"All Eyes Kept Turning Furtively Toward the Empty Jewel Case"

TODAY'S AUTHOR presents us with the classic stolen stone trope that Agatha and a plethora of other detective fiction writers before and after them promiscuously exploited for years, confronting us with . . .

"The Case of the Missing Heirloom."

(a.k.a. "The Malmsey Jewel").

By Sax Rohmer (Arthur Sarsfield Ward, 1883-1959).

Illustrations by Robert Fawcett (1903-67; HERE).

First appearance: This Week, April 22, 1956.

Short short story (6 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE; PDF) and Archive.org (HERE).

     "Even cut up, it would fetch a small fortune."

After the lights go out, imagine what has suddenly gone missing: "The faces of most of the eight persons present registered various degrees of alarm and embarrassment . . ."

Principal characters:

~ Sir John Malmsey:

  ". . . the Luck, not being a frog, can't very well have jumped away."

~ Jill Malmsey:

  "And here we are, camping out in the old manor house. Twenty-nine rooms, twenty-two locked — and a diamond worth a million!"

~ Molly Hatherton:

  "[Jill's] old school friend."

~ Dr. Don Greydon:

  "Very well, the pendant is still here. If the ladies will stand on the hearthrug and turn their backs . . ."

~ Dick Hatherton:

  "Trying to spark this beastly thing! It let me down."

~ Phil Engold:

  "Rose-cut with the rare blue tint. I can detect no flaw."

~ Mrs. Prudence Ordley:

  "I've always thought it a sinful jewel."

~ William Ordley:

  "Its faint glow revealed the fact of William Ordley, docile husband of the formidable Prudence."

~ Searle:

  ". . . lay face downward on the floor, his arms at his side."

~ . . . and The Law: Inspector Rigley, Sergeant Lake, and Detective Officer Mary Rollins.

Resources:

- Although he created other series characters, Sax Rohmer will be forever remembered as the originator of not only Fu Manchu but also an entire universe built around him; there's no shortage of information available about Rohmer/Ward on the World Wide Webbie: Wikipedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), the IMDb (HERE; 44 screen credits), and the ISFDb (HERE).

- About three years ago we noted Rohmer's short story "The Owl Hoots Twice" (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~