NCW Libraries

Diamonds are a multi-billion dollar business involving some of the world's largest mining companies, a million and a half artisanal diggers, more than a million cutters and polishers, and a huge retail jewelery sector. But behind the sparkle of the diamond lies a murkier story, in which rebel armies in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Congo turned to diamonds to finance their wars. Completely unregulated, so-called "blood diamonds" became the perfect...

"When "The Russian Pink"--a stunningly large rose-hued diamond--makes a surprise appearance around the neck of Honey Li, the wife of surging presidential candidate Harry Nash, Alex Turner, an investigator for the Treasury Department's diamond division and former C.I.A. agent, finds himself spiraling down a seemingly endless rabbit hole. A diamond like that always carries secrets, but the web of mystery behind "The Pink" is more complex than Alex could...

It's the following Thursday. Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster and a very real threat to his life. As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus? But this time they...

Lady Ella Myerston can always find a reason to smile--even if it's just in hope that tomorrow will be better than today. All her life everyone has tried to protect her from the realities of the world, but Ella knows very well the danger that has haunted her brother and their friend, and she won't wait for it to strike again. She intends to take action...and if that happens to involve an adventurous trip to the Cotswolds, then so much the better. Lord...

"When tragedy strikes an engagement party, Special Agent Parisa Maxwell becomes the sole survivor and the only witness to a kidnapping and the theft of a legendary diamond. With her friend now missing, Parisa makes a promise to save the other woman, no matter the cost. Jared MacIntyre's entire life is a carefully cultivated set of lies. He wasn't looking for the beautiful brunette when he ventured into the private rooms at the consulate, but he couldn't...

Boddice, a crime lord looking over his shoulder for good reason, has assembled an unlikely band of misfit crooks. Their job is to steal a famous diamond worth millions, known as The Dark Side of the Moon. Despite the odds, the crew's self-serving squabbles and their natural incompetence, the plan progresses. As events build to an explosive climax no one really knows who is playing who. Full of twists and turns and laugh-out-loud moments, this is a...

The Kohinoor diamond, one of the most famous diamonds in the world, was stolen from India and fought over throughout centuries of colonial conquest, eventually landing in the hands of British royals who tricked a ten-year-old South Asian monarch into relinquishing it. The diamond was ultimately cut to nearly half its size to suit British beauty standards for the crown jewels-and is displayed to this day in the Tower of London museum, a trophy of colonization....

"My brain can't hold any more secrets, nor memories. It is a thatched-roof prison where memories sleep it off and then leave." Rubén Pablo Alcocer is fifty-four years old. He is a private detective, living in Saltillo. He could have been a philosopher, and he might as well have, since his most recent job has landed him in a situation far beyond complicated: a man and a woman have him tied up to a chair, they have put a plastic bag over his face,...

A jailbreak accidentally sets fast-talking ticket hustler Franklin Hatchet on the run for murder; now the whole city is on his tail and only reporter James Russell can clear his name.

"Before a diamond is a gem, it's a common gray rock called graphite. Through an intense trial of heat and pressure, it changes into one of the most valuable stones in the world. Before Tracy Hall was an inventor, he was a boy--born into poverty, bullied by peers, forced to work at an early age. However, through education and experimentation, he became one of the brightest innovators of the twentieth century, eventually building a revolutionary machine...