Author Description

Long after the Little Ice Age in London, we find Desiree in 1910 hosting a ski party in Saint Anton, Austria at the Gastoff Hotel where the sport was born. She's there with Baron Phillipe, his girlfriend, model and race car driver Hellee, his private secretary Nicki who likes to tell stories about Grand Hotels, and Etori the Italian who makes race cars for the Baron. Soon after, three Germans arrive, Carl, his wife Bertie and William, who made the first automobiles in Stuttgart. They're joined by French rival carmakers Marcel and Louie and their girlfriends Gigi and Camille from the Moulin Rouge. But a guest is missing, the piece of the puzzle Desiree needs to dominate the new automobile industry. His name is Edvard, an Austrian former diplomat and businessman, the group finds broken down on the road from Lech, with his wife Racquel. Edvard wants to get into the nascent automobile industry and Desiree convinces him to order cars from Carl and William and race them in Nice on the French Riviera. He agrees, but only after Desiree uses her engineering skills to demand design changes. Edvard arrives in Nice without his wife and stays at the Grand Hotel on the beach, declining Phillipe's invitation to join him and Desiree at Phillipe's Villa called Lac aux Dames for its fabulous pool. Desiree stokes the rivalry between Phillipe and Edvard who soon acquires a villa on the Promenade des Anglais with not only a pool but space for an automobile showroom in the heart of the action. After the aviators come and go for the annual Air Show, it's automobile racing time. Desiree and Edvard take delivery of their cars from Carl, William and Bertie who arrive with Edvard's wife Racquel. Racquel discovers Edvard calls Desiree his Mercedes, a gift and blessing, and named his house and showroom the Villa Mercedes in her honor. The rivalry between Phillipe and Edvard, Desiree and Racquel, and the German, French and Italian car makers threatens to make the races from Nice to the famed hil