Nancy Jardine Author: Q is for Quest and many many Questions

Sunday, 20 April 2014

Q is for Quest and many many Questions

Q is for Quest and many Questions

Easter Monday is nigh and it’s a time when many people participate in an Easter egg hunt, in the style of treasure hunt games. After solving the first clue, you move on to the next using the most recent piece of information you’ve uncovered. In some hunts, you might be picking up a physical item as a reward, or the reward may only come when all of the clues have been solved.

Easter doesn’t feature in my ancestral/dynasty based mystery thriller –Topaz Eyes – but finding the answer to clues does, and so does the picking up of items as a ‘reward’.

My novel is all about a set of fabulous jewels which were dispersed amongst a family back in 1910, the owner at the time being a woman named Geertje Hoogeveen, of Amsterdam, who gave them to her daughters under somewhat secretive circumstances. Skip on to around 2012, and we find the jewels have been secreted so well that they haven’t surfaced for a century. The original jewels were once owned by a Mughal emperor but, as was often the case with expensive jewels, they were often reset to suit a new owner who wanted a more modern setting for the precious gems.

Keira Drummond, a lass from Edinburgh, Scotland, is drawn into the quest to find the collection. Along with the progeny of Geertje, who are scattered around the globe, Keira sets out to find answers to the questions which arise about the whereabouts of the gems.

At the outset of the quest, there are so many questions and few answers.

Photographic evidence provides some clues which in turn has the third cousins hot on the treasure trail. The problem is that not all family can be trusted and not all family members are nice to each other- essentially they are total strangers with only a tenuous link of related blood binding them.

Keira pairs up with one of the cousins named Teun Zeger, whose family emigrated from Amsterdam to the U.S. two generations back. The quest is tough, hazardous and deadly. Can Teun and Keira unearth the jewels before the hired thugs or assassins get them?

That's a big question which reading Topaz Eyes will solve.

Topaz Eyes is currently a finalist for THE PEOPLE'S BOOK PRIZE 2014. Voting for the eventual winner will be from the 21st - 28th May 2014, after the final yearly quarter round is completed. I'd love to count on your vote when the time comes.

Meanwhile, if you haven't read or reviewed it, it's available from:

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/UtLexa Amazon US http://amzn.to/RhRWK1