My Sister's Keeper

Two assailants bludgeon cosmetics tycoon Louise Towers in her posh New York apartment in the rousing start to the third book by the author of Faces. Who did it? According to the maid, ``the Czechs, oh, the Czechs, they've finally murdered Madame.'' Taking a hairpin curve to 1946 Prague, the book describes Ludmilla Sukova's escape from the Czech capital through the good graces of her then-husband's employer, Colonel Benedict Towers, director of Towers Pharmaceuticals. Once in the U.S., Ludmilla is equally determined to escape her poverty. She enchants Towers's impossible family through her hairstyling capabilities, and the egotistical and domineering Benedict through other talents. In due course, Benedict's wife dies and Ludmilla (now Louise Towers) becomes his wife and, with her flair for merchandising, the creator of a successful cosmetics empire. She makes some formidable enemies in the business world and a few at home as well: Benedict is none too happy at losing control over this once vulnerable woman; and Louise has deeply wounded the sister she brought over from Czechoslovakia. The fiendishly clever characters are never dull and Lord, who is beauty director at Vogue , brings intriguing insights into the creation of new beauty products. Nonetheless, her book is slick and glib, with a conclusion that sets new standards for contrivance. (Jan.)