Dead Men's Hearts
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4.0 • 82 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Edgar Award–winning author: “A cunning plot, a remarkably appealing hero, some uproariously funny dialogue . . . a winning combination.” —Booklist
An ancient skeleton tossed in a garbage dump is the first conundrum to rattle Gideon Oliver when he arrives in Egypt. There to appear in a documentary film, he expects an undemanding week of movie star treatment and a luxurious cruise up the Nile with his wife, Julie. But when Gideon discovers a tantalizing secret in the discarded bones—and violence claims a famous Egyptologist’s life—he is thrust into a spotlight of a different kind. Plying his calipers as the world’s foremost forensic anthropologist, Gideon’s investigation of the goings‑on leads him through the back alleys and bazaars of Cairo and deep into the millennia‑old tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
As the puzzle is painstakingly pieced together, Gideon will find that the identifying traits of a cunning killer are the same now as they were in the time of the pyramids: greed without guilt, lies without conscience . . . and murder without remorse.
Dead Men’s Hearts is the 8th book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
A disappointment
This was a tough read, in fact I found myself skipping through paragraphs and pages to come to the conclusion. It dragged and the story just couldn’t hold my interest. Not enough human interaction.