Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell

Surrounded by potential enemies, Hannah McGarry faces the mystery of her husband's suspicious death, the prospect of bankruptcy ... and the disappearance of the fabulous Black Trinity necklace that was to be her financial security. Desperate, she calls Archer Donovan, a silent partner in Pearl Cove, her late husband's pearl farm venture. He might help her ... if the price is right. Editorial Reviews The Barnes & Noble Review Elizabeth Lowell delighted readers with her first two sagas about the high-powered, Seattle-based Donovan family, Jade Island and Amber Beach, both of which became instant New York Times bestsellers. Now comes Pearl Cove, the third in this series about a family of international gem traders, this time featuring the aloof, mysterious, and seemingly self-contained eldest Donovan son, Archer. Archer Donovan is the eldest son in the powerful, gem-dealing Donovan family. Like his siblings, Archer is something of an expert when it comes to precious stones, but until recently he made his living doing covert operations for Uncle Sam. It was during one such job that Archer discovered he had a half brother in the same business - Len McGarry, the result of a dalliance Archer's father had as a teenager. No sooner did Archer find Len then he very nearly lost him, when an assignment went horribly wrong and nearly cost Len his life. Archer was able to save him, but injuries condemned Len to a life as a bitter and mean-spirited paraplegic. In the process of rescuing Len, Archer met and fell in love with Hannah, Len's wife, a fact Archer worked hard to hide. But Len caught on anyway and banished Archer from his life, though not before giving him half ownership in a pearl farm Len owned - a gesture of gratitude for saving his life. As a silent partner in the pearl farm, Archer has little to do with it until he is awakened in the middle of the night 10 years later by a frantic yet wary phone call from Hannah informing him that Len is dead. While it appears that Lendiedfrom injuries sustained in a recent cyclone that struck Pearl Cove, Hannah is certain he was murdered by someone who was after Len's prized collection of black rainbow pearls. Most of the pearls are missing, including the prize of Len's collection, the Black Trinity, an exquisite three-strand necklace of black pearls. While Pearl Cove is suffering financial difficulties, Len's secret for creating the one-of-a-kind black pearls which gleam beneath their lustrous surface with every color of the rainbow, is worth billions of dollars. And there are plenty of interested parties who want to get that secret: the Aussies, the Chinese, the Japanese...even Uncle Sam himself. It doesn't take long for Archer and Hannah to confirm that Len's death was no accident, and that Hannah is likely the next victim in line. Along with trying to find out where the missing pearls might be and who the killer is, Archer is forced to deal with his feelings for Hannah, which are more intense than ever. Hannah is also attracted to Archer, but she has spent too many years trapped inside the bitter marriage she had with Len. With each cautious step they take, they draw closer to discovering the missing jewels, Len's murderer, and the love they feel for one another. With appearances from characters who were featured in the first two books in the Donovan series, Pearl Cove is a steamy tale of keen suspense and high intrigue, anchored by a delicious sense of intimacy and continuity with the main characters. There is still one more Donovan offspring whose story Lowell has yet to tell: Faith, the Donovan boys' sister. If the first three books in this series are any indication, the fourth promises to be a true gem. — Beth Amos - Formulaic but fun, Lowell's latest romantic suspense novel returns to the glamorous Donovan family she created in Amber Beach and Jade Island. When wheelchair-bound pearl harvester Len McGarry turns up dead on an Australian beach with an oyster shell sticking out of his chest, his beautiful widow, Hannah, knows that Len was murdered for his $3 million rainbow pearl necklace, the Black Trinity, now missing. Feeling herself in danger, Hannah seeks help from Len's partner and half-brother, the ruthless but hunky Archer Donovan. Archer fell for Hannah 10 years ago, when she was Len's teenage bride, and he's only too happy to help her track down both Len's killer and the necklace. Archer uses his family's resources, his inside knowledge of the pearl trade and his U.S. government connections to find the (rather predictable) bad guys. True love turns out to be harder to locate. As soon as they fall into bed, Archer knows he wants Hannah to have his baby. But Len was a cruel, unworthy husband, and Hannah, still recovering from her marriage, has trouble committing to Archer. Lowell uses the double search as backdrop for the push-and-pull between a reticent heroine and an oddly insistent, elementally masculine hero. Neither her plotting nor her airy prose take the romance genre anywhere new. Lowell does, however, infuse the minutiae of pearl diving and of international gem sales into a racy light read. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. - Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly More love and intrigue with the Donovans of Amber Beach fame. - Library Journal In her third steamy romance about the gem-dealing Donovans (Amber Beach, 1997, etc.), Lowell joins Nora Roberts in the celebration of lusty heroes with large, loving families. Archer, the eldest of the Donovans, is a pearl lover and former government operative. Though he has forsaken the terrible loneliness of trouble-shooting for Uncle and gone to work in the mineral import-export business of his family, he hasn't forgotten his deadly skills or lost his hair-trigger reflexes. Which is all to the good when Hannah McGarry, the widow of his half-brother Len, involves him in the search for a priceless set of pearls that has become implicated variously in the shadowy interests of the Chinese, Australian, and US governments. After Len is murdered at his Australian pearl farm, Hannah sends for Archer because her own life is in danger. Len, it seems, was a ruthless, obsessed fellow who had developed a priceless black pearl, and now the major pearl interests believe that Hannah knows its secret formula, though in truth Len never told her any part of his culturing methods. A bitter paraplegic, he merely exploited her genius for sorting pearls and withheld his love. Hannah now makes the mistake of believing that Archer is the same species of ruthless tough guy that Len was. While Archer can be as ruthless as he has to be, underneath those hard muscles and behind that hairy chest, he's just a love-hungry teddy bear who has always had the hots for Hannah. As Lowell interweaves Hannah and Archer's romantic tussle with a virtual handbook of pearl culturing, buying, history, and lore, Archer sneaks the voluptuous Hannah out of Australia and back to the protection of his family home in Seattle.Supported by the Donovans, the pair vanquish the bad guys along with all the barriers to marriage and babies. Strong, interesting, and sexy characters-and, happily for lovers of romance and priceless jewels, there are still three Donovan siblings to go. ($150,000 ad/promo) - Kirkus Reviews