The Ruby in the Smoke

The Ruby in the Smoke is a novel by Philip Pullman, published in 1985. It is the first in the Sally Lockhart series.

The novel opens in London in 1872, as sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart gets out of a horse-drawn cab outside her father’s offices. The reader is informed that Sally will kill a man in fifteen minutes. Sally goes to see Mr. Selby, a business partner of her father, who has just died under mysterious circumstances, drowning in the distant South China Sea. Sally has received a letter from her father in which he warns her against ‛the seven blessings.’ She asks the secretary about this, and he becomes extremely alarmed at the mention of the ‛seven blessings’ and dies, apparently of fright. A young man named Jim Taylor overhears and approaches, offering to assist Sally in her investigation.

Sally receives a letter from Major Marchbanks, a friend of her father’s, inviting her to visit him. When she arrives, he tells her that a woman named Mrs. Holland is in his house and that she is extremely dangerous. He hands her a parcel and urges her to leave immediately. Sally leaves, but quickly realizes she is being followed by the mysterious Mrs. Holland. Spying a photographer with a tent, she begs him to let her hide inside, which he allows. His name is Frederick and he is very kind, letting her shelter there until Mrs. Holland leaves.

On the train home, Sally opens the parcel and discovers Mr. Marchbanks’ diary. She begins to read about his time serving in the military in India, where he saw the Ruby of Agrapur. Sally falls asleep, and a man steals the diary from her, leaving behind a single page with writing on it, mysterious instructions hinting at the location of something. The passage ends with a line written in what appears to be Latin.

At Mrs. Holland’s house in London, a man named Matthew Bedwel comes to stay. Mrs. Holland begins drugging him to keep him in the house. Bedwel manages to ask Mrs. Holland’s servant Adelaide to send a message to Sally. Mrs. Holland also hires a man to attack Sally and steal the piece of paper from the diary, which he does, but he himself is immediately attacked and killed. Sally realizes she is not safe. She withdraws all of her money from her account and seeks out Frederick, who offers to let her live with his sister Rosa and himself. In exchange, Sally can help them with their business.

Frederick and Sally go back to London to help Matthew Bedwel, seeking out his brother. The three of them go to an opium den in order to secure a supply of the drug to wean Matthew off the drugs Mrs. Holland has been giving him. Sally accidentally breathes in the fumes and has a vision of her childhood, hinting that her father was more than just a businessman.

Mrs. Holland learns of the whereabouts of the man who stole the riddle from her thug and sets off to retrieve it. As she is doing so, Bedwel and Frederick break into her home and rescue Matthew, taking Adelaide with them. Matthew tells Sally that her father was murdered by a Chinese criminal named Ah Ling, who is the head of a triad known as The Seven Blessings. Sally arms herself for protection.

Mrs. Holland solves the riddle, and heads to a pub where the ruby was hidden, but it has already been taken. She kidnaps Adelaide, and Frederick and Jim go to rescue her. Jim manages to get Adelaide away from Mrs. Holland’s thugs, but they are trapped. Jim and Frederick fight Mrs. Holland’s thugs, but Mrs. Holland escapes with Adelaide.

Sally takes more opium in order to have more visions. Jim admits that he found the ruby and hid it away, thinking this would help keep Sally safe. Rosa gives Sally the ruby, and Sally arranges to meet Mrs. Holland, who tells her that she was promised the ruby, but her father gained it instead, and gave it to Mr. Marchbanks in exchange for Marchbanks’ daughter—Sally. Sally throws the ruby into the river, and Mrs. Holland dives in after it.

Sally is kidnapped by a mysterious man who reveals he is Ah Ling. He tells Sally that he murdered her father because he was trying to interfere with his business selling opium. He attacks Sally with a knife, but she shoots him with the gun she had acquired earlier, and escapes.

At home, Sally receives a message telling her where to find the profits from her father’s share of the business. She discovers a fortune hidden away, and uses the money to help Frederick with his business and to launch a search for poor Adelaide, who sadly remains missing.