The Churchill Diamonds

This splendid adventure begins with the audacious theft of 182 pale green diamonds, the ""Churchill Diamonds'' from the well-guarded vaults of the Coffey Foundation. The gems, the cornerstone of the Coffey financial empire, were brought out of the Sudan in 1898 by then Lt. Stephen Coffey of the 10th Westmoreland Lancers. Perplexed over the bizarre robbery (the diamonds' famous color makes them impossible to sell), investigators visit Lady Catherine, Coffey's daughter, to seek the origin of the stones. She spins a riveting tale of heroics and romance that began when her father, then a bored, impoverished officer, was sent on a mission to rescue two Europeans, Charlton Routledge and his daughter Victoria, who had been enslaved by Dervishes 13 years earlier. Coffey's rescue team consists of three uniquely bold men who catapult through an exotic series of events until they rescue the astonished Routledges. Plucky Victoria informs the rescuers of the legendary cache of diamonds now in the Routledges' possession. Can they all escape the blazing desert and enfuriated Dervishes with gems intact? Langley's (Falklands Gambit rollicking tale builds to a shocking conclusion. (December 29)