*Dragon Bones, by Lisa See

This is third in a series featuring Liu Hulan, of which I read the first one (Flower Net) and skipped the second (The Interior). You really don't need to have read either of the first two to be able to follow this one.

As the story opens, Hulan is quasi-estranged from her husband after the death of their little daughter from bacterial meningitis. As a police detective, Hulan has been working on a case involving a group called the All-Patriotic Society, and at the beginning of this book, she attends a rally being held by this illegal group. One of the members is a bit overzealous and decides to kill her daughter, but Hulan shoots her. She finds herself the target of threats, so her superiors send her off to investigate the death of an archaeologist working an excavation near where the Three Gorges Dam is built. David, her American husband, is also sent there to investigate the removal of cultural relics from the country. But a bizarre murder later, both David and Hulan find themselves in a great deal of danger.

The core story is very good, a fine mystery and a good look at the pros and cons of the building of the Three Gorges Dam. I understand that this is a part of a series and that it focuses on the character of Liu Hulan, but it was a bit too romantic for my tastes. The end was a bit over the top as well, a bit too melodramatic for me. However, I'd definitely recommend the book to others, including those who are following the series, to readers interested in China, and to readers who like mysteries in an archaeological setting.

*Silence of the Grave, by Arnaldur Indridason

Don't pick this one up if you want something warm and fuzzy -- it's definitely the opposite. But then again, it's gloominess somehow seems a propos, considering not only the main story here, but the ongoing story of Erlandur Sveinsson, the main character here. He's not a happy man, nor does he have any reason to be -- his children hate him, his ex-wife lies about him and he's got ghosts from his past that continually haunt him. But as a detective, he's got to let all of that go so that he can do his job.

As the story opens, a baby is discovered playing with a piece of a human rib bone. The baby's mother makes her other child take her to where he found the bone, and an entire skeleton is discovered. It seems that the bones are laying in an area that will soon become a housing development, and archaeologists are excavating in the area prior to this happening. The police are called in, and they have no choice but to wait until the archaeologists slowly and carefully work through the excavation to be able to even determine the sex of the bones. All that's known is that the skeleton is probably quite old, rather than recent, anywhere from 50 to 70 years old. While they wait for the archaeologists, Erelendur and his team begin trying to figure out just who may have lived around the area in the past, and to see if anyone may have gone missing around the time whoever it is laying in the ground was put in there. As the police begin their investigations, they become aware that a young woman went missing, presumed a suicide, and that the man to whom she was engaged was the owner of the property years ago, when the area was shared with a military base during WWII. Interwoven with this story is another
about a family of former residents of the area, a woman and her children who find themselves victims of the husband/father, a wife beater who not only uses physical violence, but "kills the soul" as he metes out his abuse. Between the two storylines, you'll find yourself literally unable to put the book down. That, along with Erlendur's personal problems and the ghosts of his past coming back to haunt him, make for one incredible read.


If you've read Jar City, you've got to read this one. The author's characterization is realistic, the story is moving and the writing is excellent. Highly recommended to those who enjoy good mysteries in general, or to those who are looking for at good Scandinavian mystery writer.

Echoes From the Dead, by Johan Theorin

from the tbr pile:

A very haunting story, Echoes From the Dead begins in 1972, when Jens, a 6-year old boy, decides that he'll scale the garden wall while his grandmother's taking a nap and everyone else is away from the home. We are told right away that in the fog,Jens encounters someone identifying himself as Nils Kant, and after that, he's just gone. Flash forward 20 years, and his mother, Julia, has still not gotten over his disappearance. Most everyone has assumed he'd drowned; she's not willing to believe he's gone. She's a psychological wreck, unable to work, drinking, sitting all day watching a home shopping network type show on tv. But all of that changes one day when her father, Gerlof, phones her to say that he's just received a child's sandal in the mail, and that it is likely one belonging to Jens. Off goes Julia back to where it all happened and where Gerlof now lives in a residential nursing home. It seems that Gerlof has never stopped trying to figure out what happened to Jens, and has come up with a few theories of his own, along with a few of his friends. Gerlof, his friends, and Julia all try to figure out what happened to little Jens 20 years earlier. It all points to Nils Kant, but the problem is, Nils was dead and buried prior to Jens' disappearance.

What's really great about this novel is that the author sets up such an incredible atmosphere of suspense and gloom that you can't put the book down. Carefully interweaving the story of Nils Kant from his childhood onward, Theorin captures his reader's attention from the outset. All of the characters are very well defined and very believable and the writing is very good. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone, especially readers who enjoy Scandinavian mysteries.

Hard to believe, but this is the author's first novel. I'll be on the lookout for the next one. Very good book.

thanks to Librarything and Random House for allowing me to read this book prior to its US release!

*Patterns in the Dust, by Lesley Grant-Adamson

It's time for reporter Rain Morgan's holiday, and she has been offered the use of her friend & co-worker's cousin's cottage in Somerset. Right off the bat, she is present when an archaeologist uncovers the body of a woman. This gets her curiosity up, but when there's a murder in the little village of Nether Hampton, Rain senses there's more than just a newspaper story here. It seems that Nether Hampton has its secrets, and some people will do anything to keep them quiet.

Good intro to this series; but having read a later Rain Morgan novel, I know they get better. I would recommend it to people who like British mysteries and people who like stories set in small British villages.

Faber and Faber (1986), Paperback, 191 pages, 1986 0571145221

*The Mask of Atreus, by AJ Hartley

I'll just say it straight out. I didn't like this book very much. I did finish it, which is more than I can say for some others I've read that I didn't like. I didn't set out to not like it, but there it is. Now, I happen to have read many reviews in which readers say it's a great book, and if they say so, then that's okay. However, I'm often at odds with many regular book readers as far as liking/not liking a book, and it doesn't bother me at all. I'll tell you why this one didn't particularly strike my fancy after my brief summary of this book.

Deborah Miller is a curator of the Druid Hill Museum in Atlanta, started by her mentor, Richard Dixon. One night, after a fundraiser, Deborah goes home but receives a strange, anonymous phone call that sends her back to the museum, only to find Richard dead. Deborah, of course, calls the police, but does some sleuthing of her own, and finds only a brief clue: Richard has written down the word "Atreus," probably his last act. From there, we have the following: a cop that may not actually be a cop, Richard's visit to a website that reveals he was interested in a golden death mask (possibly of a king of Mycenaea, maybe even Agamemnon), an attack on a dark highway, all of which send Deborah running to Greece to try to find answers. But it gets sort of murky and muddled from there, as the plot takes an abrupt turn, and Deborah finds herself in even more danger than before.

My whole problem is that there's so little substance to this book that it was hard to find any of it the least bit believable and thus the least bit engaging. Then there's the villain, whose dialogue was so campy that I could only laugh rather than be terrified at the "horrific" plot at the root of it all. Don't get me wrong...I do a lot of escape reading where there's way too many coincidences, too many timely deus ex machinas and pretty bad dialogue, but in this one, the evil and nefarious deed was just was a wee bit silly. I don't think I'd recommend this one to a friend; let's put it that way.

*The Dancing Man, by P.M. Hubbard

....and now, a bit o' the creepy Welsh woods....

Mark Hawkins' brother Dick, an archaeogist with a specialty in neolithic/prehistoric sites, had set out for a climbing vacation in Wales and never returned. After some time, Mark goes to the home in which Dick was staying to retrieve his belongings. It turns out to be the home of another archaeologist, Dr. Merrion, who is a specialist in medieval archaeology, and who has been working on the site of an old, nearby Cistercian abbey. As Mark pokes around the woods surrounding Merrion's home, he begins to feel that something sinister has happened to his brother here, and is determined to get to the truth.

The sense of foreboding, the sense of place and the creepy atmosphere that the author manages to convey here are important to the central story. You won't find a lot of dialogue here, nor a huge cast of characters. It is a good read, and it is worth the amount of time you'll put into it. It's just very slow at times, and not very exciting (relative to most mysteries in which it's action, action, action), so you have to stay with it.

I'd recommend this to people who are interested in earlier writers of British suspense, to people who are interested in archaeological mysteries, and to those who like the old country house in the deep woods type settings in their mysteries.

*Murder in Mesopotamia, by Agatha Christie

Back in the good old days of mystery, there was the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, but this book is not really one of my personal favorites among his cases. Having said that, I will say that it Murder in Mesopotamia is still quite an engaging little book from more of a psychological slant.

The story is actually told from the perspective of Amy Leatheran, a nurse hired by a Dr. Eric Leidner to take care of his wife Louise at an archaeolgical excavation out in the deserts of Iraq. The nurse arrives to find that there is a somewhat strained attitude among the members of the expedition, and most of that has to do with Mrs. Leidner. However, Mrs. Leidner is murdered, and it is established that the murderer could only have come from among the group. Enter Mr. Poirot, whose work is cut out for him when it seems that each and every member of the expedition has a motive for Mrs. Leidner's death.

As I said, not one of my particular favorites, but it was still fun to see Poirot unraveling a rather twisted plot. The ending is a bit of a surprise, so it's well worth the ride.

Recommended for those who are fans of Hercule Poirot, or of Agatha Christie, or for readers of British mysteries in general.

I just bought the dvd starring David Suchet so we'll see how it translates to film. I don't know how I missed it when the Poirot series was on Mystery or later on A&E, but I did.

....and now, for November, Archaeological Whodunits

This month's reading (still in an effort to read through all the books I've been collecting over the years) features mysteries that take place in an archaeological setting. I really have to weed through these books and recycle some of them (I don't mean in the bin, but to other readers). So off I go, into the desert of Mesopotamia, with Agatha Christie, into the jungles of Latin America, the old abbeys of England, etc. This may not be the most highbrow of reading, but at least it will hopefully a lot of fun.

Rosa, by Jonathan Rabb

actually, I read this one on my Amazon Kindle -- if you don't have one of these, you may wish to invest in one. It's awesome and great for airplanes.

The title here refers to the socialist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg; indeed, the action in this book takes place just after her death in 1919.Obviously, she is not the main character, but her death is a central element in this most ingenious novel.

Nikolai Hoffner is an inspector in post-war Germany's Kriminalpolizei(Kripo), and he leads the investigation of a series of bizarrre murders in which the killer engraves patterns in his victims' backs with a knife after he kills them. One of the bodies that he is called out to see turns out to be that of Luxemburg, and it too has the strange markings. Because it is Rosa's body, however, Hoffner finds himself and his investigation being thwarted, as the case now finds its way into more political channels. But Hoffner can't give up the case no matter what.

Hoffner is a very flawed individual, making his character just that much more believable. In fact, all of the characters are portrayed rather well. The author takes on a noirish tone in this book, which was engrossing from beginning to end. I would definitely recommend it to people interested in historical fiction, or who want something decidedly different on their to be read stack of mystery novels. Be warned...this is not a touchy-feely, feel good kind of novel -- it's gritty and realistic. Simply excellent reading -- and there's another Nikolai Hoffner novel coming out in 2009. I'll be there.

The Princess of Burundi, by Kjell Eriksson

Set in Uppsala, Sweden, as the story opens, the winter weather is terrible, and a son awaits the return of his father, John Harald Jonsson. However, John Jonsson isn't coming home that night, or any other night because he's been murdered. Not only that, but there is evidence that John has been tortured. His wife, Berit, can't think of anyone that would want to hurt him let alone want him dead. Enter the police department, with the investigation being led by Ola Haver, who has some personal issues of his own, and investigated on the sidelines by Ann Liddell, who's still on maternity leave and really wants to get back to her work on the force.

The book is not only a story of the investigation of John's murder, but focuses on the effects of this crime on not only those left behind, but on the police as individuals. Eriksson's skill here is in her ability to create characters who come off as being real, as well as her ability to create and sustain an incredibly somber atmosphere throughout the novel. The mystery is okay, but there's just something about this woman's writing and her ability to create that transcends the plot. Eriksson's skill here is in her ability to create characters who come off as being real, as well as her ability to create and sustain an incredibly somber atmosphere throughout the novel. The mystery is okay, but there's just something about this woman's writing and her ability to create that transcends the plot.

I would definitely recommend this novel to readers who want something different than what's currently out there. Readers of more mainstream-type mystery novels may be less likely to enjoy this one, but I find European mystery novels, for the most part, to be more to the point, less cutesy and more intense than what's available on most bookstore shelves.