The Golden Phoenix

Sinologist Dr. Gillian Howard is commissioned by a billionaire Hong Kong industrialist to find an artifact known in Chinese historical documents only as The Golden Phoenix. No descriptions had ever been found, and so Howard, irresistibly attracted by the challenge, begins a search without knowing exactly what she is looking for. Using journals and diaries, the logs of East India Company merchant ships, and old manuscripts she discovers in Britain and China, against an historical backdrop of nearly four hundred years, she traces the history of the Phoenix until she finally discovers both what and where it is. However, with her success comes the realization that she has been manipulated and used by her employer in a multimillion-dollar scheme enmeshed in a tangle of lies, deceptions, and sheer relentless greed. She must decide whether to expose the plot, or simply remain silent.