Detective and mystery stories. The end of the world starts now ... Ancient wisdom predicts the end of the world with uncanny precision. But it also provided the key to staving off apocalypse: a flawless sapphire of incomparable beauty carved into the perfect likeness of a human skull. Hidden for four centuries, a crystal skull of exquisite beauty has just been found by Stella Cody, who also inherits its legacy of dark secrets, intrigue, and murder. Facing an increasingly implacable enemy, Stella and her lover, Kit, struggle to crack the code that hides the Skull's intended resting place. Their search takes them from the intellectual rigour of Cambridge University to the untamed wildness of England's prehistoric stone circles. But time is against them, and they have days - hours - left to uncover the secret that may yet save the world.