The Best American Mystery Stories 1997 (1997)

The first volume of the annual series was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1997, edited by Robert B. Parker with Otto Penzler as series editor, and collects mystery stories first published in 1996. In Elizabeth George's "The Surprise of His Life", first published in the collection Women on the Case, Douglas Armstrong consults Thistle McCloud, a psychic in a storefront on the Pacific Coast Highway, and within two weeks of the fourth consultation is thinking of murdering his wife. (Open Library)

Watches

Rolex watch: In "The Surprise of His Life", Thistle McCloud uses nothing but a piece of her client's jewelry: in Douglas's first three visits it was always his old Rolex, from which she spoke of the prodigal son, until she sets it aside as diluted of power and takes his wedding ring instead (pp. 77 to 78). Waiting for an appointment at twelve-fifteen, he frowns at the Rolex at twelve-ten (p. 86), and at a later sitting she holds it again with his wedding band and cufflinks (p. 99). The story begins on p. 77. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: In his first three visits, it had always been the Rolex watch from which she'd received her psychic emanations. But today she'd placed the watch to one side, declared it diluted of power, and set her fog-colored eyes on his wedding ring. (Elizabeth George, "The Surprise of His Life", in The Best American Mystery Stories 1997, scan cataloged as Houghton Mifflin, 1997, p. 78; Internet Archive scan OCR)