‘This is a well-written story with intriguing characters. The plot is so unique that you certainly can’t complain about it being cliché or boring,’ Tara Ellis, Bestselling Author of the Samantha Wolf Mystery Series.The story starts in a tiny fishing village in Kerala, India. Maya, her brother, and two friends work for the owner of a Curio shop. The children have lost their fishermen fathers in a … have lost their fishermen fathers in a cyclone. They pick the beach for shells, drift wood, sea glass and anything of value the sea brings.
Maya finds a bottle with a diamond ring and some papers. The children put together the clues. The bottle is a distress signal, sent by a woman who is held captive on a ship called King Neptune’s Delite.
The dazzling find and the appearance of a muscled, tattooed man who is linked to the mystery sweeps the children into a dangerous adventure!
Kindly Note: The Mystery of the Diamond Ring was previously published under the title King Neptune’s Delite.
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Mystery of the Diamond Ring (Middle Grade Mystery Age 9-12) by Gita V. Reddy
This story starts out with Maya and she lives with her brother. Their parents are dead and the village takes care of them when needed.
She loves to grow their food in India and what they do for work fascinates me. They and two others in the village scour the shoreline every day after the tourists have left the area and pick up shells, driftwood and other treasures.
They sell them to the curio shop where they make jewelry and other fancy things out of them and they pay the kids every week.
They have contests to see who will bring in the most money. It’s usually Maya and she’s the smart one. One day they find a bottle, with a newspaper ad of a woman and a big diamond ring.
There are other clues that the kids follow up on. There is a pirate looking guy that visits and he’s looking for one who speaks a certain language to help his friends sister.
The story at times is very scary even for me and they all play a part in solving the mystery.
Such descriptions of the area, the ship, others they meet and things they do. Such torture also on young children.
Love the ending, didn’t see it happening like that, whew. Other works by the author are highlighted at the end along with about the author. Indian words are also explained as you come across them in thes tory, also glossary of words at the very beginning.
Gita Reddy – Mystery of the Diamond Ring (Middle-Grade Mystery Age 9-12) – Reviewed 11/11/14
Previous name: King Neptune’s Delight
Maya, her brother Satish, Jacob and Raju collected seashells, smooth pebbles and driftwood for added money because Maya and Satish’s parents were dead. The village took care of the children and they did this and sold trinkets to the tourists to help out. Maya even though she was the youngest she was also the leader of the group and one day when they were on the beach looking for items Maya found a bottle. In the bottle she found a note and a diamond ring. She just knew that the lady that wrote the note needed to be recused. As the kids talked it over it was decided that Raju would go to the harbor town and try to find the boat that the lady was being held on. Maya was not happy with this but together they decided that they would try this first and if that did not work then go to the police.
What did I like? This author is really great at writing stories for children that include something for them to learn by. The moral in this story is a really good one and I just love the way that she goes about bringing the children to the moral conclusion.
What did I dislike? Nothing about the book just the fact that people do not give children credit that they can be positive and can help. People take advantage of others all the time but when they do that to children it really bothers me.
What will you like? This is a very well developed story with a well thought out plot. You can tell from the descriptions and details that the author has done a lot of research on the subject. She includes the local dialect from the area and gives plenty of descriptions of the place and the characters. You can’t help but fall in love with the kids and their adventures. The devotion of the village to their children is so wonderful and you know the love that is involved in that kind of commitment. I have not read one of this author’s books that I did not like nor did they not include a moral for children to learn from all done in a wondrous adventure that they can have fun with. This book and all the books that I have read for children can be enjoyed by both children and adults. I know that I am a kid at heart and have loved the adventures and interactions between the children and the adults in all of the books. It doesn’t hurt anyone to reinforce the morals that are included.
@ddeegott