A dazzling engagement ring and the promise of a fresh start in a new country bring antiques dealer and sometime-sleuth Rei Shimura to Washington, D.C. But while she tries to play catch-up with her beautiful, politically connected cousin, Kendall, and is commissioned to furnish a chic Japanese-fusion restaurant, things start to go haywire. First, Kendall vanishes from the restaurant's opening-night party, and then Rei is drafted to help Andrea, the restaurant's elegant, cagey hostess, investigate the disappearance of her own Japanese mother thirty years earlier.
As the strands of these puzzles begin to come together, Rei finds that her relationship with her fiancé, Hugh, has changed from sizzle to burn. At the same time, she faces troubling questions about what it means to be a loving mother -- and whether her own independent streak will endanger the women to whom she has grown close.
Rei must research the scary old days of the Vietnam War and delve into the secret history of an ambitious presidential candidate to piece together the mystery of the vanished women -- and also understand truths about herself, which may change her destiny.
InThe Pearl Diver, Sujata Massey delivers a multilayered, suspenseful story complete with the intrigue, romance, and rich Asian cultural background that her fans have come to relish.