Findings

May 19, 2008
After digging in rural Mississippi in Effigies
(2007), Faye Longchamp returns to her home turf—Joyeuse Island, Fla.—to excavate the remains of a 19th-century hotel her family once owned in Evans's fine fourth archeological mystery. Soon after Faye unearths a large emerald on the site, someone beats to death Faye's beloved boss, Douglass Everett. In a secret pocket in Everett's pants the police discover the emerald. Later, Wally, Faye's “long-time friend who had kept her secrets back when she lived one step ahead of the law and the tax collector,” stumbles off a dock into her boat and dies, a knife in his back. Might the emerald somehow be connected to both murders? As the story settles into a comfortable pace that allows the reader to savor the characters, Faye and her Creek buddy, Joe Wolf Mantooth, seek to bring their friends' killer to justice. In the end, love prevails, without being either sappy or sexual.

Starred review from May 1, 2008
Archaeologist Faye Longchamp's friend, mentor, and father figure, Douglass Everett, is murdered the night that he and Faye realize that she has found a huge emerald in an archaeological dig on a site that once belonged to her family. The murderers miss the emerald but steal Faye's notes from the site. Then another friend is killed, and the danger becomes apparent to all. Faye's friends rally to protect her and Douglass's widow, but the situation involving greedy people who desecrate Confederate archaeological sites soon spins out of control. Evans always incorporates detailed research that adds depth and authenticity to her mysteries, and she beautifully conjurs up the Micco County, FL, setting. This is a series that deserves more attention than it garners. Fans of archaeological mysteries by Lyn Hamilton, Sarah Andrews, and Aaron Elkins will enjoy.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2008
Faye Longchamp is not only a professional archaeologist but she also owns Joyeuse, a house that has been tied to her African American family for generations on an island off Floridas Gulf Coast. She finds an emerald in an excavation in this latest adventure, shows it to her mentor, and hears of his death the next morning. But it was her field notes, not the emerald, that were stolen from his home. Civil War and slave history, Confederate reenactors, and the geography of the Florida coast are the themes Evans explores here, accented with the minutiae of archaeological research. Evans is completely in control of what she wants us to see, hear, and feel, but to maintain that control, she is guilty of a lot of listening inside characters heads and telling rather than showing. Faye has two utterly chaste suitors, a black Atlanta lawyer and a mostly Creek Indian who serves as her friend, guide, and protector, and in this installment she makes a choice. A sinister rare-book librarian plays a key role in the mystery. Fascinating subject matter, less-than-perfect narrative technique.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)