A Jaw-Dropping Ring!

Emeralds, like all colored gemstones, are graded using the four Cs: color, clarity, cut, and carat weight. For the emerald, color is the most important criterion—a slightly bluish intense green is favored—but clarity is a close second since emeralds are likely to have inclusions, that is, impurities trapped in the stone. Ranked along with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, emeralds are one of the top gemstones.

Phoebe’s jaw drops in “The Mistress”, a short story in The Deadliest Deceptions, when she enters the antique Etruscan vase shop on the Street of the Soma. Not because she and Miriam have at last tracked down the man about to commit a murder but because she sees that emerald ring. Miriam explains:

Phoebe scanned the shop and then snapped her eyes back to me. “Did you see that ring? An emerald! How can she even lift her left hand!” This time Phoebe erupted in a fit of hilarity. Then, looking around, surprised at her volume, she stifled her voice with a clamped palm against her mouth before adding, “Really Miriam, it must have cost—”

Moving closer, I could see the woman was young, with fair skin and a heart-shaped face. In addition to the ring—Phoebe was right; the vivid green, emerald-cut, stone was huge—she wore a gold Roman collar necklace with spearheads and a pair of matching earrings.

Never mind the cost of the ring. If you have to ask, you can’t afford it. But you can afford any of the Miriam bat Isaac books, whether in paperback or e-book format. To take your pick and watch for the newest one, The Deadliest Deceptions, a collection of short stories designed to quicken the flow of your blood, just click here click here.