Overview
Professor Simon Shaw, Pulitzer Prize winner and sometime sleuth, encounters his oldest corpse yet: Uwharrie Man, who died fourteen thousand years ago on the banks of Badin Lake in North Carolina. But Uwharrie Man isn't the murder victim in Simon's latest case. That victim is Simon's closest friend, archaeologist David Morgan. Simon is convinced that David died because he came between factions struggling for control of Uwharrie Man's bones—-the Lumbee Indian Nation, who want to rebury the skeleton, and the archaeologists, who want to study and display it.
Tension escalates as the Lumbee insist that Uwharrie Man is Native American, while the archaeologists suspect he was Caucasian and push for the opportunity to investigate further. Simon's colleague in detection, police sergeant Otis Gates, disagrees with Simon's theory about David's death, straining their friendship to its limits and leaving Simon to hunt for the killer alone.
Adding to Simon's burdens, he has been chosen to be the executor of David's will and must deal with Morgan's difficult sister, who is Gates's prime suspect. Throughout, Simon single-mindedly pursues his friend's killer, whose identity shocks everyone, Simon most of all.
Shell Game is Shaber's best entry yet in a solid and always delightful academic cozy series.
Synopsis
Professor Simon Shaw, Pulitzer Prize winner and sometime sleuth, encounters his oldest corpse yet: Uwharrie Man, who died fourteen thousand years ago on the banks of Badin Lake in North Carolina. But Uwharrie Man isn't the murder victim in Simon's latest case. That victim is Simon's closest friend, archaeologist David Morgan. Simon is convinced that David died because he came between factions struggling for control of Uwharrie Man's bones---the Lumbee Indian Nation, who want to rebury the skeleton, and the archaeologists, who want to study and display it.Tension escalates as the Lumbee insist that Uwharrie Man is Native American, while the archaeologists suspect he was Caucasian and push for the opportunity to investigate further. Simon's colleague in detection, police sergeant Otis Gates, disagrees with Simon's theory about David's death, straining their friendship to its limits and leaving Simon to hunt for the killer alone.
Adding to Simon's burdens, he has been chosen to be the executor of David's will and must deal with Morgan's difficult sister, who is Gates's prime suspect. Throughout, Simon single-mindedly pursues his friend's killer, whose identity shocks everyone, Simon most of all.
Shell Game is Shaber's best entry yet in a solid and always delightful academic cozy series.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Shaber's brisk fifth Simon Shaw cozy (after 2004's The Bug Funeral) obliges the Raleigh, N.C., history professor to apply his forensic skills to the murder of a close friend and colleague. David Morgan, a highly regarded archeologist, is found bludgeoned to death, his notes and collection of ancient Native American artifacts missing. Morgan had sat on a committee formed to decide the fate of a 14,000-year-old Paleo-Indian skeleton: should the remains be preserved in a museum for all to study or reverently interred in Indian burial grounds? The controversy may have provided a motive for the murder. Suspects include Morgan's sister, his gorgeous assistant and various colleagues, none with alibis. Simon proves his resourcefulness after a plane crash strands him in the wilderness of North Carolina's Nantahala National Forrest. Amorous interludes lend some spice. (Mar.)
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Library Journal
When his friend, archaeologist David Morgan, is murdered, North Carolina forensic historian Simon Shaw believes that his killing may be connected to the newly discovered remains of Uwharrie Man. Like the mysteries of Steve Hamilton and William Kent Kreuger, Shaber's latest features a strong sense of place and a hero struggling to survive against the odds of nature and human predators. Shaber, winner of the Malice Domestic Award for her debut, Simon Says, lives in Raleigh, NC.—Jo Ann Vicarel