The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish

December 21, 2015
Australian scientist Flannery (An Explorer’s Notebook: Essays on Life, History, and Climate) makes his fiction debut with a droll mystery set in 1932 that purports to be a manuscript found in a stuffed baboon. The Great Venus Island Fetish, “the most famous Pacific Islands artifact in the world” (which consists of a monstrous mask surrounded by 32 human skulls), is on display in a Sydney museum, where curator Archibald Meek returns after several years among the Venus Islands natives. To his dismay, Meek discovers that his fiancée, Beatrice, has rejected the love token he sent her made from his foreskin; that four of the skulls in the fetish have been altered; and that four curators have recently gone missing, with a fifth soon to die. Full of petty academic squabbling, quirky personalities, heavy drinking, and secrets and gossip, the plot plays out against a background of supercilious exoticizing of island people. You don’t have to be a museum insider to enjoy the fun Flannery pokes at anthropologists of an earlier era.

December 1, 2015
This first novel from Australian science writer Flannery (Atmosphere of Hope, 2015, etc.) travels back in time to 1932-1933--and back in cultural mores a lot further--when intrigue swirls around an aboriginal mask enshrined in the Sydney Museum. "Enshrined" may not be quite the right word. Anthropologist Archibald Meek, returning from five years embedded with the natives of Venus Island, is horrified to discover the gigantic mask, ringed with 32 human skulls, prominently displayed in the museum's boardroom. To be fair, Dr. Vere Griffon, the museum's director, is equally unhappy that Archie overstayed his Venus Island posting by two years and fears he may have gone native--a fear shared in her own way by virginal archaeology registrar Beatrice Goodenough, who, swept off her feet by Archie's posted marriage proposal, was seriously jolted by the personal gift that followed it. While he's trying to mend fences with Beatrice, Archie can't help noticing that four of the skulls surrounding the fetish are a different color than the others and that the buck-toothed mouth of one of them reminds Archie very much of Cecil Polkinghorne, his mentor, the latest of four museum employees to have vanished without a trace. Could someone be removing the original skulls, memorials of an 1892 shipwreck, and replacing them with more recently harvested products? Archie has precious little energy to devote to serious detective work when he must spend his days negotiating a cast of colleagues, board members, and government overseers straight out of P.G. Wodehouse and renegotiating his relationship with his ladylove. But the truth is bound to out, one way or another. The detection is nominal, and the mystery takes a back seat to the comic bedlam that reigns throughout. But readers who have never before encountered sentences like "He knew he must get his foreskin back" will cheer Archie's debut and hope for more.

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February 1, 2016
In 1932, when this novel is set, the Venus Island fetish is the most famous artifact in the Pacific Islands. It's an enormous ceremonial mask, shaped like a face and surrounded by 32 actual human skulls. A great controversy surrounds the way it was wrested from the islanders and housed in a museum in Sydney. The hero of this mystery, a young anthropologist named Archie Meek (who is anything but), discovers that some of the skulls on the fetish are discolored, maybe even fresh. Is there a connection between the new-looking skulls on the fetish and the disappearance of three curators from the museum? Flannery, who was formerly the director of the South Australian Museum, makes an already electric tale even livelier with his knowledge of artifacts, digs, and desperate measures taken by cash-strapped museums. The novel is filled with the kind of detail only an expert can bring, like the fact that you can tell ancient Roman statues from Greek ones because the Romans made the second toe the longest. This is a fun, intriguing mystery debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2016

Australian scientist and environmentalist Flannery (The Weather Makers) tries his hand at mystery fiction in this 1930s caper. Young anthropologist Archie Meek has returned to Sydney from a yearslong field trip to the Venus Islands and finds his museum in disarray. The board has a frighteningly aggressive new member, his registrar fiancee is furious over his latest love token, and several curators have up and disappeared. On top of that, someone has clearly tampered with the museum's famed Venus Island Fetish, an enormous ceremonial mask decorated with human skulls. Some of the skulls look a little too "fresh" for a historical object. Archie fears that the missing curators might have become a part of the collection and so endeavors to learn the truth while winning back his fiancee and securing his job. VERDICT Ribald and filled with of-the-time views on race, Flannery's debut has trouble keeping a handle on its wide cast of characters. The setting is perfect for a post-Depression farce, and while many of the elements are there, the effect comes off more muddled than effervescent. Flannery/Butterworth clearly considers the pun the ultimate form of humor, so readers with similar sensibilities may find enjoyment here. [See Prepub Alert, 8/17/15.]--Liza Oldham, Beverly, MA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015

Famed Australian scientist/conservationist Flannery (The Weather Makers) has fun with a debut mystery that sneaks in some foundational science. Visiting a Sydney museum in 1932, fresh-faced anthropologist Archie Meek notices that an odd discoloration mars several of the 32 human skulls circling a ceremonial mask called the Venus Island fetish. Is someone meddling with the fetish?

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.