Carnosaur
Crimes
Ansel
Phoenix mystery series, No. 2
By
Christine Gentry
Christine
Gentry has created an exciting new mystery series, surrounding the
adventures of paleoartist Ansel Phoenix. Carnosaur Crimes
is the second in this series and does not have any of the earmarks
of many sophomore books. It is fresh, exciting, and a real page-
turner.
Phoenix,
who is of Blackfoot heritage, usually follows her own leads, and
like many other fictional amateur sleuths, she runs afoul of local
law enforcement. Her relationships, both with friends and potential
lovers, are quirky and realistic, not the stuff of dreamy romances.
The
mystery itself deals with antiquities theft. In this case, it is
the triple robbery of dinosaur bones. One of the robberies occurs
at Phoenix's hometown museum, but is interrupted by a freak accident
that catapults the thief into the mouth of one of Phoenix's life-size
dinosaur replicas. This makes these thefts personal to Phoenix.
Mixed
in with the who-did-it is the controversy over jurisdiction that
involves the local sheriff, tribal authorities, the Bureau of Land
Management, and even the FBI. This has its own intrigue, especially
when the FBI recruits Phoenix for a sting operation.
Carnosaur
Crimes is a fun read that also educates. I can't wait to find
out what Gentry has in store for Ansel Phoenix in her next book.
|
The
Book |
Poisoned Pen Press |
April
2005 |
Trade
paperback |
1-59058-150-4 |
Mystery,
Native American police |
More
at Amazon.com |
Excerpt
|
NOTE:
mildly explicit language, violence |
The
Reviewer |
Janie Franz |
Reviewed
2005 |
NOTE:
|
|