The Chase of the Ruby

by Richard Marsh

A thrilling tale of a mysterious oriental figure with powers of hypnosis and shape-shifting pursues a British politician to London, where he wreaks havoc.

231 pages, Nook

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

Richard Marsh was the pseudonym of the English author born Richard Bernard Heldmann. A best-selling and prolific author of the late 19th century and the Edwardian period, Marsh is best known now for his supernatural thriller novel The Beetle, which was published the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), and was initially even more popular, outselling Dracula six times over. The Beetle remained in print until 1960. Marsh produced nearly 80 volumes of fiction and numerous short stories, in genres including horror, crime, romance and humour. Many of these have been republished recently, beginning with The Beetle in 2004. Marsh's grandson Robert Aickman was a notable writer of short "strange stories".

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 2 and a half stars. A 1900 fast-paced adventure novel about a unique will. A man will recieve all of his uncle's large fortune and property if he can get a woman to return a ruby ring to him within four days. Others know about this ring and also have their eye on it to steal it. Who will get to the ring first? I thought the story could have been fleshed out a bit more. It seemed to be over too quickly. Also, the author didn't seem to be sure if the story was supposed to be serious or a screwball comedy. It kind of waivered back and forth between the two. It did hold my attention through to the end, though. Entertaining, but nothing special.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve wanted to read more of Richard Marsh’s work ever since I read Curios a few years ago, and knowing his dates I checked to see if their might be a book that would fill one of those tricky early years of my Century of Books. There was – actually there were several, and The Chase of the Ruby caught my eye.

It proved to be one of those books that inspire we to say: “It wasn’t a great book, but it was a very fine entertainment.”

It actually took me back to a time when I was seven or eight. My best friend was called Lucy, she was the daughter of our vicar, and she lived in a big four-storey cottage just a few minutes away from where we lived.

We used to spend our Saturday mornings upstairs, watching high drama on the television. The names of the various serials escape me, but they were a natural progression from the Saturday cinema matinees that a slightly older generation will remember.

There was action! There was drama! There was romance!

There were plot twists aplenty, and a cliff-hanger at the end of every single episode.

We were hooked, and I could imagine The Chase of the Ruby being dramatized and captivating us in just the same way.

32680The story began with a young man returning to London from South Africa, Guy Holland had gone to South Africa to make his fortune, so that he could marry his sweetheart, and to make her father – a wealthy merchant – understand that his intentions were honourable. He came home because he dreamed that his uncle was dead, and when he arrived home he found that he was.

Guy and his sweetheart, Miss Letty Broad, were so happy to be reunited, and they rather hoped that he might have left Guy something so that he wouldn’t have to go away again and they could marry.

But there was another nephew – Guy’s cousin, Horace Burton – and there was an extraordinary.

Guy would inherit everything if, and only if, he could recover a certain ruby ring that a certain actress had obtained from his uncle by trickery, within three months of his uncle’s death. If he failed Horace would inherit everything.

Now it was some weeks after his uncle’s death that Guy arrived back in London and the will was read, so he had only a few days left. And the actress in question – Miss May Berwicke – was an old sweetheart. Now there was a tricky situation!

First Guy tried the simplest method: calling and asking for the ring. He was beaten in a verbal joust, and kicked down the stair by Miss Berwicke’s new fiancé. But Miss Berwicke’s maid caught him at the bottom of the stairs and suggested another, covert, approach. Miss Broad was concerned, but Guy decided that he had no choice.

He got the ruby, and then he lost it. After all, he wasn’t the only person looking for it. Horace had debts, had made dubious dealings, and he desperately wanted to keep the ruby out of Guy’s hands. And it seemed that there were others trying to get their hands on the jewel too.

When Guy, usually so reliable, didn’t arrive to meet Miss Broad the next day she feared the worst. But she wasn’t the kind of girl to weep and wail, she was the kind of girl to take action. And so she set out to find Miss Berwicke, to find out what had happened to Guy, and to track down that pesky diamond.

It was a grand adventure, culminating in a chase around the many rooms of Miss Berwicke’s flat.

Now Richard Marsh is a wonderful story teller, his dialogue sings, he can create wonderful characters, he can pull you right in to turn of the century London.

I loved Miss Broad and Miss Berwicke, and I must mention a very fine cockney villain. It was lovely to visit Regents Park, and to walk along dark streets at night.

But while the plot swept me along I did notice loose ends, and I was left with unanswered questions.

I couldn’t quite understand the solicitor’s role, the reasoning behind that outlandish will, or why one or two interesting possibilities were raised but not followed up.

And while I’m complaining, I must mention covers. I read courtesy of Project Gutenberg, but I went searching for covers I found one with sailing boats and one with verdant green countryside – neither of which have any connection with this story. You wouldn’t think it was too much to ask, for publishers to read a book and pick a cover that matches the story …

I suspect that Richard Marsh had written better books, and I’m inclined to agree with those who say he was better at short stories than he was at novels.

But I had to keep turning the pages to the very end: “It wasn’t a great book, but it was a very fine entertainment.”

[Grace Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Richard Marsh's work - an incredibly popular author in fin-de-siècle Victorian England, he was a man who had been in prison for fraud, lived the life of both a gentleman and a pauper. As a result of this he had the ability to write across class divisions and understand the perspective of the tempted man/criminal.

This is a great example of this with a fast paced action story and heroes who are actually... amazingly...heroines. Yes, unbelievably for Victorian fiction it's girl power that saves the day in this fantastic short yarn. I read it on the train on the way back from a conference in Brighton - at the old Brighton Metropole hotel in fact where the heroines coincidentally have lunch (a coincidence which really appealed to me) Free on kindle - there's loads to like about this book.

[J. Rubino · Rating 4 out of 5]

While in Africa, attempting to make his fortune so that he may marry his heiress fiancee, Guy Holland has a mysterious vision concerning his uncle and a ruby. He returns to England to learn that his wealthy uncle has died with only two heirs, Guy and his cousin Horace Burton. The will states that if, within the next four days, Guy can recover the ruby ring which his uncle had given to the actress/adventuress Gay Bewicke, he will inherit the entire fortune. If he does not recover the ring, the entire fortune will go to Burton.
From here, we have a classic Victorian melodrama with a few neat plot twists as poor Guy and his sweet fiancee, the dauntless May, her double-dealing lady's maid, the nefarious Burton and his henchmen all try to get, or keep Guy from getting, the ruby ring.
Marsh, known for his sensational novel "The Beetle" delivers a well-paced novella, occasionally stalled by prose passages that go on a bit too long. But the pluses are the original premise and a few well-defined women characters, particularly May. Bewicke who is a fully-realized and completely engaging character. I was a fan of Marsh's amateur detective "Judith Lee", and find it interesting that there are probably more empowered (and more interesting) women in Victorian/Edwardian literature than readers are led to believe.