First published 2004
A charm bracelet forged in nineteenth-century Georgia carries a deadly curse through time and space. Each person who touches the glittering piece of jewelry meets violence, betrayal, or ruin. A young girl's innocent questions uncover family secrets that should stay buried. A chance meeting between strangers on a European steam train turns fatal. Two people discover they share an impossible resemblance that will transform both their destinies forever. The bracelet moves from wartime Leeds to the brutal streets of 1980s Scotland, from present-day London to a Manhattan taxi, across the Mojave Desert, and finally back to Georgia where its dark journey began. Sixteen interconnected stories follow the bracelet's path of destruction. British and American crime writers collaborate to trace how one cursed object weaves through different lives, leaving murder and betrayal in its wake. Each new owner believes they can control the bracelet's power, but desire and ambition only feed its hunger for chaos.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, 21st-century, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: interconnected-stories, supernatural-elements
Setting: Georgia, Leeds, London, Manhattan, Mojave Desert, Scotland
Period: 19th-Century, 1980s, Present Day
11 pages · Audio CD · Blackstone Publishing
Content warnings: violence