At a glittering reception hosted by Pierre Thibodaux, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to announce a cooperative exhibition with the American Museum of Natural History, the discovery of a perfectly preserved corpse in an Egyptian sarcophagus, set DA Alex Cooper and NYPD’s Mike Chapman on a bizarre investigation at the Metropolitan Museum of art. For the body is identified as that of Katrina Grooten, a young, shy, studious researcher from South Africa. Although preserved, evidence suggests that the victim has been dead for some months and the method of killing appears to be arsenic poisoning.
Mike Chapman is keen to trace the movements of the sarcophagus, but with a staff of more than 3000 at the gallery this proves to be a monumental task. As Pierre Thibodeaux, explains, objects are constantly on the move and the gallery has more than three million objects and works of art , of which at any given time the most that is ever on display, is less than ten per cent of that number. The descriptions of the mechanics of the gallery is enthralling, and as Alex and Mike delve into the workings of the gallery they uncover several skeletons, such as the existence of private vaults which no one owns to know much about, not even how many exist, or their exact locations in the vast area that the gallery covers. Discussions with Katrina’s immediate colleagues Erik Poste and Anna Friedrichs reveal that arsenic is used in their work.
Interspersed with the main investigation, are the on going cases that Alex is handling, and these, as in all the earlier books, provide fascinating reading.
There is also an interesting shift in the relationship between Alex and Mike which now spans an eight year period. During that time they have developed a deep friendship and come to respect and rely each on the other, but both have relationships with other people. Could they be viewing each other differently?
Lisa Ross sounded just as I imagined Alex Cooper would sound. She also does
a good job on the male characters. And although I had previously read the book,
I found that Lisa Ross enhanced my enjoyment of the book.
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Lizzie Hayes