Do You Promise Not to Tell?

Clark's second thriller (after Do You Want to Know a Secret?) again features the world of broadcast media. Farrell Slater, the 38-year-old producer of the highly rated, New York-based news show KEY Evening Headlines, is in a slump. Unless she proves she can still break a big story, she'll be out of a job when her contract expires. Her last chance may be a seemingly dull assignment to cover the auction of the famed Faberg Moon Egg, lost for decades following the Russian Revolution and now mysteriously rediscovered. After the Romanov treasure sells for a record $6 million, Farrell receives a tip from an unexpected source who claims that the egg sold at auction is a fake and that the Imperial bauble is still at large. Meanwhile, an artisan is brutally murdered in his workshop in Little Odessa, and as the hunt for the egg heats up, more deaths follow in quick succession. With her cameraman at her side and an attractive FBI man on her heels, Farrell is plunged into a world of high-end auction houses, Faberg history and Romanov lore, all at the breakneck pace of TV journalism. The suspense never flags, and the killer's identity remains a secret long into the tale. Clark may skimp on character development, and dialogue is regrettably stiff, but for those who can't get enough of the competitively backbiting world of network news, this novel offers entertaining verisimilitude. (Aug.)