Dr Anlon Cully, a
wealthy scientist, is enjoying a relaxing evening at his home near
Lake Tahoe with his friend Pebbles, the bartender at a local
restaurant. He tells her about a call he received from Matthew
Dobson, his uncle Devlin's archaeological research partner. Devlin is
dead after suffering a fall when climbing a mountain in New
Hampshire.
Anlon is the heir
and Dobson wants him to come East immediately to sort out Devlin's
affairs. Although he'd rather stay in his comfortable Tahoe
residence, Anlon agrees to go and invites Pebbles to go with
him. Not only has Anlon inherited his uncle's house and it's
contents, he also finds that he has been left several stones that
appear to have unusual powers. When Dobson, too, is murdered, finding
out what the stones mean becomes critical.
Mysteries with an
archaeological background fascinate me. This book has a good
plot with just enough real mythology to make it seem real. The
settings in Tahoe and New Hampshire are authentic and add a layer of
believability to the story.
However, the
characters are poorly developed. Anlon Cully is a famous scientist.
As such you would expect him to be able to figure out much of the
background surrounding the stones. However, Anlon stands back in
amazement as Pebbles takes the lead in unraveling the mystery. I
found this unrealistic.
The dialog is often
used to provide an information dump rather than conversation. In some
cases this is justified when retelling the background myths
surrounding the stones, but the author doesn't restrict the
information dump to those occasions which makes many of the
interactions seem too formal.
If you enjoy an
archaeological mystery, this one has an interesting underlying story.
However, the action often plods and the characters sometimes detract
from the reality of the situation. There is a twist at the end, but
it's fairly easy to see it coming so the ending is something of a let
down.
I received this book
from Net Galley for this review.
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