The Swetky Agency - Lady of Two NIghts

Submission Synopsis

Lady of Two Nights

by Deanna Blackwell

Genre:
Action-Adventure
Suspense
Political Intrigue
Contemporary Romance

Series:
The Winds of Kabul (Complete)
Lady of Two Nights (In Progress)

Sentence:
A cozy night at the opera turns deadly as Paula and Shadar head off to Kabul to help set up the Iraqi underground when Shadar suddenly disappears, forcing Paula underground to find him--until she, herself, falls target to the Iraqi secret police: should she flee ... or stay and fight against all odds to find Shadar?

Blurb/Logline:
A cozy night at the opera turns deadly as Paula and her lover Dali stand by helplessly. Their investigation into the death of Dali’s closest friend soon leads them to Kabul, where Dali is charged with the task of helping set up the underground Iraqi Resistance Movement to ferret out and destroy opponents of Coalition Forces and the newly elected Iraqi Free Parliament. From there, they wend their way to the Tigris, when Dali suddenly disappears.

Fearing the worst, Paula tries desperately to contact the underground and finally manages to reach the head of the movement ... on the wrong side! As rogue Iranian Republican Guard troops and the dreaded Turkish secret police close in on her, she faces the dilemma of her life: should she flee ... or stay and fight against all odds in the hopes of finding her lover?

Synopsis:

Paula and Shadar receive tickets from the conductor to Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Chicago Lyric Opera. They stop by his dressing room after the performance, where Paula learns that Mikhail and Shadar had been college roommates at the Afghan Polyteknic Institute--or "spy school," as Shadar jokingly calls it. The two old friends get reacquainted as Paula watches in awe. Shadar has adapted remarkably well to life in the States since the two of them left Afghanistan—so much so that she wonders why she ever questioned it. They have been living together in Chicago and plan on marrying in June.

As Mikhail opens a bottle of champagne and offers a toast to the young lovers, he suddenly clutches his heart and collapses to his knees. Shadar grabs him, helps him to the floor and out of his tie while Paula runs for help. By the time she returns, Mikhail is dead.

The initial autopsy shows death by natural causes; Mikhail had suffered a massive stroke. But Shadar suspects otherwise and puts in a call to some contacts in the Afghan Underground.

It has been nearly two years since Shadar left the Afghan Secret Police—a double agent working to expel the farangi invaders from his homeland--but when his former employer tells him Mikhail had been active in putting down an uprising in the Iraqi capital, he and Paula depart for Baghdad. There, he helps Coalition Forces and the new Iraqi government quell the rebellion, then prepares to return to the States with Paula when the Afghan Underground gains word of fighting spilling over into neighboring Iran. There, the bloodiest battles are being fought over Islam.

The young couple hop a train to Tehran, where Shadar is supposed to help set up the Iranian Underground Resistance Movement--the "Underground Opera"--before returning to the States. But when they arrive, Shadar is missing. Paula, left alone in a strange land, a Roman Catholic in a country run by Muslims, is victimized and terrorized, all the while trying to learn the location of her husband. When she innocently stumbles into the hands of the Underground, she is elated. Surely they can help her find her lover. But when she learns it is the wrong Underground--controlled by the dreaded Iranian secret police—she faces a life of torture and abuse, of savagery and even murder. Only her quick thinking, and some contacts she has kept from her last trip to Asia, are able to save her.

But her work in Iran is not complete. When she uncovers by accident the death of her ex-husband Bob, she stumbles upon the one clue that could lead her to her beloved Shadar. But will she have the cunning to find him and the strength to free him? And will she arrive in time, as the bloody civil war threatens to burst open any day. Only time--and the Underground Opera—will tell.

Bio:
Deanna Blackwell is the non-deplume of D. J. Herda, the award-winning author of more than 80 conventionally published books and several hundred thousand short stories, articles, columns, and scripts. He received his degree from Columbia College and taught Creative Writing Workshop in Chicago. President of the American Society of Authors and Writers and member of several other writing and literary societies, he writes in virtually all genres and a few only he knows exist. He has ghostwritten for several Hollywood luminaries, including Ronnie Schell, Art Linkletter, Lawrence Welk, and Sammy Davis Jr., for whom he has also ghost-photographed.

Film:
This book was written visually, with strong character development and scene elements. Each chapter ends on a hook. The dialogue is crisp, pointed, quirky, and believable, and the scenes contain good descriptive passages for visualization purposes. Several producers have expressed interest in seeing the book, but it has not yet been shopped around.