The Ruby Spy Ring: An Ezra Melamed Mystery
by Libi Astaire
It is the winter of 1811.
With the excitement of her elder sister’s wedding now behind her, a restless Rebecca Lyon is thrilled to visit her dear friend Harriet Franks. But distressing events are about to occur. At a fashionable picture gallery, Mrs. Franks faints while viewing a Rembrandt painting of a groom putting a ruby ring on his bride’s finger. Then a suspicious coded message is found in the Mayfair tailoring establishment of Harriet’s father, and Mr. Franks is accused of spying for Napoleon.
As Mr. Franks languishes in prison, his distraught wife and daughter seek out Mr. Ezra Melamed, the wealthy widower-turned-sleuth. To his dismay, the one person who could shed light on the matter seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. With only a coded message, the mysterious ruby ring, and a cryptic clue from a Chassidic Rebbe, will Mr. Melamed be able to save Mr. Franks from the hangman’s noose?
The Disappearing Dowry, the first book in the Ezra Melamed Mystery Series, won a 2010 Sydney Taylor Notable Book Award. In this second book, acclaimed author Libi Astaire has done it again, painting a vivid picture of Regency England that combines the charm of historical fiction with the intriguing twist of a Jewish mystery.
About the Author:
Libi Astaire is an author and freelance journalist who often writes about Jewish history. Her feature articles appear regularly in the international Jewish weekly Mishpacha Magazine, which sent her to Catalonia, Spain, to research Catalonia’s lost Jewish communities. The result was a four-part feature article on Jewish Catalonia and her novel Terra Incognita, which was serialized in the magazine in the year 2008 and published by Targum Press in January 2010.
She is also the author of the Ezra Melamed Mystery Series, a Jewish historical mystery series set in Regency England. The first book in the series, The Disappearing Dowry, received a 2010 Sydney Taylor Notable Book Award. The second volume, The Ruby Spy Ring, was published in 2011.
Her articles on Jewish spirituality and retellings of traditional Chassidic stories can be found on Breslev.co.il, a website inspired by the teachings of the Chassidic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
She lives in Jerusalem.
ISBN: 978-1-56871-551-3
Author: Libi Astaire
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 218
Publisher: Zahav Press
by Libi Astaire
It is the winter of 1811.
With the excitement of her elder sister’s wedding now behind her, a restless Rebecca Lyon is thrilled to visit her dear friend Harriet Franks. But distressing events are about to occur. At a fashionable picture gallery, Mrs. Franks faints while viewing a Rembrandt painting of a groom putting a ruby ring on his bride’s finger. Then a suspicious coded message is found in the Mayfair tailoring establishment of Harriet’s father, and Mr. Franks is accused of spying for Napoleon.
As Mr. Franks languishes in prison, his distraught wife and daughter seek out Mr. Ezra Melamed, the wealthy widower-turned-sleuth. To his dismay, the one person who could shed light on the matter seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. With only a coded message, the mysterious ruby ring, and a cryptic clue from a Chassidic Rebbe, will Mr. Melamed be able to save Mr. Franks from the hangman’s noose?
The Disappearing Dowry, the first book in the Ezra Melamed Mystery Series, won a 2010 Sydney Taylor Notable Book Award. In this second book, acclaimed author Libi Astaire has done it again, painting a vivid picture of Regency England that combines the charm of historical fiction with the intriguing twist of a Jewish mystery.
About the Author:
Libi Astaire is an author and freelance journalist who often writes about Jewish history. Her feature articles appear regularly in the international Jewish weekly Mishpacha Magazine, which sent her to Catalonia, Spain, to research Catalonia’s lost Jewish communities. The result was a four-part feature article on Jewish Catalonia and her novel Terra Incognita, which was serialized in the magazine in the year 2008 and published by Targum Press in January 2010.
She is also the author of the Ezra Melamed Mystery Series, a Jewish historical mystery series set in Regency England. The first book in the series, The Disappearing Dowry, received a 2010 Sydney Taylor Notable Book Award. The second volume, The Ruby Spy Ring, was published in 2011.
Her articles on Jewish spirituality and retellings of traditional Chassidic stories can be found on Breslev.co.il, a website inspired by the teachings of the Chassidic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
She lives in Jerusalem.
ISBN: 978-1-56871-551-3
Author: Libi Astaire
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 218
Publisher: Zahav Press
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