Hammer Spade and the Ring of Fire

Hammer Spade and the Ring of Fire
by E.B. Alston

This story is about a wedding ring with an ancient Babylonian inscription. It is 2,490 years old. It was the ring given by Persian King Xerxes to his new Queen, the Biblical Esther, on their wedding night. It was stolen from the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This case would the most difficult challenge in Hammer’s career as he, Jack Kane, Dave Quigley, and a new team member, Rachel Clark. Locating and recovering the Ring of Fire would test their ingenuity to the fullest as they traveled, first to Russia, then to Greece, Belgrade, Istanbul, Rome, Somalia, Damascus and Kuwait.

Reviews:

You have never read a detective story like this one. It is an adventure of the mind, the spirit, and there are action scenes exciting enough for anybody’s taste. 

How does one go about finding a needle in a haystack? This is, in effect, the task set forth for Hammer Spade in this novel. A wedding ring has disappeared out of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. There is no apparent motive and no known suspects. For assistance in finding and recovering the ring, the Russians have turned to Hammer Spade, a private investigator from North Carolina who is gaining in international recognition. 

In their quest for the missing ring, Hammer and his team are required to think creatively. They pay a huge price to a most unusual consulting source in Greece and then find themselves solving extraordinary clues couched in rhyme. Jack Kane and Dave Quigley accidentally drop in on a sheik's harem in Somalia and in a banquet in his tent, as guests of honor, they are offered a local delicacy consisting of sheep's eyes. Performing some devious sleight of hand tricks is how they dealt with a treacherous lecher in Kuwait who had gained possession of the ring. Their last hurdle convincing the Russians they had located and returned the correct ring. In a surprising fashion, Alonia comes to Hammer's aid. 

Judy Jacobs