THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE -- Philip Pullman

The Sally Lockheart Trilogy -- Book One
Alfred A. Knopf -- pb
New York -- ©1985 -- 230pp
ISBN: 0-394-89589-4

A young girl, in Victorian England, learns of her father's death and a rare, cursed ruby that seems to be a the center of a murderous mystery.

I like the way Pullman weaves his tale, and I often enjoyed reading this book, though it's certainly not one of his better books. There were plot points and character movements which seemed to have no purpose.

While I feel that a weak Philip Pullman book is probably better than many others' best, this is not one I'd recommend, and I'm while I'll likely read the other books in the trilogy at some time, I'm not eactly eager to get in to the next book.