18mm Blues
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
A gem dealer caught up in a decades-old murder mystery searches for the world’s most precious and mysterious pearls in New York Times–bestselling author Gerald A. Browne’s exotic, riveting thriller
When Grady Bowman and his new girlfriend, Julia Elkins, travel from San Francisco to the Far East to get Grady back into the gem business, a jeweler in Bangkok tells them the extraordinary true story of two female Japanese pearl divers who discovered in the Andaman Sea an oyster bed filled with priceless, naturally blue pearls. The divers were murdered for what they found, and now the son of one of the divers wants revenge.
As Grady and Julia hunt for the source of the priceless pearls, they are led to the estate and oyster farms of the world’s wealthiest pearl dealer. Here Julia becomes increasingly obsessed with the divers’ tragic deaths, and she and Grady will unravel an extraordinary mystery of one man’s obsession and another man’s crime, and the world’s most breathtaking naturally blue pearls.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Although skeptical readers may demur when a murdered ama (Japanese pearl-diver) inhabits an American body at a couple of crucial moments, Browne ( Stone 588 ; 19 Purchase Street ) ultimately inspires a willing suspension of disbelief in yet another world-class look at the international jewel trade. Gem dealer Grady Bowman and artist Julia Elkins, after a divorce and a failed suicide attempt, respectively, are rebuilding their lives and falling in love. They trek to an international gem sale in Rangoon, where Grady acquires a huge, masterfully cut ruby. But in a murderous attack by unknown white men in a Bangkok water taxi, Grady loses the gems in the river. He and Julia are invited to the pearl farm and estate of cultured pearl magnate Kumura, where he, Julia and the gem-cutter son of the dead ama go after blue pearls in the Andaman Sea. They're threatened by Kumura's limited partner, a decadent Frenchman who's not what he pretends to be. Despite a dangerously cute love story and Kumura's unlikely use for blue pearls, Browne's tale succeeds, thanks to a violent, satisfying ending and his mastery of fascinating gem lore. Literary Guid and Doubleday Book Club alternate selections; ad/promo.
