After spending the previous five books going nowhere slowly, the White Star miniseries stumbles toward the finish line in Destiny’s Hand. On the plus side, this is only the second book in the series that never bored me and kept me reasonably engaged from start to finish. On the other, the characters’ behavior is too often dictated by the requirements of the plot rather than what actually makes sense, resulting in a frequently annoying read.

As their ten year wedding anniversary approaches, Morgan Shaw feels she and her husband Adam are drifting apart. An investment banker, he’s driven to succeed in his career at all costs. When he tells her he has yet another late business meeting and will be staying overnight in the city, she puts on a sexy outfit and goes to his hotel to surprise him. Knowing that his meeting is at 8:00, she tracks him down in the hotel bar just before the meeting, “dressed like a trollop,” as she describes it.

I thought this was incredibly thoughtless of her. What’s her goal? To distract him moments before his meeting? To try to get him to ditch it to have sex with her? If she had shown up at his hotel room after the meeting, he probably would have been happy to see her and they could have had a nice night together. But that would have made too much sense and likely helped them reconnect early in the book rather than let their issues fester for the next 200 pages. Instead, she makes the inane decision to show up beforehand, he’s shocked to see her dressed in a way she never has before (and doesn’t even recognize her at first), and then his client shows up, forcing an awkward introduction.

Unhappy that she didn’t get the response she wanted, Morgan goes home to Connecticut and distracts herself by focusing on the mysterious ancient box she recently found in her antique store. She believes it’s connected to a priceless amulet called the White Star that was recently stolen and recovered, only to then vanish from the police evidence room. Placing a post about the box on an antiquities message board, she immediately gets a response from Henri Renouf, a collector who claims to have the White Star. He invites her to come to his home in France so they can see if the amulet will open the box.

Morgan knows the White Star was stolen. Her sister is dating the cop investigating the case, who left her a message moments before telling her it vanished from the police evidence room. Does she decide to contact the police about this man who claims to have the stolen goods? Of course not. Having already made plans to travel to France with Adam for their anniversary, she accepts Renouf’s invitation. As she reasons, “Had he obtained the White Star through illegal means? It seemed likely. Yet everyone was innocent until proven guilty. Who was she to judge?” What??? That is absolutely absurd.

Meanwhile, a crisis at work causes Adam’s boss to cancel all personal time, including Adam’s planned vacation with Morgan. She’s furious, feeling that he’s again putting work ahead of her, although it didn’t sound to me like he had much of a choice if he didn’t want to get fired. When Morgan tells her sister Cass about Renouf, not only does Cass not suggest telling her cop boyfriend, she tells Morgan that she should go meet Renouf alone. What a great idea! Go meet a complete stranger in a foreign country who claims to have stolen goods all by yourself! Brilliant! Worst of all, readers who’ve been following the series know that Renouf has people at his disposal who he can send to retrieve anything he wants. That was how he got the White Star in the first place. If he wants the box, all he has to do is send his goons to take it from Morgan. But we’re supposed to believe he’ll sit around and wait for her to come to France? Riiiiight.

Anyway, after Morgan leaves, Adam reads an email from Renouf that makes him think she’s having an affair, so he takes off to France after her. When she arrives, Morgan learns that her luggage was accidentally sent to Thailand. She freaks out, because the box was in her suitcase. This is where I officially gave up on her. She has a priceless, centuries-old box, and rather than keep it with her in her carry-on, she checks it in her luggage? What an idiot. Of course, this is just another contrivance to delay her meeting with Renouf, allowing Adam time to catch up with her and putting off the climactic showdown until the end.

It’s a shame the story is burdened with so much nonsense, because the author has an agreeable style that made this a fast, easy read. The fact that I was never bored makes it a cut above most of the series books I’ve read of late. Morgan and Adam are generally sympathetic when they’re not being stupid. The second half of the book is stronger, once they are reunited and regain some of their closeness. There are some effectively sensual moments, including a chase through the streets of Paris that packs a nice romantic charge. The final showdown with Renouf is acceptable, but hardly worth waiting six books to get to.

Ultimately, the White Star was a poorly plotted series stretching what might have been a decent trilogy into six books instead. The series’ description calls it “a race to unearth a decadent treasure,” but races are supposed to be fast and this series moved with incredible slowness. It probably should be no surprise that this final entry drags it out to the bitter end with the aid of lame contrivances and foolish behavior on the part of its main characters.