Joan Oaks-Clark

Russian soldier Evgeny Petrovsky is in the house when the tsar and his family are executed in 1918. He risks his life by taking a vest belonging to the royal family. He deserts the army and after a treacherous journey, arrives barely alive at his home in Valischok. When his two sons, Alexei and Ilia are older, he buys passage for them to travel to America for a new life. Dr. Abigail Stevens has just been dumped by her boyfriend professor Dr. Roger Mills. While she thinks they will spend their summer vacation planning their wedding, he runs off with his assistant to the Caribbean on a fellowship. Aunt Lily to the rescue. She invites Abigail for a visit who thinks she's coming to rest and help with a decorating project; Aunt Lily wants help investigating a murder of her neighbor Alexei who dropped dead the week before. What Abigail and Aunt Lily learn is Alexei had one more secret before he died.