Spotted: The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

Whenever I see this author's name... a deep-voiced audiobook narrator with a thick Castilian lisp speaks it in my head: "Alejandrrrro Dumas." See, several years ago I loaded the Spanish audio of El Conde de Monte Cristo to my ipod for self improvement reasons. And while they say the shuffle mode is impartial, I'll be a son of a gun if track 1 of that audio book didn't come on more often than an Activia ad on the Lifetime channel.

Where: Grand Central Terminal
Who was reading: A stern little man who looked like a functionary from a former Eastern Bloc country. He wore a tight blue business shirt cinched at the neck by a darker blue tie. The resulting pressure gave his shorn head the appearance of an bulging sausage with thin, pink lips.
The Plot (Strand #1): A wild mob of dutchmen lynch the Grand Pensionary (which is basically like a leader only more Dutch). Based on true facts.
The Plot (Strand #2): A young man who's a pretty big deal in the world of competitive gardening gets thrown into jail and turns on his not inconsiderable charm to sweet-talk the jailer's goodlooking daughter into rescuing him.
Gradually, the two strands merge, and we come to see how they're related.
*Now a major motion picture! *circa 1964.