The world's diamond industry is about to explode into anarchy. In the frozen north of Archangel, a new mine is yielding the most beautiful and rare stone in the world - the red diamond. And Karakov, the greatest and wiliest jeweller the industry has ever seen, is about to sign an exclusive agreement with Moscow. From all over the world the directors of Diamond Enterprises gather to try and stop Karakov destabilizing the diamond trade. But there is deceit and betrayal even within their own group. For Julius Heyderman is determinded to destroy his life-long enemy, the man who runs the British end of the business, Arthur Harris. All the members of the board have their tortured secrets - Reece, Heyderman's right-hand man, is locked into a relationship he cannot control; Kruger has dumped his wife of thirty years for his secretary, Ruth Fraser; and Ray Andrews, who is being sent back to Moscow to try to salvage the deal he botched five years before. And then there is James Hastings, young, aggressive, burningly ambitious. James is prepared to sacrifice everything to succeed - everything except his beautiful aristocratic wife. Elizabeth is his Achilles' heel. And behind the panic-driven plots of Diamond Enterprises looms the spectre of Karakov, Russian by descent, the most brilliant plotter of them all.
Author
Evelyn Anthony was the pen name of Evelyn Bridgett Patricia Stephens Ward-Thomas, Started her career as a writer of historical fiction, later switched to writing contemporary thrillers, often with an espionage theme. She met Michael Ward-Thomas on a double date in The Dorchester and both were attracted to each other.] He worked for the Consolidated African Selection Trust. They switched partners and were married a few months later. They bought Horham Hall in 1968 but found that it was costly and sold it in 1976 and moved to Naas, County Kildare where she had relatives. Increased income from her writing allowed her to buy Horham Hall back in 1982. In 1994 she became High Sheriff of Essex, the firswt woman in over 700 years to hold this office. In 1995 her daughter Kitty died of a heroin overdose, leading Evelyn to not write for another seven years. In 2004 her husband died of a stroke. She was survived by her children Susan, Anthony, Ewan, Christian and Luke as well as 16 grandchildren. NB:Some sources give Ms Anthonys year of birth as 1926. Additional information added from Wikipedia
