Taming the Savage Monsoon

Royal intrigue is brewing, as thick and impenetrable as the rain forest canopies in Cambodia’s provincial jungles. Lindsay March, named Officer-In-Charge when her boss leaves for a sudden conference, is dismayed to find that his departure coincides with a royal reception at which the United Nations Office In Cambodia is invited to commit to a controversial nature reserve in the country’s northeastern province of Ratanakiri.

Simultaneously thrust into UNOIC’s labyrinthine bureaucracy and the exotic but baffling culture of Cambodia’s elite, Lindsay is alone. How can she be sure what the nature reserve is really designed to protect—the disappearing forests, or those who are exploiting them? Would-be advisors stream through her office door, but whom to trust?

To Lindsay’s dismay, Maximiliano Vega y Ortega, one-time Bolivian national polo champion and Lindsay’s long-ago lover, has surfaced as Special Advisor to the King on natural resource development and preservation. From their first encounter, Lindsay questions Max’s motives for being involved, but against her will, her heart responds to his smoldering Latin eyes.

Days before a scheduled fact-finding mission, Lindsay is approached by the dashing Major Andre Balfour. Are his words of impending danger a warning—or a threat? Andre is the French Military Attach, but is that just a cover? Rumors tell of Major Balfour’s late night drinking with the General Quartet, the four most powerful and despised generals in the Royal Army.

The excitement of Lindsay’s first encounter with the majesty of an unspoiled rain forest is tempered by the presence of a third member in their party. Neither his lack of qualifications nor his shady past have prevented Som Hoktha from being named Director of the new nature reserve, and Lindsay is quick to establish that he didn’t win the post through personal charm. No. But all is explained when Lindsay learns that Hoktha’s uncle is not just a member of the General Quartet, but their dreaded leader, General Som Sak. After a day of sightseeing, Hoktha contrives to leave Lindsay and Max stranded overnight in the park, where they explore their mutual passion in the wild splendor of a tropical storm.

Returning to Phnom Penh, Lindsay discovers that the vile General Som Sak and his loathsome nephew are conniving to camouflage a criminal network of traffic in lumber, gems, drugs, and children in the shelter of the nature reserve. Lindsay and a bizarre coterie of supporters set out to stop the Generals, and prove that it’s not only in the Magic Kingdom that right can still triumph over might.