Anne Swardson 
The Spice of Death 

A spice vendor at a Paris market gets an unusual request for caraway seeds from a down on her luck elderly Romanian who claims to be a princess. When an intimidating pursuer appears, the vendor wonders if her fanciful claims could be true. Compelled to learn more when she desperately pleads for his help, he risks his new life in France to solve the mystery of who she really is and why dangerous men would pursue a powerless old woman.