The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish
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3.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
It's 1932, and the Venus Island fetish, a ceremonial mask surrounded by thirty-two human skulls, now resides in the museum in Sydney. But young anthropologist Archie Meek, recently returned from an extended field trip to Venus Island, has noticed a strange discoloration of some of the skulls of the fetish. Has someone been tampering with the primitive artefact? Is there a link between the mysterious disappearance of Cecil Polkinghorne, curator of archaeology, and the fetish? And how did Eric Sopwith, retired mollusks expert, die in the museum's storeroom?
The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish is a delightfully risque romp, full of eccentric characters, intrigue and adventure.
Nothing is known of Miss Dido Butterworth, curator of worms (retired). Museum records contain no employee of that name, though there is speculation that the name is a pseudonym for Hans Schmetterling, curator of worms (1936–55).
Tim Flannery, author of several works of non-fiction, was curator of mammals at the Sydney Museum 1984–99.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Australian scientist Flannery (An Explorer's Notebook: Essays on Life, History, and Climate) makes his fiction debut with a droll mystery set in 1932 that purports to be a manuscript found in a stuffed baboon. The Great Venus Island Fetish, "the most famous Pacific Islands artifact in the world" (which consists of a monstrous mask surrounded by 32 human skulls), is on display in a Sydney museum, where curator Archibald Meek returns after several years among the Venus Islands natives. To his dismay, Meek discovers that his fianc e, Beatrice, has rejected the love token he sent her made from his foreskin; that four of the skulls in the fetish have been altered; and that four curators have recently gone missing, with a fifth soon to die. Full of petty academic squabbling, quirky personalities, heavy drinking, and secrets and gossip, the plot plays out against a background of supercilious exoticizing of island people. You don't have to be a museum insider to enjoy the fun Flannery pokes at anthropologists of an earlier era.
