A.J. Hartley, The Mask of Atreus

The Mask of Atreus

A.J. Hartley

Berkley, Apr, 2006, $7.99

ISBN 042520913X

Atlanta based Druid Hills Museum curator Deborah Miller is on her way home from the opening of a new exhibit when the exhausted woman receives a cell phone call from a distraught man insisting she go back. Ignoring it, she enters her home where the near hysterical man calls again insisting she goes back before they take the body. Though little fazes the six foot plus striking Deborah, the word body has her, and though bone tired, returns to the museum.

There she is stunned when she finds her sexagenarian mentor, museum owner Richard Dixon dead with what appears to be priceless Mycenaean Age artifacts that she never saw before surrounding him. He also left a note with the word Atreus on it. Based on what she knows of the legend of Atreus and some research, Deborah thinks a Mycenaean death mask is the only thing stolen. As she follows up, including overseas trips to Greece and Russia, someone tries to kill her, making her reconsider that the adversary either has or is after something much more powerful than a death mask.

THE MASK OF ATREUS is a terrific, amateur sleuth mystery starring a likable intelligent "amazon" struggling with her Jewish roots and Massachusetts family as her biggest "issues" until the murder of her beloved mentor, a father figure to her (Deborah's dad died two decades ago). Deborah keeps the exhilarating thriller focused as she conducts her investigation using what she knows, myths and antiquities. A.J. Hartley provides a fabulous whodunit made fresh by its deep historical and archeological base and an endearing heroine.

Harriet Klausner