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The Skeleton Detective puzzles over the theft of an ancient bit of bone--and a student's murder--in this novel by the Edgar Award-winning author of Switcheroo. Anthropology professor Gideon Oliver would prefer to keep his mind on his beautiful new bride Julie during their English honeymoon, but one intrusive question will not stop nagging at him: Who would want to steal a thirty‑thousand‑year‑old parieto‑occipital calvarial fragment? Yet someone has lifted this chunk of prehistoric human skull from a musty museum in Dorchester. Then, thirty miles away, an archaeology student is murdered, increasing tension and suspicion at a dig that had already seethed with suspicion, rivalry, and mistrust. Could there be a connection between a hot bone and a cold‑blooded murder? Gideon is called on by the police to apply the unique skills for which the media have named him "the Skeleton Detective," and he reluctantly agrees. Before he is done, his sleuthing will lead him to another murder and will--in the most literal and terrifying manner imaginable--sic the dogs on him, putting Gideon himself, and Julie as well, in mortal danger . . . Murder in the Queen's Armes is a suspenseful, fun-filled whodunit by the author of the Alix London and Chris Norgren series--a celebrated master who "thoroughly understands the art of the murder mystery" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Murder in the Queen's Armes is the 3rd book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. … (more)
User reviews
I visited several of the places mentioned in the book during the years I lived in England, and I enjoyed revisiting that part of the world in the pages of this book. The explanation of the mystery was logical, but more convoluted than perhaps it needed to be.
“It was two hours before they arrived for dinner at the Judge Jeffreys on High Street, an ancient inn with a grim past, having been the lodging of Baron George Jeffreys, the presiding judge at the Bloody Assize of 1685, when seventy-four of Cromwell’s royalist opponents had been executed.”
(The error being that the Bloody Assize was after the Monmouth Rebellion; Cromwell had been dead for years).
And a number of punches are telegraphed: when an archeologist is identified as a left-handed former minor league baseball pitcher who rides a chopper, you can bet the poor guy’s going to end up dead so Dr. Oliver can identify the body based on characteristic bone wear; and when Dr. Oliver and his wife encounter an immense half staghound/half mastiff, you can also bet that the creature will end up pursuing them across the Devonshire moors.
Nonetheless, it’s a pleasant read; just the thing for a moderate length airplane flight or a couple of hours outside on a sunny afternoon.
With a missing skull, a missing student and a friend who is possibly about to make a fool of himself and destroy his career, Gideon has to explore the dig site and talk to people about the mysteries. Trying to find time for his very understanding wife, he works with the police to find the truth and weave everything together.
I don't know why but I delight in mysteries that involve archeology so Elkins series is a great fit for me. This book was also a good "palate cleanser" for me after several days immersed in upsetting TV news.