Sidney Sheldon’s Chasing Tomorrow

This outlandish romantic thriller from Bagshawe (Sidney Sheldon’s Angel of the Dark) picks up where the late Sheldon left off with 1985’s If Tomorrow Comes. Tracy Whitney and Jeff Stevens, a pair of attractive con artists, have spent their careers pulling off lucrative jewel heists around the globe. Now, they’re ready to tie the knot and settle down into wedded bliss and gender stereotypes: Jeff gets a job as a curator of antiquities at the British Museum, while Tracy pins her hopes on pregnancy. Enter a sultry third wheel, who shatters the couple’s happiness, and a deranged serial killer, whose murders are mysteriously tied to Tracy’s previous thefts. Descriptions of an international world of luxury contrast with the lives of lowbrow victims and villains who are stuck with bad accommodation and economy-class travel. Just when the absurdity of it all reaches its highest ebb, the book teeters to its preposterous climax. Agents: Luke and Mort Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.)