Jewels of Manhattan by Carmen Reid
I promised I would tell you a more about The Jewels of Manhattan, so here we go.
I am very, very excited about this story, which comes out in November, because it’s something different.
It’s about three sisters from Texas who move to Manhattan with wonderful plans and when their dreams don’t come true, they commit a jewel theft.
But with so many complications! Two sisters don’t want to take part… in fact the theft sort of happens by mistake and then… there is one seriously sexy detective on their case.
I have had a ball writing this story. It’s set in a sometimes glamorous, sometimes very real world, it’s full of tingly suspense and very funny in places too. I think of it as a romantic crimedy.
I wanted to write around the question: what drives someone to steal? Would you steal because the opportunity was there? Would you steal for love? Would you steal to protect someone? Or are you so honest you would never steal at all?
My fictional sisters Amber, Sapphire and Em, come from the Texan countryside – their Daddy was a rancher. This is because my real-life sisters and I grew up on a farm, so I wanted a little flavour of that in the story.
I decided to make the girls Texan because I have a wonderful friend from Houston and I just love all the unique and colourful phrases she comes out with: ‘You can put your boots in the oven but it don’t make ‘em biscuits’… ‘there’s no back door out of this Alamo,’ and ‘Oh my gosh, you will be discussed.’
I had to use a little of that.
Amber and Em are very sassy modern girls, chock full of ambition, trying to make their way in the world. They’re in their early 20s desperate for life to begin. Amber works in finance and Em’s an aspiring actress.
But I also wanted an old fashioned strand, so middle sister Sapphire is a dreamy Grace Kelly-alike who sells antique jewellery. She wishes her life could be like a black and white movie complete with a handsome hero.
The first seed of the idea came from a sentence in a story by my daughter and her friends: ‘Three beautiful girls decided to rob a jewellery shop.’
Ooooh… that just set my mind racing. Why? Where? How? And most importantly – did they get away with it?
My daughter’s story didn’t have any answers (she was only seven!) so I had to go away think, mull, research and plan.
The result of all that thinking and writing is The Jewels. It’s set in Manhattan and Geneva, it’s dusted with snowflakes and sparkles and I really, really hope you’re going to love it as much as I do.
carmenreid.com
