The ninth stone
By: Kylie Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Published: 2007
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 313
ISBN-13: 9780297852766; 9780297853015
Subjects: Jewel thieves; Orphans; Murder; Fiction; History
Description: A jewel theif is loose in old London town and is murdering his victims. Sarah O'Reilly, who works as a typesetter in a newspaper office, becomes embroiled in the mystery that will eventually lead to India and a jewel with terrifying powers.
Table of contents: title: "Amen Corner, London, 1864. Orphan Sarah O'Reilly has disguised herself as a boy so that she can work in the offices of Septimus Harding's newspaper, the London Mercury. There she meets Lily Korechnya, a wealthy widow who writes a column on 'exceptional women' for the paper, and who takes Sarah under her wing." "Lily has been enlisted by Lady Cynthia Herbert to help catalogue her magnificent jewel collection. She is especially struck by several large gems that belong to the Maharaja of Benares, which Lady Herbert has promised to have made into a special charm called a navaratna. The gems include a fiery red diamond that seems to exert an unsettling influence over anyone who touches it." "Then two gruesome murders take place; title: first a customs officer at the docks and then a jeweller in Hatton Gardens, both of whom have been strangled in a distinctive way. A local simpleton, Holy Joe, is blamed for the murders but neither Lily nor Sara are convinced the police have the right man. The trail of the missing gems leads them back to India and the dangerous cult of the destroyer goddess Kali."; title: BOOK JACKET.