Bonereapers

March 5, 2012
Matthews’s engaging third Dinah Pelerin mystery (after 2011’s Bet Your Bones) takes the anthropologist–cum–amateur sleuth to the frozen Norwegian tundra on a junket to deposit valued American agricultural specimens in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (aka the “Doomsday Vault”), an international repository of millions of seed varieties. Among the American politicians and business moguls on the trip is U.S. Sen. Colt Sheridan, “fat-cat wheat farmer and presidential hopeful,” with personal baggage he’d rather keep under wraps. Sheridan’s campaign is backed by Jake Mahler, a big deal agribusiness CEO, who has his own agenda. Fritjoe Eftevang, a Norwegian activist journalist with a grudge, can torpedo both men’s plans. If the bleak arctic winter isn’t enough to chill Dinah to the bone, a couple of murders and an attempt on her life put the icing on that cake. Just the right amount of character development and plot twists will please cozy fans. Agent: Helen Zimmermann, Helen Zimmermann Literary Agency.

June 1, 2012
Freezing to death in Norway. Back in Hawaii, where she lives and works, anthropologist Dinah Pelerin buys a stylish pea jacket with chichi red buttons to keep her comfy when she accompanies Senator Norris Frye on a diplomatic mission to a tiny settlement within shouting distance of the North Pole. They plan to deposit hapai banana shoots in the Svalbard Seed Vault, which would ensure the preservation of sustenance should the planet come under attack from disease, warriors or aliens. Joining them on their jaunt to the permafrost are Senator Colt Sheridan and his Norwegian-born wife, Erika; Senator Whitney Keyes; various flunkies and gofers; and Jake Mahler, CEO of Tillcorp, a generous contributor to Sheridan's presidential campaign bid, who travels with personal bodyguards and his attorney, Valerie Ives. The Minister of Agriculture who greets them at the far-north airport is maimed by a laser; a protestor who rants about gene modification is silenced with a carving knife in a back alley. Dinah, borrowing a warmer coat from Erika, is shot at, perhaps by mistake, perhaps for snooping too diligently into her traveling companions' pasts, which include alcoholism, hallucinations, an unacknowledged birth and an African famine someone inflicted on Myzandia by tinkering with genes. When Valerie is killed in a sauna, DI Thor Ramberg, trying to solve his first cases of homicide, seems baffled. Everybody's freezing except for Erika, who steps out for a brisk walk and disappears. Despite a kiss hot enough to thaw the permafrost, the detective suspects Dinah of skullduggery, but she warms his heart by solving the mystery. A tepid case that heats up only when Matthews (Bet Your Bones, 2011, etc.) delves into Norse myths.

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June 1, 2012

University anthropologist Dinah Pelerin finds herself in northernmost Norway, participating in a goodwill trip supporting the global efforts of the Doomsday Vault, a storage unit designed to save heirloom seeds. Her boss, being suspicious of agribusiness and potential genetic modification, wants Dinah's input on the project's integrity. Dinah is the odd duck because her traveling companions are all politicians. The most visible members of the delegation are Sen. Colt Sheridan, who's got presidential aspirations, and his Norwegian-born wife, Erika. When a disruptive political protestor is later found murdered, the delegation is detained, and media damage control is underway. But tensions explode, culminating in another death. VERDICT Matthews's doggedly determined anthropologist doesn't disappoint in her third issues-related appearance (Bet Your Bones; Bones of Contention). With her signature style of scientific inquiry and mythology, Matthews sometimes teeters on the edge of information dump. Nonetheless, she tackles a harsh Nordic climate with vigor, setting up an exciting New Year's Eve climax. Tie-ins range from Ed Gorman's Dev Conrad series for politics to James Rollins's works for scientific thrillers. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/12.]

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