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Several reviewers have already described the plot of this book in detail, and much more intelligently than I could. So I'll be brief. This is a complex book with many layers, none of which slow the pace at all. Suspense is apparent on every page and there are several believable suspects when a contemporary young woman's body is found in a sarcophagus that should have contained the mummified body of a Twelfth Dynasty, middle kingdom princess. Katrina Grooten has been dead for several months. According to the medical examiner, her death was due to arsenic poisoning. Problem is that arsenic is a common item in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, and the Cloisters, where the dead woman had previously been working. Linda Fairstein's authoritative voice impacts all of your five senses, maybe even your sixth. The smells, sights, sounds and textures, and yes, even the tastes of these museums become extremely vivid. It is obvious that the author knows these institutions well and the details she imparts are fascinating. The history, which is not glossed over at all and opened my eyes wide, the day to day workings, the gossip, the feuds, the scandals, are all examined, all within the context of the murder mystery. With great attention to detail, sleuth Alexandra Cooper, the assistant district attorney who prosecutes sex crimes in Manhattan, (as the author did until very recently,) investigates Katrina's death, accompanied by Homicide Detective Mike Chapman, uncovering secrets at every turn. Chapman and Coop, as he calls her when he's not calling her Blondie, are great friends and they work well together. Occasionally there's a little sexual tension, but it doesn't lead anywhere, probably because these two are both professionals and don't allow anything to interfere with their work. The museums take center stage, along with the people who work in them, as the story progresses and Katrina's story gradually unfolds. What fascinating places they are, with all kinds of nooks and crannies, weird contents--ancient and new, and in the case of the Natural History museum, animal and human. As Cooper and Chapman come closer to a solution, and closer to the bone vault, the suspense becomes riveting, especially when Alexandra becomes a target herself. The scene where she is trapped left this reader as breathless as Alexandra herself. I finished up with a great deal of knowledge about the museums. All of it fascinating. I'm going to be in New York in July, but I can't decide if I want to explore the museums or stay a long way away from them! I've purposely given few specific details, because the only way to get the full effect of this astonishing novel is to read it. As others have reported, Alexandra also details her feelings (which I'm sure are Linda Fairstein's feelings) about the events of September 11. This is a very moving section of the novel, told with sincerity and complete honesty. It would take a tough reader indeed not to be moved to tears.
Reviewed by Meg Chittenden, February 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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