_{ELIZABETH  LOWELL}

Letter from the Author:

Dear Readers,

AMBER BEACH and JADE ISLAND are my favorite kind of story—romance, danger, and beautiful art all wrapped up in the same novel. It's a treat for me to return to writing romantic suspense after years of absence from the genre. From my mail, my readers are loving it, too.

The story idea for AMBER BEACH came to me when I was reading about the mystery of the Czar's Amber Room, a fabulous room whose walls and ceiling were finished entirely in mosaics of amber. The furniture was inlaid with the gem, as were lamps, picture frames, ceremonial cups, candlesticks, everything imaginable. In the midst of Petersburg's brutal, dark winters, the Amber Room was like a golden piece of summer set aside for royalty.

And then the room disappeared when the Germans pushed into Russia during WWII. For a half century, people have searched, rumors have surfaced, and myths were born. I began to wonder "What if . . . "  What if someone found the room? What if the room became a pawn in the turmoil of modern Russia? What if the room, or parts of it, were smuggled into the most lucrative market on earth, America?

The more I thought about it, the more I was intrigued, then excited. A family formed in my mind, the Donovan family, and their business, Donovan International. What a wonderful excuse to get into all kinds of international trouble! Soon the family became as real to me as my own: four brothers, two sisters, living parents, a happy brawl of family that was as supportive as it was maddening. One of the siblings, Honor, came to the fore and said, "This is my story. Find me a worthy mate."  So I went back to thinking and decided she needed a man as hardheaded as her brothers, because she wasn't exactly a shrinking violet. Slowly Jacob Mallory formed in my mind. I liked him. A lot. Intelligent, stubborn, honorable, and capable of love. Sexy, too. Of course, Jake has no more intention of falling in love than he does of walking on water. . .

The hero in JADE ISLAND is Honor's brother, Kyle. As soon as Kyle came into my mind, I knew he would have his own needs, his own story. (Same for Archer, the oldest brother, but more about that later.) He had the necessary ingredients to interest me as a hero. Determination, intelligence, integrity, and a decided bent to the sensual. He also has a deep interest in ancient Chinese jade, the kind of art that is 6,000 years old. He is trying to interest his family in branching out into jade as part of their import-export operation.

Then came rumors of an extraordinary find:  the Jade Emperor's tomb, priceless jade art that has been buried for thousands of years. The most spectacular part of the find is a burial suit made entirely of small plaques of polished jade sewed together with gold thread. An American has purchased the suit, and China wants it back. Immediately. But is the suit genuine or is it an elaborate fraud?

Only Lianne Blakely can answer the question, and she isn't talking. A jade expert by temperament and training, illegitimate by birth, she hungers only to be accepted by her father's family. Then she sees Kyle Donovan, the very man her unacknowledged father wants her to meet. When she does, things begin falling like a long, dangerous row of jade dominoes. He is irresistible to her, yet his life—and her own—depends on resisting him. Thrown together by the pursuit of jade, they draw closer and closer to the moment when they will risk anything, even love, to stay together.

PEARL COVE is the story about The Black Trinity, a $3,000,000 black pearl necklace. Its hero is the oldest Donovan brother, Archer, whose shadowed past intrigued me as much as his solitary present. I'm working on PEARL COVE now. The most difficult thing about plotting it was to find a heroine who wouldn't be intimidated by Archer's dark past. After thinking about the matter for several months, I discovered Hannah McGarry. Raised in the rain forests of Brazil by missionary parents, survivor of a bad marriage to a mercenary, Hannah had the necessary strength to make a good match for Archer.

Unfortunately, Hannah has no intention of being matched with any man, thank you very much. Once was enough. But she doesn't have much choice. There's only one man she can trust not to kill her, one man she knows didn't murder her dead husband and steal The Black Trinity—his half-brother, Archer Donovan.

I let you know what happens.  PEARL COVE will be a May 1999 hardcover release from Avon.

Thanks for reading!
Ann Maxwell a.k.a. Elizabeth Lowell
September 1998

Web Site:  http://elizabethlowell.writerspace.com

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Titles Currently Available:

Writing as Elizabeth Lowell (Ann Maxwell writing alone)

AMBER BEACH
AUTUMN LOVER
CHAIN LIGHTNING
DARK FIRE
DESERT RAIN
ENCHANTED
FEVER
FIRE AND RAIN
FIRES OF EDEN
FORBIDDEN
GRANITE MAN
JADE ISLAND
LOVE SONG FOR A RAVEN
ONLY HIS
ONLY LOVE
ONLY MINE
ONLY YOU
OUTLAW
RECKLESS LOVE
SWEET WIND, WILD WIND
TELL ME NO LIES
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
TOO HOT TO HANDLE
UNTAMED
WARRIOR
WHERE THE HEART IS
WINTER FIRE

Writing as Ann Maxwell (Ann writing alone, Science Fiction)

CHANGE
DANCER'S ILLUSION
DANCER'S LUCK
FIRE DANCER
TIMESHADOW RIDER

Writing as Ann Maxwell (Ann and Evan, Contemporary Romantic Suspense)

SHADOW AND SILK
THE DIAMOND TIGER
THE RUBY
THE SECRET SISTERS

Writing as A. E. Maxwell (Ann and Evan, Historical Fiction)

REDWOOD EMPIRE

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