Perfect Harmony - Tapa dura

From Booklist With a beautiful Asian American heroine, a cross-cultural love story, a dose of Chinese herbal medicine, and a fascinating look at the world of pharmaceutical manufacturing, Wood's fifteenth novel will appeal to those who like a hybrid of the mystery and romance genres. Charlotte Lee is the head of Harmony, a major player in the international herbal-medicine industry. Charlotte has taken the ancient Chinese remedies once concocted in her grandmother's kitchen and turned them into a multimillion-dollar business. But now three people have died after taking Harmony products, and when Charlotte receives a series of threatening e-mail messages, it's clear someone is out to ruin the company. Enter Jonathan Sutherland, former FBI agent, computer whiz, and--coincidentally--the man Charlotte has loved since she was a teenager. Wood has a tendency to be overly dramatic, but her slickly presented tale offers entertaining escape reading. Emily Melton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews A breathless, helter-skelter race in cyberspace, effortlessly melded here with the tale of a Chinese woman's journey from the 1920s to the present, and with her granddaughter's terrifying chase to solve familial mysteries and industrial murder. Charlotte Lee is CEO of Harmony Biotech, manufacturers of ancient Chinese herbal medicines, now carefully monitored for safety and reliability through the best modern technology. Charlotte, who inherited the business from Perfect Harmony, her late grandmother, must suddenly face the accusation that three people have died after ingesting her products. Having been warned by v.p. (and cousin) Desmond, Charlotte drives out into awful weather (a tempest appropriately pounds away at California through much of the action) and is almost killed in a freak accident (or was it?). There are other unsettling near misses involving Charlotte's friends, and a message on the Internet advises her to make a public statement of company guilt within the next 12 hours--or else. Then into the intensifying miseries comes Jonathan, Charlotte's long-lost love who had inexplicably married another. Jonathan sets to work to make computer magic and unravel the conspiracy. Wood jumps back then to 1908 Singapore to relate the history of Perfect Harmony and her years of trial, suffering, and triumph. Before the close, with a starburst of revelations and one big surprise, there are family tangles to pick apart (odd couplings and adoptions); a touch of the supernatural as dead mothers speak; vendettas (one involving a government agent); a B-screamer interlude with Charlotte trussed to a bottling conveyer belt; and, of course, the happy romantic union. As ever, Wood (The Prophetess, 1996, etc.) shows herself a wizard at juggling action and romance, maintaining the momentum and sparkle of both. Bright, slick, and pleasing. -- Copyright (c)1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly Charlotte Lee's yin and yang are in precarious balance. Nearing 40, the heroine of this New Age thriller is torn between East and West. While proud of Harmony House, the Palm Springs herbal company she inherited from her grandmother, Perfect Harmony, she pines for the Britisher who was the love of her youth. Lee's yearnings come to a head when three deaths are attributed to herbal remedies made by Harmony House?and specifically to her. Who is trying to destroy her? The finger of suspicion points variously to her cousin, her family lawyer, an FDA agent and a psychic. Then old love Jonathan Sutherland, a hacker-turned-fed, shows up to save the day, and Charlotte's emotional balance is further imperiled. The flashback sections of the novel featuring the strong first-person voice of Perfect Harmony alternate with a perfunctory third-person narrative, and Wood's (The Dreaming) novel seems to mirror the split in Charlotte's own psyche: turn-of-the-century scenes of Singapore and San Francisco's Chinatown are sharply realized. Zoom in on the individuals in the mosaic, however, and the picture blurs. Although herbology and Chinese customers are beautifully detailed, descriptions of gee-whiz computer technology should have been cut to the bone. Ultimately, the Gordian knot of Charlotte's self is far more compelling to untangle than the mystery plot. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Three people die mysteriously after taking a Chinese herbal remedy.