The story of Dunkirk and the famous evacuation known as Operation Dynamo—including the heroic role of the “little ships”—occurred between May 27 and June 4, 1940. Dunkirk has been referred to as both a miracle and a myth, and I invite you to explore both analyses of the operation. What is true is that 700 private boats took part and helped rescue more than 338,000 trapped British and French soldiers. A river ferry, the Royal Daffodil, alone rescued 7,461 service personnel; the paddle steamer Medway Queen made seven round trips under heavy fire; the yacht Sundowner (owned and captained by Titanic survivor and second officer Charles Lightolier) nearly capsized before getting 130 men to safety. The smallest craft, the Tamzine, was only fifteen feet long. Some small craft took men across the Channel; others ferried them off the beaches and onto waiting Royal Navy ships. The operation inspired Churchill’s famous “we shall fight on the beaches” speech.
The relationship between the Gestapo and the occult is fairly well documented, even if some of the work veers into the conspiracy-theory arena. There is a distinct line to be drawn connecting racial-purity theorizing about the beginning of the world with several strains of occult belief and practice, and Himmler believed that the SS were the twentieth century’s answer to the Teutonic Knights. He held ceremonies at night in castles lit by flaming torches, used a King Arthur–type roundtable for meetings, and believed himself to be the reincarnation of Heinrich I of Saxony.
It’s true that there is, blessedly for the city, less neo-Nazi activity in Montréal than elsewhere in the country: western Canada seems to be the unfortunate host to a number of ever-shifting Aryan groups. Kyle McKee is a real person and as of this writing one of the leaders of the “Nationalist” movement, sometimes known as Calgary’s “micro-führer.” If you’re interested in learning more, read Warren Kinsella’s scary book, Web of Hate: Inside Canada’s Far Right Network, which is where I also found the story about the founding of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Pointe-à-Callière archaeological and anthropological museum does exist in Montréal, and it is in fact opening up some of the underground tunnels and buried rivers as part of an ambitious expansion program; but its director is not named Pierre LaTour, and he is not meant to resemble anyone connected with the museum. Visit Pointe-à-Callière next time you’re in Montréal: it has some amazing collections.
If you’re interested in urban exploration, watch this fascinating TED Talk on the subject by a passionate practitioner: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1kuG-Z78g.
Lev was right about the studies made of second- and third-generation survivors of the concentration camps; the Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, doctoral work by Melissa Kahane-Nissenbaum and Perella Perlstein, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, and the Anti-Defamation League, the Hidden Child Foundation, and others continue to engage in understanding the lasting effects of this particular trauma.
The rest of the book is fiction. I hope that you enjoyed reading it.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, thanks to my very lovely first readers with their quick eyes, patience, and fabulous suggestions: Carem Bennett, Marion Hughes, Alicia Sovas, Dianne Kopser, Assaf Levavy, and Fred Biddle. I come to you with plot holes and inconsistencies and impossible situations, and you help me mend them all.
And to all of those who continue to open up the world of this amazing city to me, especially to my very dear friend Edward Franchuk, for giving me Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu; I cannot wait to share those amazing fish and chips at Capitaine Pouf with you again! A nod also to the real-life François and those who, every day, show the world how very special Montréal is.
Thanks to Daniel Rosenbaum for his kind help with Avner, the diamond business, and proper manners, and to Richard and Poppy Quintal for help translating my “French” French into more appropriate language for Québec.
The people I work with are fabulous, and I’m grateful beyond words to them: my literary agent from the Philip G. Spitzer Agency, Lukas Ortiz, and my amazing team from St. Martin’s/Minotaur, Daniela Rapp, Lauren Jablonski, Lisa Davis, and Ken Diamond: Without you, there would be no book. Thanks also to publicity guru PJ Nunn from Breakthrough Promotions for helping me introduce Martine LeDuc to mystery readers everywhere.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JEANNETTE DE BEAUVOIR is an award-winning novelist and poet whose work has been translated into twelve languages and has appeared in fifteen countries. She finds that the past always has some hold on the present, and writes mysteries and historical fiction that reflect that resonance.
www.jeannetteauthor.com. Or sign up for email updates here.
ALSO BY JEANNETTE DE BEAUVOIR
Asylum
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Contents
Title
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Jeannette de Beauvoir
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DEADLY JEWELS. Copyright © 2016 by Jeannette de Beauvoir. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover photographs: girl © Fox / Arcangel Images; crown © Steven Vidler / Eurasia Press / Corbin; cobblestone © littleny / Shutterstock
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: de Beauvoir, Jeannette, author.
Title: Deadly jewels / Jeannette de Beauvoir.
Description: First Edition. | New York: Minotaur Books, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015044397 | ISBN 9781250045409 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781466844049 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Women detectives—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3604.E1125 D43 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044397
e-ISBN 9781466844049
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First Edition: March 2016
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