The Good Diamond: A Pacific Northwest Mystery (Venus Diamond Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Skye Kathleen Moody (Author)

Book Description

Series: Venus Diamond Mysteries | Publication Date: August 1, 2004

The chase begins when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond is summoned by local authorities to the scene of a bloody ambush: Eight men are dead and one woman is missing from one of Canada's prestigious diamond mines. Along with the woman, presumed to be a hostage, one of the world's priceless diamonds, the 384-carat Lac de Lune, has disappeared.

The rare blue diamond was recently mined from the Zone Mine Big Jim Hardy and his little mine on the map in the diamond industry. But now Big Jim is dead and he left one word behind: Venus.

Stolen before it could be cut and shown to the world, the priceless diamond leaves a trail for Venus to follow, as a ruthless killer methodically eliminates the people helping him steal, smuggle, cut, and sell the most valuable diamond in the world.

The Good Diamond is a rollicking, fast-paced crime novel that promises to intrigue fans and newcomers alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title of Moody's turgid seventh book in her Venus Diamond series (after 2003's Medusa) refers not to her protagonist but to the real thing. Good diamonds are those mined, processed and sold by legitimate dealers, as opposed to blood diamonds, which are extracted by slave labor, smuggled through a shadowy international channel known as the tube and traded for illegal guns. All along the sequence, blood diamonds are paid for in blood. Venus's position as an undercover agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service normally pits her against those who threaten the animals on federal lands. Here she's brought into the world of diamond smuggling when the prospector who found a 350-carat blue diamond in Canada's Northwest Territories is murdered and writes her name in his blood at the scene. Fans of the series know to expect complex plots, and they won't be disappointed. New readers may not be so forgiving, for little of Venus's usually admirable personality manages to squeeze through the dense plot layers. While the inside view of the diamond cutter's world is fascinating, this book cries out for the same kind of treatment as diamonds: someone needs to cut away the rough parts and polish the rest.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Although readers may not see as much of Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond or the great outdoors as they might like in this entry in Moody's ongoing series, they will learn something about the diamond trade and its bizarre link to weapons smuggling. Big Jim Hardy's discovery of a huge gem, the Lac de Lune, in a Canadian diamond mine sparks a murder spree that eventually ends in more than a dozen deaths. After Venus learns that Hardy, brutally killed during the theft of the gem, was actually Buzz Radke, a former undercover investigator and colleague, she determines to find his killer, a task that takes her from a Canadian jail to a Washington State chicken ranch to New York City's diamond district. The plot threatens to spin out of control more than once, but the lure of that dazzling diamond keeps the action from sinking under its own complications. A bit of an odd duck within a series that usually appeals directly to the Nevada Barr crowd, this one nevertheless offers an insider's look at a fascinating subject. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312324154
• ISBN-13: 978-0312324155
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,624,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting crime thriller, July 28, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Diamond: A Pacific Northwest Mystery (Venus Diamond Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In the Barrens of Canada's Northwest Territories, diamond prospector Big Jim Hardy strikes it rich at the Lac de Lune Mine when he finds a three hundred and eighty-four caret blue green diamond. He increases security but commandos steal the big gem and millions of dollars in small diamonds, killing the security guards and Jim. Before dying, he wrote the name Venus Diamond in blood; RCMP Sergeant Roland Mackenzie believes that U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent Diamond was a key player in the theft and killings.

Venus identifies Jim as U.S. federal undercover agent Buzz Radke who was tracking weapons and diamond smugglers. After Mackenzie is arrested because evidence points to him as one of the killers in the Lac de Lune Mine murders, Venus is assigned to find the diamond. It is on the Lay-A-Day Ranch where a white supremacist group intends to trade the diamonds for arms in their war against the U.S. government. The diamonds are stolen by a go between who was supposed to insure the gems were real before a final trade with a weapons dealer. . Instead, the head of the Lay- a- Day Ranch is killed and Venus follows a trail of and destruction leading to the mastermind.

The protagonist of THE GOOD DIAMOND is hard to understand or empathize with but that hardly matters since there is so much action in this exciting crime thriller in which readers learn about the legitimate and the seamy sides of the diamond trade. Venus realizes nobody can be trusted as she is sure the witnesses she interrogates hide information from her when they are not totally lying. Skye Kathleen Moody pens another winner in this long running series.

Harriet Klausner

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing and satisfying, November 26, 2004

By 

S. Urban (Redmond, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Diamond: A Pacific Northwest Mystery (Venus Diamond Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The Good Diamond is a great addition to the long running series. Skye Moody has pulled together a fascinating cast of new and returning characters, along with intriguing detail about the diamond trade to create an exciting, action-packed mystery.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent mystery thriller, October 17, 2004

By 

Daphne Ashling Purpus (Vashon, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Good Diamond: A Pacific Northwest Mystery (Venus Diamond Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The Good Diamond is the latest mystery in the Venus Diamond series and it is absolutely fantastic. From the minute it opens in a Canadian diamond mine where a 384 carat diamond has been discovered until the final page, the action is fast-paced and heart-stopping. The characters are well portrayed, drawing the reader into the novel immediately, and the writing is of an exceptionally high quality. This is a novel which, once begun, is impossible to put down. It is a superior addition to the series, but it can also be read as a stand alone. I not only enjoyed the intense thriller action of the novel, but I learned a tremendous amount about the diamond industry and weapons smuggling. As always, Skye Moody has done extensive research to present her readers with an exquisitely written, very intelligent, highly entertaining mystery novel. This is a mystery which should be on every mystery reader's must read list.