The Ruby's Curse (novel)

The Ruby's Curse was a novel written by Alex Kingston, featuring both River Song and Melody Malone.

Publisher's summary
She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips...

1939, New York. Private Eye, Melody Malone, is hired to find a stolen ruby, the Eye of Horus. The ruby might hold the secret to the location of Cleopatra's tomb - but everyone who comes into contact with it dies. Can Melody escape the ruby's curse?

1939, New York. River Song, author of the Melody Malone Mysteries, is forced to find a reality-altering weapon, the Eye of Horus - but everyone who comes into contact with it dies. River doesn't believe in curses - but is she wrong?

From the top-security confines of Stormcage to the barbarism of first-century Egypt, River battles to find the Eye of Horus before its powers are used to transform the universe. To succeed, she must team up with a most unlikely ally - her own fictional alter ego, Melody. And together they must solve another mystery: Is fiction changing into fact - or is fact changing into fiction?

Plot
to be added

Dramatis personae

 * River Song
 * Ventrion
 * Death
 * Cleopatra
 * Caesarion
 * Charmian
 * Iris
 * Julius Caesar
 * Cat
 * Tomas
 * Ezra
 * Sukri
 * Nebi
 * Oba
 * Jal
 * Seti
 * Shenti
 * Immi
 * Amy Pond
 * Rory Williams
 * Jack Harkness
 * Thirteenth Doctor

Melodramatis personae

 * Melody Malone
 * Horace P Wallace
 * Harry Dearkin
 * Phil the Kid
 * Calvin Cutling
 * Susan Peterson Lee
 * Delores Jones
 * George Badger Senior
 * Mrs Badger
 * George Badger Junior
 * Ruby Badger
 * Edwin Wivenhoe
 * Marvin Motson
 * Floyd
 * Jerry
 * Spatz
 * Lenny
 * Massouda
 * Delilah

Worldbuilding

 * River is held in Cell 426.
 * Stormcage defenses include nanotechnology and laser grids.
 * River is the author of the paper Concomitant Development on the Ood Sphere and the Sense Sphere.
 * Jack and Death own the latest model of vortex manipulator, capable of carrying two at a time.
 * Death has the claw of a Raxacoricofallapatorian.

Continuity

 * River explains she's "half-human on her mother and father's side." (TV: Doctor Who)
 * River was raised by the Silence and Madame Kovarian. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)
 * River mentions that the Doctor has lost her parents forever. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
 * River recalls that her first novel was written purely as a message for the Doctor. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
 * River recalls writing The Angel's Kiss. (PROSE: The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery)
 * Amy plans to take over the writing of the Melody Malone series. (WC: Rory's Story)
 * River is familiar with Jack Harkness. (AUDIO: R&J)
 * River mentions that there is no way of asking "Madam, what year is this?" without sounding weird. (TV: Dimensions in Time)
 * River recalls she previously impersonated Cleopatra. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
 * River speculates she might be in an offshoot of the Land of Fiction. (TV: The Mind Robber)
 * River's vortex manipulator is destroyed. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)

Audiobook
This novel was released as an audiobook on 20 May 2021 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Alex Kingston.