The Good Diamond: A Pacific Northwest Mystery - Hardcover

Moody, Skye Kathleen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312324154 ISBN 13: 9780312324155

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2004

Synopsis

The chase begins when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond is summoned by local authorities to the scene of a bloody ambush: Eight men are dead and one woman is missing from one of Canada's prestigious diamond mines. Along with the woman, presumed to be a hostage, one of the world's priceless diamonds, the 384-carat Lac de Lune, has disappeared.

The rare blue diamond was recently mined from the Zone Mine Big Jim Hardy and his little mine on the map in the diamond industry. But now Big Jim is dead and he left one word behind: Venus.

Stolen before it could be cut and shown to the world, the priceless diamond leaves a trail for Venus to follow, as a ruthless killer methodically eliminates the people helping him steal, smuggle, cut, and sell the most valuable diamond in the world.

The Good Diamond is a rollicking, fast-paced crime novel that promises to intrigue fans and newcomers alike.

About this title

About the Author

Writer, photographer and former East Africa bush guide, Skye Moody lives at Wits End on Seattle's Alki Beach. This is her seventh mystery novel in the Venus Diamond Series.

From Publishers Weekly

The title of Moody's turgid seventh book in her Venus Diamond series (after 2003's Medusa) refers not to her protagonist but to the real thing. Good diamonds are those mined, processed and sold by legitimate dealers, as opposed to blood diamonds, which are extracted by slave labor, smuggled through a shadowy international channel known as the tube and traded for illegal guns. All along the sequence, blood diamonds are paid for in blood. Venus's position as an undercover agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service normally pits her against those who threaten the animals on federal lands. Here she's brought into the world of diamond smuggling when the prospector who found a 350-carat blue diamond in Canada's Northwest Territories is murdered and writes her name in his blood at the scene. Fans of the series know to expect complex plots, and they won't be disappointed. New readers may not be so forgiving, for little of Venus's usually admirable personality manages to squeeze through the dense plot layers. While the inside view of the diamond cutter's world is fascinating, this book cries out for the same kind of treatment as diamonds: someone needs to cut away the rough parts and polish the rest.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0312324154
• ISBN 13: 9780312324155
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368