Mary Anna Evans, Effigies

Effigies

Mary Anna Evans

Poisoned Pen Press, January 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 1590583425

In Mississippi, archaeologist Faye Longchamp and her live-in lover Joe Wolf Mantooth lead a dig on sacred Choctaw property. Nearby is a better mound on the farm of Carroll Calhoun, who could not care less about someone else's heritage. When asked if an archaeological dig could occur, Carroll says "no", and remarks he will bulldoze the mound before he allows the State to apply historical preservation rules and impound his property.

Nashoba County Sheriff Neely Rutland calms everyone down before a confrontation occurs. He agrees to obtain a legal opinion on the ownership and disposition of the mound. At the same time, former Congressman Lawrence Johnson Judd gives a talk about almost dying at the hands of a mob, until some unknown person saved his life. Soon afterward, someone slashes Calhoun's throat, and Judd is hospitalized from a near fatal drug overdose. Unable to mind her business and let Neely handle matters, Faye investigates, but is unaware that she places Joe and herself in danger from a killer with motive entrenched in the county's past.

The archeology combined with Native-American lore enhances a fun romantic amateur sleuth thriller, though why Faye needs to sleuth remains a question, even with her work requiring plenty of clues gathering. The storyline is action-packed, even before the corpse is found, as the audience will feel the enthusiasm of the team as they uncover their findings. The whodunit is delightfully disguised so that like the sheriff and the archaeologist, readers will struggle to solve it. This is a superb murder mystery, as the sum of the parts make for a fantastic whole.