Artifacts
A
Faye Longchamp Mystery
Mary Anna
Evans
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-056-7 (1590580567)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-056-1 (9781590580561)
Publication Date: April 2003
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Faye Longchamp has lost nearly everything except for
her quick mind and a grim determination to hang onto her ancestral
home, Joyeuse, a moldering plantation hidden along the Florida coast.
No one knows how Faye’s great-great-grandmother Cally, a
newly freed slave barely out of her teens, came to own Joyeuse in the
aftermath of the Civil War. No one knows how her descendants hung onto
it through Reconstruction, world wars, the Depression, and Jim Crow,
but Faye has inherited the island plantation—and the family
tenacity. When the property taxes rise beyond her means, she sets out
to save Joyeuse by digging for artifacts on her property and the
surrounding National Wildlife Refuge and selling them on the black
market. A tiny bit of that dead glory would pay a year’s
taxes. A big valuable chunk of the past would save her home forever.
But instead of potsherds and arrowheads, she uncovers a
woman’s shattered skull, a Jackie Kennedy-style earring
nestled against its bony cheek. Faye is torn. If she reports the
forty-year-old murder, she’ll reveal her illegal livelihood,
thus risking jail and the lose of Joyeuse. She doesn’t intend
to let that happen, so she probes into the dead woman’s
history, unaware that the past is rushing up on her like a hurricane
across deceptively calm Gulf waters.
Review:
Mary Anna Evan's first book, Artifacts,
introduces Faye Longchamp, an archaeology student who finds herself
enmeshed in a murder mystery while trying to save her ancestral home.
This is an exceptional mystery filled with fascinating and original
characters and unique settings. Evans' attention to detail is
extraordinary, but never gets in the way of the story. Her effective
use of historical narratives scattered throughout serve multiple
purposes, not the least of which as clues to the mystery.
Artifacts is possibly the best mystery by a new author published this
year, and should be a part of every mystery reader's collection.
Special thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing the ARC of Artifacts for this review.
Review Copyright © 2003 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Artifacts
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), April 2003
ISBN-10: 1-59058-056-7 (1590580567)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-056-1 (9781590580561)
Relics
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), August 2005
ISBN-10: 1-59058-119-9 (1590581199)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-119-3 (9781590581193)
Effigies
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), January 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-342-6 (1590583426)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-342-5 (9781590583425)
Findings
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), July 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59058-483-X (159058483X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-483-5 (9781590584835)
Omnimystery keywords for Artifacts ...
Location(s) referenced: Florida.