The Couturier of Milan: An Ava Lee Novel: Book 9

Ava attends London Fashion Week for the launch of the P fashion line, one of the major investments she and her partners in the Three Sisters -- May Ling Wong and Amanda Yee -- have made during the last year. With the exponential expansion of the luxury-brand market in China, Ava and her partners are determined to see a young Chinese designer break out in Europe and North America and they go full out in London.

The show is a success, but perhaps too much of one. It attracts the attention of Dominic Ventola, the principal partner in the luxury fashion conglomerate VLG. The women are invited to Milan to meet with Ventola and senior executives in his company. VLG offers to buy the Three Sisters' stake in P . Ava and her partners decline. A few days later, P comes under attack in the fashion media and a large part of their customer base is pressured by VLG to abandon them.

Ava decides to strike back and turns to Xu for assistance, leading to a confrontation between two of the world's biggest global crime syndicates: the Camorra and the Triad.

IAN HAMILTON is the author of the Ava Lee series. The books have been shortlisted for numerous prizes, including the Arthur Ellis Award, the Barry Award, and the Lambda Literary Prize, and are national bestsellers. The Water Rat of Wanchai was the winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was named a best book of the year by Amazon.ca, the Toronto Star, and Quill & Quire. BBC Culture named Hamilton one of the ten mystery/crime writers from the last thirty years that should be on your bookshelf. The series is being adapted for television.