Diana O'Hehir, Erased from Memory

Erased from Memory

Diana O'Hehir

Berkley, December 2006, $23.95

ISBN 0425212165

In Northern California, Carla Day takes her octogenarian father Edward, a renowned Egyptologist suffering from Alzheimer's father to see his greatest find, an ancient coffin lid housed at Egypt Regained Museum. While there, a man collapses to the floor; Edward rushes to his aid, starting with loosening the victim's tie. However, security yanks him away, as they assume he is choking the man to death. Local police arrest Edward, charging him with strangulation, but the man lives lying in a coma in a nearby hospital.

At the hospital, the comatose man apparently got up and left. Not long after he vanishes, he reappears as a corpse with an ankh in his mouth. Edward keeps arguing that they came here to see his coffin lid, though he has visited it several times, while Carla tries to uncover the truth about the dead man, not realizing how much danger she and her father are in from an unknown assailant who prefers to remain anonymous.

The sequel to MURDER NEVER FORGETS plays out on two levels, as readers obtain a first hand look at the ravages of Alzheimer's on the victim and his daughter, inside a cleverly designed whodunit. The storyline is fast-paced from the moment Dr. Day intervenes, until the final unnerving shocking final confrontation. Diana O'Hehir provides readers with a terrific Egyptology mystery, combined with a strong personal look at senior health care issues.