The Diamond Secret

by Ruth Wind

The Diamond Secret by Ruth Wind released on Mar 14, 2006 is available now for purchase. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373513976
• ISBN13: 9780373513970
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Silhouette Bombshell
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

A Good Read (Minor Spoilers)

Sylvie Montague is a gemologist called to Scotland to help the police catalogue the jewelry stash of a murdered drug runner. After arriving in Scotland, and after making dinner plans with a Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome from the plane, Sylvie finds that her carry-on bag has been switched. The bag in her possession contains a mysterious stolen Romanian diamond called Katerina's Blood, a diamond that apparently belonged to the murdered drug runner. Sylvie finds a smeared address but legible phone number on the luggage tag on the errant bag and calls the number. The voice on the answering machine that picks up is that of an old friend and former love, Paul Maigny. Paul is a collecter and has wanted this particular hunk of compressed carbon for a long time. Sylvie is really confused. But since Sylvie has a hot date, she tucks the 80 carat rock into her bra and off she goes. Mr. TDaH turns out to be the jewel thief himself, Luca Colceriu. Luca tells Sylvie that Paul hired him to steal the diamond, but he doesn't intend to give it to Paul. Luca is Romanian, and he wants to return the diamond to his country "for his family's honor." He (Luca) is afraid to touch the diamond because legend has it that the diamond is cursed. Since Sylvie doesn't believe in curses (he knows this how?), he wants her to help him return it to Romania. I guess he can't wear gloves and buy a plane ticket. Sylvie is intrigued and attracted. However, other people want the diamond as well, and soon Sylvie and Luca are chased across the Scottish landscape from town to town. After some slightly kinky foreplay, Luca takes off with the diamond. Sylvie turns to Paul, and eventually the entire plot is revealed. I like the fast-paced action in this. The story occurs over only a few days, and a lot of car chases, bullets, back-stabbing and double-crossing are tucked into those minimal hours. I also liked the unconventional romance. Sylvie is attracted to two men--Luca and Paul. While Luca is close to Sylvie's age, Paul is much older than Sylvie--perhaps twenty five years or more. He is a friend of her father's and has known her since she was a child. He stepped in to care for her when her father couldn't (drinking, race car driving, poor choice of dwellings, etc.). Sylvie has been in love with him since she was a child. This story line could have gone way, way wrong, but I thought that the author handled the May-December romance skillfully and kept if from becoming creepy and pedophilic (is that a word?) The problem with the book I have is with the contrived set up. Luca steals the diamond from the drug runner in Scotland. Rather than simply absconding to Romania via the first flight, he sits around enjoying the local scenery until he reads in the paper that Sylvie will be called in to evaluate the remaining jewelry. He then flies all the way to San Francisco, breaks into her apartment to see what type of luggage she has, and gets on the same flight as Sylvie from San Fran to Scotland so

strong character driven thriller

San Francisco based Gemologist Sylvie Montague journeys to Glasgow, Scotland to evaluate jewels recovered from a dead drug dealer. However, instead of her bag she took with her, she finds she is carrying an identical looking luggage, which also contains a famous diamond that her former spouse Paul Maigny has always desired. She immediately goes all alert because she assumes Paul pulled a switch and whenever she is involved with him trouble follows. Sylvie proves right as gangsters chase her wanting the gem she found in the luggage. She quickly decides that her only way out of this mess is to trust no one including the man she always loved or the cops who hired her as a consultant and to return the diamond to its rightful owner. However, the path includes thugs willing to kill Sylvie to take the gem from her. THE DIAMOND SECRET is fast-paced and action-packed from the moment that Sylvie flies to Scotland and never slows down as the heroine quickly realizes trust no one as "nothing can bring out the evils of man like the lust to possess a particular jewel". She learns that first hand as even the man she loves seems to have betrayed her for a coveted gem. Fans who appreciate a strong character driven thriller will want to read Ruth Wind's terrific suspense filled tale. Harriet Klausner