Deception and Desire

Brimming with bridled British passion, this novel by the author of Daughter of Riches combines mystery and melodrama in a world where everything is ``somehow darkly dangerous'' and women make love like an ``active volcano.'' The setting is the high-fashion firm of designer Dinah Marshall, who, with her late husband, Van Kendrick, created the world-famous leatherwear empire, Vandina. Now Dinah's right arm, her capable and committed personal assistant, Rosalie Newman, vanishes without a word to stolid steady beau, Mike Thompson. The police assume Ros took a powder from the demands of her glamorous employer and her drunkard ex-husband, ex-radio personality Brendan Newman; but Ros's sister, Maggie Veritos, returns to England from her Corfu home to join Mike's efforts to locate errant Ros. Aroused by suspicion and each other, quashing fears of the worst and sparks of attraction, Maggie and Mike discover a trail of skulduggery, industrial espionage and three decades of deceit involving Vandina. Even in death, Van's presence presides, even if mollified by the appearance of the sexy and sinister son Dinah was forced to give up at birth. Interweaving detailed inner landscapes, Tanner's twisty yet foreseeable maneuvers are deftly delivered. (Mar.)