cover image The Lady of the Labyrinth

The Lady of the Labyrinth

Caroline Llewellyn. Scribner Book Company, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-684-18920-8

Llewellyn ( The Masks of Rome ) sets her second accomplished romantic mystery in Sicily, where young Alison Jordan, a government researcher working in Bonn, travels with her half-brother Jay to search for their father, famed archeologist and architect Hugo Raphael. Hugo, whose monumental achievements match his ego, has been reported missing from Libya where he may have been detained against his will, designing a desert city for Qaddafi. Alison, who is unsure of her feelings for the father she has rarely seen, and Jay, whose devotion to the man is unmitigated, believe he may turn up at the ancient castle in Sicily's coastal mountains that had once been his home. Against a background of modern corruption and ancient myths of the earth goddess, Alison discovers surprises in her past, and, in a fully satisfying climactic passage through centuries-old mountain caves, achieves understanding of the ways of her own heart, as well as others'. Llewellyn skillfully weaves ancient and modern threads of greed and revenge into a richly atmospheric tale that delivers considerably more than its genre generally promises. Troll Book Club and Readers Digest Book Club main selections. (Apr.)