Diamond Cut Diamond

It is 1835, and Lord Ambrose Malfine is outside the walls of the ruined castle of Pribyslav in Bohemia. As he watches his horse graze, he contemplates how he got there… 

The story begins at Lord Ambrose’s mansion, where he and Elisabeth are entertaining friends for dinner. 

They admire a beautiful necklace worn by Lilian, the wife of Ambrose’s friend Dr Lawrence, which he has bought for her to celebrate the birth of their baby.

Later, the gentlemen learn that Lawrence has taken credit of £1,000 for the necklace, having intended only to spend twenty pounds. 

After the guests have departed, Ambrose tells Elisabeth about Lawrence’s rash purchase. 

She is shocked, her background and experience having told her quite clearly that the stones of the necklace are false – very good fakes…

Ambrose takes it upon himself to find the jeweller who sold his friend the false stones and get the credit rescinded. 

Upon finding Florizel in Bond Street, Ambrose is introduced to a countess who sold the original necklace to the jeweller, and who seems herself to have been defrauded. 

Ambrose is successful not only in having the debt of his friend expunged, but also recovers for him the sum of £1,000 and the same for the countess.

As a reward for this the lady gives him a small key and a clue to the whereabouts of the lock it will open. 

This should perhaps have been the end of the matter, but Ambrose’s natural curiosity and gentlemanly behaviour result in him following the countess home, at a distance, and finding out from a local urchin that she is from Bohemia.

And so, Ambrose travels to his former college at Oxford to trace the family from the coat of arms he remembers from the countess’s dress. 

Having done so successfully, he then discovers he has been followed by a man whose clothing bears the same crest. 

He returns to the countess’s house in London to find she has disappeared, and that Billy has been tied up and imprisoned.

And thereby begins Lord Ambrose’s adventure in Bohemia…

Diamond Cut Diamond is the thrilling fourth instalment in the Lord Ambrose Mysteries . 

“Excellent prose, solid characterization, and authentic period »atmosphere.” — Library Journal 

“An intriguing Byronic hero.” — Publishers Weekly 

“A new series with stylistic overtones evocative of the Bronte sisters.” — Publishers Weekly 

“Lord Ambrose is a fanciable mixture of Byron and Mr. Rochester … This series is going to be a winner.” — Veronica Stallwood 

“Crisp, vividly evocative prose, interesting people, arresting plot, and unusual background” — Kirkus Reviews 

Jane Jakeman is an art historian who has travelled in the Mediterranean and the Middle East and has had numerous articles on art, food and travel published in newspapers and magazines, including the Independent, The Sunday Times and the Guardian . She studied English at the University of Birmingham and has a doctorate from Oxford University in the architectural history of Islamic Cairo. She lives in Oxford and is at present on the staff of the Bodleian Library.