Dear Reader, Sometimes, if you're very lucky, you can go home again. An earlier version of this book was titled The Diamond Tiger and came out in 1993 under the name Ann Maxwell. When my present publisher offered me the opportunity of going back to the novel under the name Elizabeth Lowell, I admit that I hesitated. In the years since first publication, the diamond trade has changed so greatly that it would be impossible to update the facts in the book without destroying the very story that had compelled me to write in the first place. But like the diamond trade, my style of telling a story has also changed over the years. I decided to revisit the novel because I loved it and hoped my new readers would as well. Death Is Forever is my favorite kind of story, combining elements of danger, greed, trust, secrets, passions, and death. Enjoy!

• • - A priceless fortune is here for the taking... but is it worth the risks? Erin Shane Windsor is left a legendary diamond mine in western Australia by a great uncle she never even knew she had. But the old man took the secret of the mine's location to his grave. All he left behind were cryptic clues written in verse - and some very dangerous enemies who'd like nothing better than to claim the mine themselves. To help her, Erin hires Cole Blackburn, a geologist with a mysterious past who has his own reasons for wanting to find the treasure.