The Palace Affair

London social editor Jackie Daventry follows a glamorous if unvarying routine of parties with the Best People until she meets Gerald Gould, an adoring, self-made millionaire who is everything she wants in a man--except that he's married. Life is downright rosy for Jackie's friend Celia, Countess of Atherton, who serves as one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, leaving two sons in the care of tutor Roland Shaw. But lurking at the edge of these women's gracious lives are people who want to bulldoze their way into society; one anonymous man threatens Jackie's career (he crashes parties by claiming to work with her) and Celia's happiness (he unearths a dark secret about her family). Parker's ( Enticements ) convincing portrayal of British high society makes her lightweight tale entertaining in a snobbish sort of way--provided one ignores its underlying attitudes (e.g., social climbers are contemptible, but economic opportunists are inevitable). However, one group should be truly pleased: the author's cropped and airbrushed picture of Britain's royals (the Queen, Celia thinks, ``spread happiness wherever she went'') is everything the Palace could hope for. (Aug.)