Loupe Clean : Challenge of Reputations: A Petra Woods Mystery

Gemstone authenticator Petra Woods has spent her whole career being quietly, completely certain. At a regional gem show near Utah's Wah Wah Mountains - the only place on Earth gem-quality red beryl is found - that certainty gets put to the test in front of a room full of people for the first time. A collector named Nora bought a red beryl from a well-respected local dealer, sold to her as flawless, natural, and rare. Something about it has never sat right with her. One look under the loupe tells Petra why: the stone has been treated to hide what's really inside it, and graded far above what it actually is. Before she can say a quiet word to Nora, the dealer gets there first - publicly, confidently, questioning whether an authenticator known for turquoise and opal has any business weighing in on a stone this rare. He's betting his reputation carries further than her word. He's wrong. And by the time the room finds out, he won't be the only one who thought so. Cozy, sharp, and set against the real, rugged beauty of Utah's high desert, Loupe Clean is the tenth and final installment in the Petra Woods Mystery series - a fitting close for readers who've spent nine books watching one woman's word turn out to be exactly as good as she always said it was.