The Bone Vault

Linda Fairstein

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

The glitzy reception at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art should have been a welcome evening off for Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cooper. But the announcement of a cooperative exhibition with the American Museum of Natural History is overshadowed by a gruesome discovery: in an ancient sarcophagus bound for a show abroad, customs officials have found the body of a young woman.

Katrina Grooten was a quiet, studious, hard-working intern at the Cloisters, the magnificent but foreboding home of the Met's collection of medieval art. According to museum records, Katrina had left her job several months earlier to return to her native South Africa: her eerily preserved body is grisly proof she'd never made it home. And the white lines on her fingernails are the telltale sign of her killer's modus operandi: arsenic poisoning.

But why would anyone want Katrina dead? As Alex and NYPD Detective Mike Chapman begin their investigations, they encounter an establishment whose culture is as curious as the exhibits they display, and whose secrets and rivalries are as ancient. And then, in the depths of the museum, they discover a number of mysterious vaults, whose bones hold the clues to Katrina's murder...

Impeccably plotted, grippingly authentic and brilliantly engrossing, Linda
Fairstein's latest Alex Cooper thriller will delight old and new fans alike.

Review by Chrissi (011102) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
I was so chuffed to be given this, which will be released in January 2003. I have really enjoyed all of the books written so far by Fairstein and this deserves to bring her to the attention of a great many more readers who appreciate writings of the likes of Patricia Cornwell and Val McDermid.

This is the fifth outing for Alexandra Cooper, and the opening impinges on one of her evenings off, where she and her friends are attending an evening event being held at the New York Metropolitan Art Museum. This evening should have been a showcase of cooperation between the Metropolitan Art Museum and the Museum of Natural History; unfortunately this is overshadowed by the discovery of the body of a woman in a sarcophagus.

Alexandra and Chapman find that solving the puzzle of who this young lady is, and how she came to meet her end is really not that simple. By the time she has been found, the trail is several months old; the sarcophagus that has served as her resting place since her death was due to be exhibited abroad and it is only the use of a sniffer dog that has caused her to be found at all.

One of the nice things about characters that are in a series of books is that we learn more about them and as we see them in different situations, we come to identify more with them. In this book there is further development in the character of Alexandra Cooper as we see her with her beau, the reporter Jake Tyler. It is not that she is unhappy with Jake but as the case opens, she is not confident that he hasn't leaked the story to the press, and as she is known to be involved with a member of the press, suspicion falls on her for the indiscretion.

Anyway, this is an excellent read, and as the winter nights draw in, I can think of nothing better than a large mug of hot chocolate and a good book, and if you ever think that an evening like that could appeal to you, then I could heartily recommend this book.
Chrissi (1st November 2002)