Some colours are worth killing for.
Esme Locke is a glassblower - the last prot g of old Alaric Brand, master of the legendary Emberton ruby, a colour so rare and difficult that only one craftsman in a generation can make it. When Alaric dies at his furnace mid-sentence, his last words sealed inside a piece of still-cooling glass, Esme is left with two things: the ruby formula, and the knowledge that her master was trying to tell her something before he died.
What she discovers is a forgery empire worth millions - and a killer hiding behind one of the most respected names in the glass world.
Now Esme must catch a murderer using the only tools she has: her eye for glass, her mastery of the ruby, and the final message her master breathed into the last piece he ever made.
A richly atmospheric cozy mystery set in a centuries-old English glasshouse, perfect for fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Alexander McCall Smith, and craft mysteries with unforgettable heroines.
The fire has burned for two hundred years. Esme Locke will not let it go cold.