Jewel Kingdom Series

The Ruby Princess Sees a Ghost by Jahnna N. Malcolm, 1997.

Princess Roxanne lives in the Ruby Palace in the Red Mountains, and each of her sisters live in and rule over a different part of the Jewel Kingdom. The sisters visit each other from time to time, but Princess Roxanne has noticed that her sisters seem reluctant to visit the Ruby Palace. She finds out why the first time her sisters come to visit her.

Princess Sabrina tells her that she saw someone in white waving from a tower as she approached the Ruby Palace, but Roxanne knows it wasn’t her and there shouldn’t have been anyone in the tower. That’s when her sisters tell her that there are rumors that the Ruby Palace is haunted.

Roxanne says that she’s never noticed anything strange about the Ruby Palace that would make her think it was haunted. But, almost immediately, strange things begin to happen. The cook sees a ghost in the kitchen. A picture falls off the wall, and the princesses hear mysterious laughter.

To Roxanne’s dismay, her sisters are all too scared to continue their visit. After the other princesses leave, Roxanne hears the ghost threatening to come get her, but as she tries to get away, she picks up a ring dropped by the ghost.

Roxanne knows that she has to get to the bottom of this mysterious haunting or she’ll never feel comfortable in the Ruby Palace again. Fortunately, Sabrina decides to return to the Ruby Palace to help her, and she recognizes the crest on the ghosts’ ring as the crest of Lord Bleak, their arch-enemy. Roxanne and Sabrina also discover a hidden door and secret passage in the Ruby Palace. Is Lord Bleak responsible for this haunting? Did he somehow send the ghost, or is this ghost more than just a ghost?

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers

I thought this was a cute story. I didn’t read this series when I was a kid, although I saw books for sale. This is the first book in the series I read, and fortunately, it provides enough backstory to explain who Lord Bleak is and why he might be staging a haunting in the Ruby Palace. It’s a pretty easy read, just a short chapter book, and I think the mystery is probably not too difficult to figure out if you already know the backstory of the series and who Lord Bleak is. Still, I think a young child would still enjoy the suspense and atmosphere of the story and how the princesses turn the tables on the fake “ghost.” There is also a twist at the end of the story where there is actually a ghost who haunts the Ruby Palace, but it’s not the one they think, and she’s on Roxanne’s side.

I think the setting is the most fun part of the Jewel Kingdom stories. The Jewel Kingdom is divided up into different regions, each with its own terrain and magical creatures. Each princess rules over a region that fits her personality. The Ruby Palace is described as being made of stone and rather drafty and mysterious compared to the other princesses’ palaces, but Roxanne loves it.