The Jewel Trilogy

New Orleans-based writer Claude Brickell presents The Jewel Trilogy, three exciting mysteries with the same lead character: young and accomplished art historian Michael Bennington who falls into one mystery after another having to do with some missing jewel or jeweled artifact that must be rediscovered. He alone possesses the passion, lust and determination--his specialty is 19th century jewels--to accomplish the unimaginable. He's intelligent, youthful, sexually diverse and extremely likable which either works for or against him as he tackles each thrilling task. The mysteries in the series are The Napoleon Connection (set in today's New Orleans whereby he must search for a rare missing item from the city's famed Cabildo Museum), Carlota's Legacy (set world-wide in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Paris and St. Petersburg with a life and death finale in Brussels while Michael searches for the whereabouts of a priceless artifact, a necklace once owned by the Empress Carlota herself) and The Brotherhood Wars (set primarily in Germany but also in Florence, Amsterdam and Paris where Michael must locate a missing artifact purported to have once been owned by Charlemagne and today the prized possession of a 600-year-old secret organization that claims to control the politics of the entire European continent.

All three books are available at:

LULU.COM

(print books shipped right to your door, or as ebooks zapped right to your home computer). Also on Amazon.com ebooks for Kindle readers.

Available in New Orleans at: Octavia Books, Garden District Book Store, 1850 House Museum Store (at Jackson Square) and Borders Books.

View the YOUTUBE PROMO: Claude Brickell's The Jewel Trilogy or click on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueLU1_xcfwM

The Napoleon Connection is a present-day adventure-mystery set in the exciting New Orleans French Quarter. Hired by one of that city's more prominent denizens, young, accomplished art historian Michael Bennington must discover the whereabouts of a priceless artifact--believed to be a rare jewel--curiously missing from the city's famed Cabildo historical museum. Bennington dives into the assignment with an uncanny passion--his specialty is 19th century jewels--and ends up taking a virtual roller coaster ride through the city's fascinating historical past, uncovers both real and purported, if not positively bizarre, local legends, descends into the city's sexually-alternative underground and encounters a quasi-religious, homoerotic Roman Catholic cult. The first installment in 'The Jewel Trilogy,' The Napoleon Connection is an introduction into the entertaining exploits of the likable Bennington character.

Carlota's Legacy, rooted in a rich, historical past, this adventure-mystery finds young and accomplished art historian Michael Bennington approached at a New York jewelry auction by a pleasant enough prince and princess from Belgium who wish to engage him in a curious assignment. He must track down the whereabouts of a priceless diamond and ruby necklace the couple thought they owned, but after having theirs appraised, discovered it had somehow been switched with a cut-glass fake. Michael accepts the assignment with a heightened passion--his specialty is 19th century jewels--and is off to Mexico City where the real necklace originated. From there, he traces the path of this rare artifact to various international locales including St. Petersburg, Paris, Los Angeles and New York and ending up in Brussels where the prince and princess reside for a harrowing life-and-death finale. The quirky former owners of the necklace are all beyond belief but are historically factual nonetheless and their exotic and lurid pasts both astound and captivate the reader. Carlota's Legacy is the second installment, after The Napoleon Connection, in 'The Jewel Trilogy' and is a continuation of the entertaining exploits of the Bennington character.

The Brotherhood Wars, the final adventure-mystery in The Jewel Trilogy, has young, accomplished art historian Michael Bennington off to Florence to view the exhibition of a rare, recently-rediscovered yellow diamond 'The Florentine' and is quickly involved in another thrilling pursuit of another rare artifact, a ceremonial sword purported to have once belonged to the Emperor Charlemagne himself. This time he's in Germany and with a young and vivacious Arian co-accomplice named Sabina as they plot their pursuit throughout Bavaria, Berlin and Amsterdam on behalf of a 600-year-old secret organization with its roots in the Holy Roman Empire that claims control over the politics of the entire European continent. The trail eventually leads them to Paris and to the Louvre for a death-defying finale only Benington could find himself in and ends the entertaining exploits of the likable Bennington character.

Claude Brickell
Image of Claude Brickell

Biography

Claude Brickell is a New Orleans-based writer of adventure fiction. He attended New York University, the American College in Paris as well as the Sorbonne and Oxford University in England. His adventure series The Jewel Trilogy traces young art historian Michael Bennington through three exciting escapades in The Napoleon Connection (set in New Orleans), Carlota's Legacy (Mexico City, Paris, St. Petersburg and Brussels) and The Brotherhood Wars (Florence, Berlin, Munich, Heidelberg, Amsterdam and Paris) as Bennington tracks the whereabouts of rare, missing jewels or artifacts encountering situations of intrigue as well as life-and-death experiences wherever he goes.