Dr. Diane Fallon is a forensic anthropologist working both as Director of the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History and the Rosewood Crime Lab, housed in the museum. Her dual hats make for some difficult prioritising and some interesting twists for the story.
In Dead Hunt, Diane is asked to meet with a murderess, Clymene O’Reilly, whom she helped to put behind bars. Reluctantly she goes. The conversation is about one of the guards, whose life may be in danger. Soon after the meeting Clymene escapes and Diane falls under suspicion of helping her.
All this is happening at a time when Diane’s museum is embroiled in a scandal – her assistant director, Kendel Williams, is accused of dealing in stolen antiquities. An article in the local paper indicates that in her recent purchase of museum artifacts the items delivered are not what they seem. Fuelled by internal politics in the board Diane has to tackle this before her authority and her museum lose support from funders.
The museum’s crime lab team work with Diane in her challenge of searching for Clymene and tracing the real antiquities which should have been delivered. Also FBI profiler Ross Kingsley is searching into Clymene's past for an insight into why she killed, but now, more importantly, where she might hide. Diane and Ross soon find their lives in danger.
To add to the juggling Diane is having to do, a large amount of blood found in her apartment, with Clymene’s DNA, puts her in the position of being the prime suspect in a suspected murder.
What with murder, politics, science and detective work Diane has a busy time and Dead Hunt cleverly weaves the museum and FBI work into the plot (albeit sometimes at a stretch). Having never encountered this series before, I would recommend Diane Fallon as a character to follow.
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Amanda Brown