Egyptian Enigma

In the third volume of the Intermillennial Sleuth series we are transported back to Egypt in the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties as Elizabeth and her team of sleuths investigate likely candidates for the body in the Golden Tomb.

After Henry and Elizabeth spend a holiday visiting Ancient Egyptian sites and exploring Egyptian history they return with a plan to investigate the mystery of the Golden Tomb with the aim of trying to discover the identity of bodies, not only in the magnificent tomb itself but also another seven bodies located in a secret section of the tomb complex. As the investigation continues we learn not only about people living in Egypt thousands of years ago but also about some of the processes used in modern archaeology.

During the novel we also learn more about Elizabeth's multicultural family and her challenges at work in the library and at the university where she is a tutor.  There is also a mystery as to who stole Elizabeth's diary in Egypt and what item was an intruder seeking in Taid's library.

As usual there is a small collection of recipes at the end of the book along with a glossary of terms plus notes on the historical research on which this 'cosy crime' story is based. 

Mayan Mendacity

This is the second volume in the Intermillennial Sleuth series by L J M Owen. Dr Elizabeth Pimms continues to work in the library and is also offered another project to investigate numerous skeletons and a fractured urn located on a Guatemalan island. As her investigations continue we learn of the life of Six who lived in Tik'al almost three thousand years ago.

Elizabeth is also encountering difficulties with relationships - with her boyfriend, Luke, and a fellow worker in the library, Mai. To further complicate her life someone is interfering with the skeletons that she is investigating, making it difficult for her to carry out her research and write her report on time.

Food is a theme that runs through this novel and some of the recipes for dishes mentioned are to be found at the end of the book. There is also a set of questions that may be useful for book clubs plus some historical notes plus translations of some of the non-English terms used in the story. This is an easy to read archaeological detective novel delving into mysteries from the past.

Olmec Obituary

Olmec Obituary is the first novel of L J M Owen and the first in her Intermillennial Sleuth series - series of archaeological mysteries. Dr Elizabeth Pimms is an archaeologist and a librarian who finds herself trying to unravel stories that are thousands of years old.

When her father unexpectedly died, Elizabeth had to return to Australia from Egypt where she had been working as an archaeologist. Her family needed her to help pay the bills and to assist in looking after her young brother so she took a position in a library where her father had worked.

Then she was offered part-time unpaid work investigating skeletons located in a cave in Mexico. The skeletons were possibly three thousand two years old. Elizabeth enjoyed working on this assignment but she soon discovered that all was not well and that some of the information that she had been given was incorrect. Who can she trust to help her unravel the mysteries conveyed in the skeletons of people who had died so many years ago?

The Great Divide

Another gripping Australian crime novel, this time by L J M Owen.

When Detective Jake  Hunter takes a short term post at Dunton in Tasmania, in order to have a break from working in the Melbourne, he anticipates a quieter life. However events occurring during the second week of his posting suggest that this may not be the case.

A young boy disappears from a campsite during the night and when Jake and a search party look for the boy a body is discovered in a nearby vineyard. Solving the murder of Ava O'Brien reveals a world of prejudice, fear, lies, mistrust, mutilation, murder and cover up, over many years, involving the local community.  The former girls home that operated in the grounds of the vineyard appears to be the focal point of many unexplained events.

Another murder and attempted murder further complicated the investigations and it soon became obvious to Jake that finding someone to trust in this town was next to impossible. Fortunately the forensic pathologist, Dr Meena Gill, supported his investigations and her discoveries enabled him to follow new leads.

Much of the material revealed in this book is confronting and the reader is kept guessing as the pieces of the puzzle are gradually uncovered to eventually reveal the perpetrators of years of horrendous crime in this small town. A compelling read.

About the author - L J M Owen