The Mystery of the Nourdon Blue

Sid Langdon is hired by a young girl, Felicia Weberley, to find her father, who she believes has gone in search of a family legend, a dazzling sapphire known as the Nourdon Blue, looted from the home of a wealthy English merchant during the unrest of the Crimean War in 1856. 

Over the years the stone had disappeared, although tales of tragedy befalling rumored owners surfaced from time to time.  The stone was said to be an omen of good fortune as long as it remained shielded from the outside world; but the source of a deadly curse should it ever see the light of day in the hands of its possessor.

Sid suspects Felicia's father is trafficking in stolen artifacts, and the prospect of finding him alive is highly unlikely.  Still, he attempts to track the stone in earnest, hoping it will lead him to Andrew Weberley.  Through the murky world of clandestine antiquities and a deranged fantasy surrounding a local actress, his leads eventually converge on a pawn shop in Seattle's Chinatown.  But where, and how, will the odyssey end?

65,000 words