The Family Jewels

Divorce is never pretty and when the wife comes from a wealthy family and the husband is flat out broke, it’s easy to figure out who will win the legal battles. So when Suzanne Price and her parents ask Colman Price to leave Caumsett House, the Janssons’ luxurious summer estate on Long Island’s Gold Coast, everyone assumes he will go quietly and surrender custody of his young daughter to his wife and her family, as requested. Col leaves willingly enough, he’s had enough of Suzanne and her domineering mother, but he makes it clear that he is not happy giving up his parental rights.

Nothing happens for several days. Then Mary Jansson’s famous and priceless jewelry collection is stolen on a night the family and staff are all away. Not wishing to involve the police, the Janssons hire a private detective agency to investigate and recover the jewels. Soon Sam Jansson learns the detectives share his worst suspicions, that Suzanne has stolen her mother’s jewelry. Not wishing to burden his wife, Sam and the detectives keep that theory to themselves. Mrs. Jansson, unaware that her daughter is the prime suspect and dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation, asks her attorneys to quietly open a second investigation. Suzanne also has some suspicions and she decides to quietly retain her own detective to launch a third investigation.

Into this mix comes Molly Babbitt, an undercover operative assigned to pose as a governess for little Bibiana. Molly is not the usual private eye, she usually works as an office receptionist or switchboard operator, but on occasion she has been asked by her employer, the powerful law firm of Whitney and Whitney, to blend into an investigation and use her sharp intelligence and keen intuition to solve a troubling case.

Molly hasn’t gotten far in finding the missing gems or the thief before the family’s attention is diverted to a far greater loss. Bibiana is kidnapped and everyone believes that Colman Price has made good on his threats to get revenge for the way he has been treated.

With the stakes higher than ever, Molly must use all her detecting skills and common sense to find the missing child as well as the no longer important thief and missing jewels. To do so she needs to unravel the odd relationship between Jenna Maitland and Col Price. Was Jenna part of a plot to kidnap Bibiana? Was she part of a plot to steal the jewels? Where is the little girl? Could Col Price sink so low as to steal his daughter just to get back at his wife and her parents? Or is everyone looking in the wrong directions?