The Ruby Spy Ring — 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.