The Chase of the Ruby

Richard Marsh's 1900 sensation novel traps Guy Holland in an inheritance every bit as perilous as the African wilds he's just left. Guy must retrieve a ruby signet ring from May Bewicke, a celebrated actress who was once his lover, and if he fails, he receives nothing. Returning to London from Africa, he finds his fiancée Letty demanding answers while the ghost of his relationship with May complicates everything. But beneath the surface of this romantic tangle lies something far more sinister: a mysterious Oriental figure with powers of hypnosis and shape-shifting has descended upon London, pursuing a British politician and spreading dread through the fog-shrouded streets. As Guy pursues his ruby, he begins to question who is hunting whom, and whether the line between hunter and hunted has already blurred beyond recognition. Marsh builds tension with the practiced hand of a master Victorian sensation writer, layering psychological unease with supernatural menace until the reader, like Guy, cannot trust their own eyes. The result is a gripping chase through Victorian London's dark underbelly, where nothing is guaranteed and everyone has something to hide.