Reviewed By Liz

Today’s featured author is Mary Anna Evans. I was blown away when I read her first book, ARTIFACTS. And, frankly, it is books like ARTIFACTS that inspired the Summer Mystery Reading Challenge. I walked into the library and picked the book up at random off the shelf, having heard nothing about it. And when I finished it, I wanted to know why I hadn’t heard of the book or author before! There are fantastic mysteries out there that not enough people know about. But now YOU know, so spread the word.

In EFFIGIES, Faye Longchamp and Joe Wolf Mantooth have traveled to Neshoba County, Mississippi, to help excavate a site near Nanih Waiya, the sacred mound where tradition says the Choctaw nation was born. When a farmer, Carroll Calhoun, refuses the archaeologists’ request to investigate an ancient Native American mound, Faye and her colleagues are disappointed, but his next action breaks their hearts: He tries to bulldoze the huge relic to the ground.

Faye and Joe rush to protect history with their bodies, if necessary. The situation grows more dangerous as Choctaws arrive to defend the mound and the farmer’s white and black neighbors come to defend his property rights. Though a popular young sheriff is able to defuse the situation, tempers are short. That night, Calhoun is found dead, his throat sliced with a handmade stone blade. Was he killed by an archaeologist, angered by his wanton destruction of history? Did a Choctaw take up arms to defend an embattled heritage? Neshoba County farmers have been plowing up stone tools for centuries. Did someone take this chance to even the score with an old rival?

The sheriff is well-aware that Faye and Joe were near the spot where Calhoun’s body was found. The whole county saw their confrontation with him over the mound. And their combined knowledge of stone tools is impressive. They had motive, means, and opportunity. The only thing saving their skins is the fact that the same thing is true of almost everyone in Neshoba County.

Her first novel, ARTIFACTS, won the Benjamin Franklin award for best mystery published by a small press. It also won the Florida Historical Society’s Florida Literature Award, and it was named by the Voice of Young America (VOYA) as an “Adult Mystery with Young Adult Appeal.” Mary Anna is proud of being recognized for writing a page-turner for people of all ages while, at the same time, getting the historical facts right. Her second novel, RELICS, was an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA) bestseller, and it was nominated for the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s SIBA Book Award.

Learn more about the author at www.maryannaevans.com.

The Lady Killers is a blog that Mary Anna Evans shares with fellow mystery authors Rhys Bowen, Cara Black, Jane Finnis, and Lyn Hamilton. Visit Mary Anna Evans at The Lady Killers.

Read our reviews of these great books here.

If you haven’t signed up for the Summer Mystery Reading Challenge yet, click here for directions. You are welcome to read along on your own, of course, but only registered participants are eligible for the prizes.

If you would like to comment on a book by a featured author or ask them a question, please leave the comment on their daily page so they can find it easily. Comments about what you are reading, books you have finished, requests for readalikes or recommendations, or mystery related links can be made on the SMRC post for that day so we can all see them. Thanks!

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

ISBN 0-06-075671-3

AND ONLY TO DECEIVE is billed as a novel of suspense. Set in Victorian England, it is about a young widow named Lady Emily Ashton. To escape her annoying mother, Emily married the Viscount Ashton, about whom she knew little, and who died on a safari in Africa after they had been married just a few months. Although she didn’t love him, she has mourned him as a proper Victorian lady should, and is preparing to re-enter society when one of her husband’s friends comes to call on her. He describes her husband, Philip, in such a way that she begins to realize she may not have recognized her husband’s better qualities. In particular, she is intrigued that he was something of a scholar of Ancient Greece and collected and donated antiquities to the British Museum. The more she learns about Philip, the more Emily appreciates him and sees that she should have gotten to know him better when he was alive.

Emily begins to shadow her husband’s interests and activities in his last few weeks of life. She finds unsigned letters among his things that may be threats or warnings, and learns that the pieces her husband donated to the museum are suspect and, in fact, Philip may have been trafficking in forged antiquities. While Emily is beginning to enjoy her newfound freedom as a widowed woman of means, she would like to turn to her husband’s two best friends for help and advice. But when the two men tell her conflicting stories of her husband’s death in Africa, Emily becomes convinced that she has not heard all of the details of the incident. She enlists the help of her female friends to help her uncover the truth.

And Only To Deceive is an interesting and well-written book, but it is sort of a fantasy. In widowhood, Emily has basically won the Victorian version of the lottery. She is young, beautiful, titled, and wealthy. Her money and status give her the ability to get away from her mother, travel to places of interest, and meet new and exciting people like female scholars, former French aristocracy, and soon-to-be-famous artists. And she has the leisure time to expand her mind, have adventures, and contemplate future love affairs she will embark upon when her period of mourning is over. Unpleasant things like work, poverty, dirt, and disease never appear in Emily’s life.

And if I sound down on this book, I am not. Some people enjoy hard-boiled mysteries, and some like… coddled? That may not be the best analogy, but you get the idea. If you like a kinder, gentler mystery with good characters, an interesting plot, a little history, and a goodly amount of romance, this would be a very good candidate for you.

Favorite character? Aldwin Attewater, the honest forger. Did I guess it? Yes. Will I read another? Yes, when I am in the mood for a good, untroublesome read.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Available at Amazon!