The Star in the Castle

Dublin, November 1925: a frightened letter summons the Belgian Detective and his loyal companion across the Irish Sea to Dublin Castle, where a former official of the Office of Arms believes that the Star — part of the ceremonial regalia stolen in 1907 and never recovered — is still hidden somewhere in Ireland; at Bedford Tower they find a man lying dead in a dusty chamber with a scrap of faded blue silk ribbon in his hand and a star scratched into the dust beside him; around the body stand a widow whose note disappeared from her own handbag, a retired colonel who received an invitation to watch a disgrace, an archivist whose dead mother once stole from a thief to protect a nation's honour, and a frightened old official who has carried his silence for nearly two decades; a poisoned cigarette, a hollow walking stick, a door painted to match the wall, letters hidden behind a saint, and a jewel that has been waiting eighteen years for someone brave enough or vain enough to bring it home; inspired by the unsolved theft of the Irish Crown Jewels from Dublin Castle (1907) while remaining entirely fictional, The Star in the Castle is an original Golden Age–style mystery about theft, loyalty, and the discovery that some treasures are more dangerous to find than to lose.