The Glory of the Journey: Exercise for the Mind and Soul

Following her parents' untimely death, neophyte journalist Lydia Lansdowne leaves Ohio for Turkey, where she eagerly rejoins her brother, an Air Force officer serving with NATO forces. While Lydia chafes at being unemployed, various coincidences precipitate her encounter with Kemal Baran, an enigmatic businessman endowed with the ""grace of a prowling panther.'' Ingenuous Lydia finds his commanding demeanor dazzling, so she impetuously accepts an ambiguous offer to become his assistant. Later she learns that he expects her to keep the international press corps informed of his efforts to locate and excavate the buried treasure of King Croesus. As she acclimates herself to Turkish customs, Lydia falls in love with her employer, a fact that rankles calculating Alarice Basak, an artist determined to claim Lydia's affection. Carr ( Murder on the Appalachian Trail communicates the tenor of everyday life in Turkey, but scenes showing chaste Lydia battling the overtures of lusty suitors are unintentionally humorous. Overheated, sophomoric writing (``His blazing eyes were wild with passion'') also renders this second-rate romantic fiction. (November 3)