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Shock Point and other books by April Henry are available via the following vendors or your favorite local independent bookseller.
home > books > buried diamonds > reviewsPRAISE FOR BURIED DIAMONDS
A Portland mystery writer continues her rising career with an engaging tale set in motion when her irrepressible protagonist, Claire Montrose, discovers a diamond ring in a stone wall and sets in motion a hunt into its surprising history.
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 19, 2003Portland writer April Henry updates her series starring Claire Montrose in Buried Diamonds (St. Martin's $23.95). While jogging, Claire finds a diamond ring. Her attempts to track down the owner lead to a tragedy from the 1950s, the apparent suicide of a young woman. If you can accept the sequence of whopping coincidences that drive the plot, this is a fine addition to the Montrose saga: Claire remains cheerful and clever, and the City of Roses is winningly portrayed.
—Seattle Times, Jan. 11, 2004Henry's acclaimed Claire Montrose series continues with a mystery involving a 50-year-old death and a diamond ring. While running in Portland, Oregon, Claire finds an engagement ring in a stone wall. Claire's housemate, octogenarian and Holocaust survivor Charlotte 'Charlie' Heidenbruch, knows the ring. It belonged to her pal Elizabeth Ellsworth, who hung herself after ending her engagement to Allen Lisac. The ring forces Charlie to face painful memories, such as discovering Liz's lifeless body in the Lisac home, located just behind the wall. Charlie and Claire try to find out how the ring got there, as they confront Allen and his wife, Mary, Liz's sister. Amid this present-day sleuthing are flashbacks to Charlie's past in Portland and horrible memories of concentration camps. The mystery intensifies when Claire's boyfriend, Dante, arrives to interview for a job as a museum curator in a wing funded by Lisac. Danger increases in this no-holds-barred novel of suspense, as hate crimes abound, and friends of Charlie's from the time of Liz's death meet with critical injuries. (Dec., 304 pp., $23.95)
—Romantic TimesClaire Montrose, the Portland (Ore.) gal with a fondness for vanity license plates and a penchant for trouble, finds plenty of both in this fourth solidly entertaining mystery from Henry (Heart-Shaped Box, etc.). Claire's accidental discovery of an unusual diamond ring embedded in an old stone wall has a startling effect on her housemate, Charlotte "Charlie" Heidenbruch, an octogenarian concentration camp survivor. Charlie recognizes the ring as one that belonged to a beautiful young women she knew more than 50 years ago. The woman's tragic and inexplicable suicide still haunts the group of friends that dispersed after her death. As Claire and Charlie try to find the ring's rightful owner and learn how it came to be buried in the wall, the surviving members of the old group begin to reconnect with deadly results. Cozy trappings, from Claire's ditzy mother's antics to developing romantic relationships, effectively contrast with chilling glimpses of Charlie's concentration camp days and interludes of seemingly unrelated modern-day hate-crimes in Portland. A vivid cast of elderly characters, including Frank, whose newfound popularity can be traced to his ability to drive at night, and Nova, who continues to live as recklessly as ever, will especially please senior fans.
—Publisher's Weekly (Copyright, Reed Business Information 2003.)A solid entry in a solid series.
—From BooklistA warm prize for a chilly day.
—Library JournalBuried Diamonds is compelling, literate, moving. April Henry's complicated, three-dimensional characters lug around all the baggage of modern life—family woes, relationship jitters, old age—and turbulent pasts. Unplug the T.V., turn off the phone, and prepare to be entertained in this polished gem from a writers' writer.
—Julia Spencer-Fleming~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
