler (Hotel Riviera), an American antiques dealer working in Paris, 38-year-old Precious Preshy Rafferty, is drawn into a scheme that also ensnares a cousin she's never met in person, Shanghai antique dealer Lily Song. Lily owns a fabulous, superexpensive necklace that Lily's business associate, Mary-Lou Chen, is out to steal. It's the job of Mary-Lou's paramour, American businessman Bennett Yuan, to find a buyer. As the suspense builds, Lily and Preshy must travel to Venice to meet and, among other things, protect the fortune Preshy is due to inherit from her Aunt Grizelda. Adler remains as adept as ever at making her various locales come to life and doesn't disappoint in keeping the mystery surrounding the necklace, and the two cousins, swirling. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

With plots lighter than air and settings that include some of the world's most exotic cities, Adler's romantic suspense novels aim to please. And please this one does as Parisian antiques dealer Precious Rafferty grapples with stolen artifacts and a turbulent romantic life. When handsome Bennett James, a seemingly wealthy Shanghai businessman, sweeps her off her feet, Precious plans a lavish wedding in Venice. Her fabulously wealthy aunts fly in for the ceremony, but when Bennett learns the aunts intend to leave their fortunes to charity, he stands Precious up at the altar. A devastated Precious spends the next 30 days wallowing in self-pity before she is drawn into the life of her cousin, who is in possession of a valuable family heirloom that once belonged to a Chinese empress. A gruff American mystery novelist helps Precious both to mend her broken heart and to track down her cousin, whose life is in danger. Adler packs her brief chapters full of tantalizing descriptions of the luxurious lifestyle of the jet set, providing her many fans with plenty of vicarious thrills. —Joanne Wilkinson Wilkinson, Joanne --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Large Print Books (March 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727876686
• ISBN-13: 978-0727876683
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Adler is a self-confessed romantic, a travel addict and a foodie, all of which she brings to the reader in her novels, along with a tough thrust of suspense and an unfolding mystery that keeps you on your toes. Elizabeth has lived in many countries and when she's not writing spends time discovering even more places to bring to you, with her husband, Richard - still in love after all these years - as are the characters featured in her past three novels, Mac Reilly the Malibu PI and Sunny Alvarez, his lover and side kick. You have to read about them to know them! Elizabeth lives in California and has the ability to take you to all those romantic places she knows so well, Capri, Venice, Tuscany, St. Tropez, Monte Carlo, and of course, Malibu. You will feel you are there, with her, sitting on that Italian terrace, sipping that coffee, smelling the delicious food, savoring the heat and the sunshine and the mystery unfolding for you. Elizabeth is five-three and wishes she were taller, blind as a bat without her glasses that anyway she is too vain to wear, and at 128 lbs till thinking about that diet. She has one daughter, Anabelle who is married to rock musician Eric Avery and two kitties, the Siamese, Sweet Pea who rules the household, and an adorable black cat Sunny.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Escape to the World of Elizabeth Adler, March 28, 2008

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meet Me in Venice (Hardcover)

From Paris to Shanghai to Venice and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Elizabeth Adler takes the reader on a suspenseful adventure filled with romance, murder, handsome strangers, dowager aunts, and a mysterious treasure.

Precious Rafferty is an American expatriate living in Paris. Her small antiques store and close friends are her life until handsome Bennett James walks into her world. At 38, Precious is not as sophisticated as the reader might expect, and this intriguing man sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind romance that is too good to be true. The fast-paced action is just beginning as we discover Bennett also has a connection with Precious' cousin Lily in Shanghai, a relative she has never met but who is also in the antiques business. Alas, Lily's business is decidedly shadier and most of her deals are done in back alleys and are highly illegal. With the help of her assistant, Mary Lou Chen, an unscrupulous beauty, the two walk a highly dangerous path. Mary Lou has fallen in love with Bennett and his trail of broken hearts from Shanghai to Paris is about to converge in Venice.

Adler lets us escape into the luxurious life of jet-setters and those who aspire to be jet-setters. Her trademark skill in recreating the local color of the world's most exotic cities serves the reader well here as we are treated to a costume carnival in Venice, the quaint cafes of Paris, and the underworld of Shanghai.

Let yourself get caught up in this gripping tale of deceit and desire and enjoy the trip to some of the world's most exciting places.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not up to Adler standards... not at all., October 15, 2007

By 

Karen (Wilmington, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Meet Me in Venice (Hardcover)

Honestly, I found this novel mostly annoying. The personality of Precious, the main character, I'd characterize as a mixture of naiveté, stupidity, and childish willfulness. Not as cute as the author probably intended.

And while I am not a raging feminist by any means, haven't these feeble, stubborn femmes who require rescuing by a smart, strong hero become a dated cliche by now? I mean, rescuing is ok, but the stereotype of a woman, dumb as a tree stump, contrasted with the clever, sharp man, is just... yuk. Not amusing.

Nor did I find the storyline particularly believable. The lack of coherence included things like characters murdering other characters for reasons completely lacking in any logic. For instnce, an intelligent murderer would certainly not murder someone from whom he expects to gain a fortune until murderer is quite sure where the fortune is and how to get it. It felt like this was a movie in which some of the important parts got left on the cutting room floor.

I was left wondering... did Elizabeth Adler actually write this book?

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sets women's liberation back 50 years (at least), June 27, 2008

By 

G. Nelson "reader" (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Meet Me in Venice (Kindle Edition)

Getting through this horrid novel was an ordeal far worse than the perils the moronically named "Preshy" or any of the other ridiculous characters in this monumentally stupid book had to face. It made one long for a canal to drown in (the evil murderer's venue of choice).

The supposedly liberated heroine (she must be, she and her friends use the "f" word) was incapable of making anything other than the stupidest of decisions after excruciatingly detailed, I hesitate to use the word, "thought" processes. In the end, she still had to have a man (complete with a past) come to her rescue. Unfortunately, he made it on time... Predictably, the evildoer suffers the same fate as his too dumb to get away victims, though I'm sure the author saw it as delicious irony.

I suggest cleaning the bathrooms, even public ones, as a more worthy occupation than reading this vile insult to female intelligence.