Bloodstone

Merry Anders was playing with fire Why did a dying man collapse on her, a pair of thugs try to kidnap her from the staid Smithsonian Museum and a powerfully built stranger help fend off her attackers--then vanish? When Merry caught up with her daring rescuer, infectious- disease specialist Simon Temple met her question in kind. Simon told a strange story about the Museum's newest acquisition. Known as the Fire Diamond for its brilliant red center, the fabulous gem left a trail of dying men in its wake. Simon was tracking the mysterious malady, but it was more than professional interest that prompted his chilling question: how was Merry feeling?

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Romance. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.