review by showhost March 2014
I saw the picture of the front of this
paperback in a charity shop and had to read it - it's a picture of Camel Rock,
Porth Hellick.
It's a mystery set around the shipwreck
of HMS Association in 1707, the emerald & diamond ring which was cut off the
finger of Sir Clowdisley Shovell , a murder 30 years later and the drowning of a
journalist diving on the wreck in 1999.
Tim Harding is living & working in
Monaco as is Barney Tozer & associates. Barney Tozer his friend and an ex-Penzance
man has asked Tim to go to Penzance to oversee his estranged brother who wants
to bid for the emerald & diamond ring, which is being auctioned and which
they claim was stolen from their family centuries
ago.
The auction is taking place at the house of their
estranged uncle in Penzance whom they claim stole it from their
father.
While there, Tim befriends the
housekeeper Hayley, whose face is familiar to him, and they form an
attachment. Also, while Tim is there he
finds out secrets about Barneys past.
Barney was on the dive of the wreck in 1999 when his co-diver Kerry
died. Some say it was an accident and
others say Barney murdered her.
When the ring is stolen before the auction Tim
starts to ask questions, the questions take him to the Isles of Scilly,
London, Germany & back to Penzance. During this time he discovers that it isn't only
Barney who is keeping secrets and faces deception & conspiracy everywhere he
turns, including Hayley.
Things start to escalate when his
friend is murdered and Hayley is blamed for his
death.
It's a complicated tale with many
characters.
I didn't like this book as much as his
others. I still don't know who killed
his friend Barney and I thought the reason for the divers death very weak. There were perhaps too many things going on
which made it very disjointed. Also, not
as tense as his other books
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