The Lady Waiting

One bright Los Angeles day, a young Polish emigree named Viva is driving along the freeway when she''s flagged down by a dazzling, disheveled woman in green chiffon. The woman is Bobby Sleeper, fellow Eastern European and erstwhile art gallerist with a mysterious background and even more mysterious filmmaker husband. Within days, the couple hire Viva as their assistant, then enlist her as an accomplice in an improbable scheme involving a long-lost Vermeer masterwork, a multi-million-dollar reward, and several shadowy ex-husbands. Entranced by their lifestyle, alarmed by their ramshackle scam, Viva realizes she''s out of her depth - and that only luck, cunning, and her own hustler''s instinct can save her from disaster. Careening from the canyons of LA to the canals of Venice, The Lady Waiting is a page-turning caper, a cavalcade of twenty-first-century sins - rapacious capitalism, shameless fraud, and atrocious behavior - and a showcase for three of the biggest and most unforgettable characters in recent fiction.