The Secret in the Romanov Vest

Russian soldier Evgeny Petrovsky is in the house, but did not participate in the executions of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1918. He has the opportunity and, at the risk of his life, takes a vest that belonged to a member to the royal family believing it may be of value and might help him buy passage for his family or at least his two sons Alexei and Ilia to escape to America. But first he must escape with the vest for if he is discovered with it, he will surely be shot on the spot. After the executions, all the belongings of the royal family are loaded into trunks and are accompanied by soldiers on a train to Moscow. Sickened by all the bloodshed he has seen in WWI and the civil war, he decides to desert the army as so many soldiers are doing. Once they arrive, Evgeny escapes in the busy train station and begins to make his way home to Valischok. It is a treacherous trip with nearly no food or sleep and almost constant wind and rain and he arrives barely alive. He is taken into the nearest home, belonging to Katia, the still grieving widow of the town butcher, to be nursed back to health. When Evgeny's wife Elena hears he is alive, she and their two sons, Alexei and Ilia come immediately to his side. The two women nurse Evgeny back to health and become fast friends. Katia found the vest in Evgeny's clothes when she washed them. Putting it in her apron, and later hiding it in a drawer, she thought it might be valuable and come in handy in the future. By the time Evgeny is well enough to return to his own home, Katia realizes she has already received a better gift in the friendship with Elena than any vest and returns it to Evgeny. When Alexei and Ilia are older, Evgeny is able to secure passage for them to America. He has a cousin in America who has agreed to help any relative who wants to come from Russia. Evgeny wants to come with them, but Elena believes they are too old, so the two boys bravely set out alone across Russia, Europe, to England to board a ship which takes them to New York where they meet their cousin who takes them to Chicago. They thrive in Chicago learning English and becoming U.S. citizens. Their cousin teaches them the grocery business and they become successful. After WWII Alexei tires of the winters and summers in Chicago and moves to the West Coast to pursue the new business opportunities opening there. Present day-Dr. Abigail Stevens has just been dumped by Dr. Roger Mills. They are both associate professors at Joshua Tree College. Abigail has been dating Roger since she came there to teach. She thought they would spend their summer vacation planning their wedding. Roger and his research assistant have left for the Caribbean on a year-long fellowship. Abigail is devasted. Aunt Lily to the rescue. She invites Abigail to her seaside cottage to help her with a favor. Abigail knowing she needs a change of scenery and believing the favor is a decorating project arrives the same day. It turns out the favor is to help solve the murder of Aunt Lily's ninety-something year old neighbor Alexei who dropped dead the week before. The coroner's report says "death by natural causes" but Aunt Lily is sure one of Alexei's money hungry relatives is to blame. Aunt Lily believes Abigail is uniquely qualified to investigate because she reads detective novels. Abigail believes her aunt is over-imaginative but doesn't want to hurt her feelings, so she helps her investigate to the point of breaking the law. What they find is Alexei has one more secret to tell after he died.