Dead Men's Hearts

Anthropology professor, bone expert and renowned "Skeleton Detective," Gideon Oliver makes his eighth appearance, following Make No Bones , in Edgar-winning Elkins's engaging, mainly cozy, series. Not even the idiosyncratic Gideon and his wealth of appealing bone lore can, however, redeem the narrative's uncharacteristically sluggish pace. At Horizon House, a research facility in Luxor, the remains of a previously catalogued, 4400-year-old skeleton are found, mysteriously out of place in a storeroom. Gideon, who is there adding color commentary to a documentary dealing with ancient treasure, takes a look at the bones, at the same time noting the feuding among unwieldy academic egos and sorely harassed support staff. The suspicious death of the much disliked Horizon House director, who had accompanied the filming crew on a Nile riverboat, intensifies the mystery, especially after more bones--too many--with the same catalogue number turn up. Gideon remains charming and eccentric, especially with a dusty bone in hand or his beloved wife Julie nearby, but the conclusion, lacking the kind of after-the-fact inevitability relished by mystery lovers, mildly disappoints. Mystery Guild alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A bright, breezy, witty writing style, a cunning plot, a remarkably appealing hero, some uproariously funny dialogue, and an exotic Mideast setting add up to a winning combination in anthropologist/sleuth Gideon Oliver's eighth outing. After reluctantly agreeing to help film a documentary promoting Horizon House, a center for Egyptian studies located in the Nile Valley, Gideon and his wife, Julie, are looking forward to a relaxing few weeks. But soon after they reach Luxor, an ancient skeleton unearthed at a Horizon House dig in the 1920s is misplaced, and the illustrious head of the institute, Professor Clifford Haddon, is murdered. Gideon, already nicknamed "the Skeleton Detective" for his previous forays into anthropological crime-solving, finds himself caught up in one of the oddest and most deadly adventures of his sleuthing career. A priceless Amarna statuette is at stake, and if Gideon can outwit the mysterious, galabia-clad tomb-robbers, the crooked artifact smugglers, and the bumbling Luxor police, he may be able to find the missing statue and Haddon's killer. A refreshingly funny, clever, entertaining mystery that will appeal to a broad range of readers. Emily Melton