The Great Pearl Heist: London's Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard's Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Necklace
*Starred Review* Legends surround pearls—that pearls are the tears of mermaids, for example, or that a pearl possessed by royalty will destroy anyone else who comes to own it. Pearls are unique: they’re the only gemstones that come from a living being and the only stones that require no cutting or polishing. Natural pearls are often priceless. In this eye-opening account of the theft of the most valuable necklace in history, Crosby incorporates pearl legends and facts as well as a great deal of history surrounding the hardships of pearl diving and the intricacies of pearl trading before WWI. The Mayer Pearls, named after the jewelry trader Max Mayer, who purchased them in 1912, were a strand of 61 pearls whose centerpiece was a large teardrop pearl purchased from Portuguese royalty. They were worth more than the Hope Diamond. Crosby takes us into the criminal empire of one Joseph Grizzard, details Grizzard’s plan to intercept the necklace on its way from Paris to London, opens up the heist itself, and then elaborates on how Scotland Yard, led by brilliant and tenacious Inspector Alfred Ward, hunted down the criminals and brought them to trial. Crosby’s thriller-style account is backed up by her intensive research of Metropolitan Police records in the National Archives in London, along with contemporary accounts. Crosby, who wrote the best-selling story of how yellow fever shaped U.S. history, The American Plague (2006), has crafted another compelling popular history. --Connie Fletcher