Decoy in Diamonds

Natalie Gates (1895-1980) was the daughter of John Brush, an entrepreneur that became the first owner of Major League Baseball's iconic Cincinnati Reds. Natalie attended the Baldwin School, then Columbia University before becoming active in the Junior League of Indianapolis in the 1920s. In 1967, her first novel, Hush Hush Johnson, was published by Holt. It was a spy-romance that garnered unfavorable reviews. She tried her had a second time with her only other book, Decoy in Diamonds. It was originally published in hardcover by Putnam in 1971 and then by Dell in paperback in 1972. What drew me to the book was Dell's deceitful marketing that promised this was a gothic.

The book stars Elsa White, a doctor that has spend a great deal of time caring for her sick mother. As a reward for her unwavering dedication, Elsa's sister buys her a 12-month cruise. Readers pick up the action as Elsa is aboard a cruise ship that has docked on the South African coast. On an excursion, Elsa acquires a large diamond. There's a prologue in the book of a miner smuggling operation and Elsa, in the right place at the right time, now has herself this big 'ole shiny rock as a product of this smuggling ring.

On the cruise ship, Elsa meets a New York attorney who has been hired by the African diamond mine to weed out the smugglers. Together, Elsa and the attorney lose the diamond and spend chapters attempting to retrieve it aboard the ship. That's the plot of this terrible 200-page paperback.

Decoy in Diamonds suffers from a boring protagonist, a silly plot, contrived “and then...” progressions, and flimsy character development. It isn't a gothic, Dell just dressed it that way hoping someone would buy this lousy romance novel. That's the real smuggling crime. Decoy in Diamonds is horrendous, making it an inductee into the Paperback Warrior Hall of Shame.

I talk about this book with Nick at The Book Graveyard HERE.