Rituals

September 2, 2013
A superior puzzle plot lifts Evans’s eighth Faye Longchamp mystery (after 2012’s Plunder). Archeologist Faye and her 17-year-old adopted daughter, Amande, have a job to do in Rosebower, N.Y., a town “with a history full of Spiritualists, religious reformers, and radical feminists.” Not long after they’ve begun their work separating decades of donated junk at the local museum, Faye and Amande have a murder mystery on their hands. Medium Tilda Armistead is the victim of arson, dying of smoke inhalation after escaping a fire set at her home, but in addition to the obvious question of whodunit, Faye must resolve the related one of “why a dying agoraphobic who had traveled only a couple thousand miles since 1972 had driven thirty miles to ask a relative stranger for help.” And what’s a retired magician, known for debunking others’ tricks, doing in town? Evans pulls all the pieces nicely together in the end. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates.

October 15, 2013
A small town in upstate New York is a haven for Spiritualists and murder. Archaeologist Faye Longchamp Mantooth and her adopted daughter, Amande, have taken a job updating a museum in Rosebower while Faye's husband stays home with their young son. The museum owner is a history buff who never turns away any contribution, no matter how worthless, and has some oddly racist ideas on the worth of some of his collection. The Armistead family, especially talented Spiritualist Tilda, has a great deal of influence in Rosebower, whose citizens are deeply divided over the direction in which the town is moving. An hour after Faye, Amande and Tilda's sister Myrna take part in a seance, the house burns down with Tilda nailed into the tiny seance room, left to die. Among the suspects are Tilda's estranged daughter and her husband, a sexy magician, who have their eyes on Tilda's land. The show they put on every night garners the couple a very nice living, but the husband is plotting with a developer who has plans to turn Rosebower into a sort of Disneyland for believers in ghosts. Also in town is a part-time magician whose work on a book debunking the whole Spiritualist idea may make her the next target for murder. Faye and Amande, who are worried about Myrna, whose health is rapidly and suspiciously deteriorating, are convinced they need to find the killer before there's another murder. The emphasis on the spirit world makes this a bit of a departure from Evans' usual historical and archaeological themes (Plunder, 2012, etc.), but it's certainly a well-plotted and enjoyable mystery.

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September 15, 2013
Florida archaeologist and sleuth Faye Longchamp returns in this eighth novel in the series. Working in Rosebower, a small town in New York State, helping a museum document its historical records and artifacts, Faye stumbles into a murder: a local psychic has been killed. There are plenty of suspects, including the victim's daughter's husband, a land developer, and even the museum owner, but there's also another possibility, one the skeptical Faye would prefer not to have to consider: Rosebower was founded by Spiritualists, and some residents say the town has some secrets the townspeople will do anything to protect. A suspenseful crime story with just a hint of something otherworldly.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)