The Orange-Yellow Diamond - Joseph Smith Fletcher

This novel, which appeared in 1921, has a fascinating setting - South Paddington, home to working people and shopkeepers of various cultures and languages. Struggling writers also like the neighborhood for its cheap lodgings and eating places. The Jewish community dominates the novel. But while contemporary authors were indulging in scornful Jewish stereotypes and Jewish villains, Fletcher gives us warm-hearted, personable, attractive Jewish characters. (His Asian characters, by contrast, are stereotypes.) The story opens with the murder of an old Jewish pawnbroker. Our Scottish hero, Andrew Lauriston, a penniless aspiring writer, has the misfortune of finding the body, and is accused of killing and robbing the old man. The plot evolves around the efforts of his friends and supporters to find the real murderer. Among Lauriston's Jewish friends are Melchor (Melky) Rubinstein and Zillah Wildrose. Melky is a thoroughly engaging young man, a small-time entrepreneur who buys and sells jewelry in the neighborhood, uneducated but smart and deeply loyal to his friends. Zillah is granddaughter to the murdered man - pretty, college educated and an excellent businesswoman. She provides a romantic interest. In fact, romance is in the air throughout this adventure. Several characters find love in the process of finding the murderer. We know from the title that there's a fabulous diamond involved in the mystery. But it's personalities not diamonds that make this book so much fun. And plot twists, of course.