Good things do come in small packages. In only 210 pages Sarah Shaber has created a tightly woven murder mystery, the fifth in the Simon Shaw series. This slim volume reveals her continued growth as a novelist and her increasing mastery of the suspense genre. This is a book not to be missed. Of course, one would be best served by beginning at the beginning with Simon Said, but that is not necessary to enjoy this excellent novel.
Let me start with a small caveat. Shell Game is most likely to be viewed as a book with only regional attraction. After all, it is set in Raleigh, NC and briefly in other locales in the state. One hopes the marketing campaign will overcome this narrow view of its value, for the story is universal and will please a wide audience as it explores themes of love and racism.
Simon Shaw is a Pulitzer Prize winning professor of history at small Kenan College (fictional) in Raleigh. Because of an old murder he solved in Shaber's first book, he has come to be known as a "forensic historian." He is not Kaye Scarpetta, Temperance Brennan, or Bill Brockton who delve into bodies. Shaw cannot stand the sight of blood and is appalled by the thought of entering a morgue. Rather, he uses his mind to figure out the solutions to the murders his good friend Otis Cates, a Raleigh homicide detective, brings to him.
Let me start with a small caveat. Shell Game is most likely to be viewed as a book with only regional attraction. After all, it is set in Raleigh, NC and briefly in other locales in the state. One hopes the marketing campaign will overcome this narrow view of its value, for the story is universal and will please a wide audience as it explores themes of love and racism.
Simon Shaw is a Pulitzer Prize winning professor of history at small Kenan College (fictional) in Raleigh. Because of an old murder he solved in Shaber's first book, he has come to be known as a "forensic historian." He is not Kaye Scarpetta, Temperance Brennan, or Bill Brockton who delve into bodies. Shaw cannot stand the sight of blood and is appalled by the thought of entering a morgue. Rather, he uses his mind to figure out the solutions to the murders his good friend Otis Cates, a Raleigh homicide detective, brings to him.
Simon's best friend, professor David Morgan, has been murdered in his home and his two dogs anesthetized. Morgan has been serving on a controversial committee, which was about to reach a decision about "Uwharrie Man," a 14,000 year old man recently discovered in central North Carolina. This discovery, of course, is fiction, but the controversy that ensues is all too real. Think of the controversy which accompanied the discovery of Kennewick Man in Washington State and required a decision by a federal judge.
The committee is trying to resolve whether this skeleton is a Native American, and that is a two-part issue. First, there is the question of whether this skeleton is the ancestor of a modern Indian tribe, the Lumbees, who, in real life, are the largest tribe east of the Mississippi. If this is true, two members of the committee want the skeleton returned to them for proper burial. If not, two members (a professor and his dissertation student) want the skeleton to stay with them for scientific investigation. The second question asks whether the skeleton is actually Indian or Caucasian, there being a theory that during the last Ice Age a great migration of people from what is now France boated and fished their way alongside the ice cap to reach the North American continent. If the second possibility is true, then it supports the contention of the two scientists that they should complete their research.
The committee is trying to resolve whether this skeleton is a Native American, and that is a two-part issue. First, there is the question of whether this skeleton is the ancestor of a modern Indian tribe, the Lumbees, who, in real life, are the largest tribe east of the Mississippi. If this is true, two members of the committee want the skeleton returned to them for proper burial. If not, two members (a professor and his dissertation student) want the skeleton to stay with them for scientific investigation. The second question asks whether the skeleton is actually Indian or Caucasian, there being a theory that during the last Ice Age a great migration of people from what is now France boated and fished their way alongside the ice cap to reach the North American continent. If the second possibility is true, then it supports the contention of the two scientists that they should complete their research.
Morgan would have been the swing vote, but he is dead, his notes are missing, and no one knows how he was going to vote. Shaber explores, in a most balanced manner, both sides of this very real, very controversial issue as Simon Shaw researches and thinks through the computer research his friend was doing even as he died. He discovers how Morgan was going to vote and the rationale behind it, and that leads him to discover the killer.
Shell Game is an entirely apt title. The hidden answer/killer seems first to be one thing then another. Shaber said in a recent talk that twenty pages from the end of this novel, she discovered that the killer was not who she thought it was! One can almost see this transformation occur as additional clues pile up. The revelation of the killer is perfectly appropriate.
Sarah Shaber's first book, Simon Said, won the Malice Domestic Award for Best First Traditional Mystery. That carried a book deal with St. Martin's Press. A Duke University graduate in history, she held a number of jobs, including advertising copywriter and executive director of a non-profit organization. Now she writes full time. She lives in Raleigh with her husband and son. She also has a married daughter.
Shell Game is an entirely apt title. The hidden answer/killer seems first to be one thing then another. Shaber said in a recent talk that twenty pages from the end of this novel, she discovered that the killer was not who she thought it was! One can almost see this transformation occur as additional clues pile up. The revelation of the killer is perfectly appropriate.
Sarah Shaber's first book, Simon Said, won the Malice Domestic Award for Best First Traditional Mystery. That carried a book deal with St. Martin's Press. A Duke University graduate in history, she held a number of jobs, including advertising copywriter and executive director of a non-profit organization. Now she writes full time. She lives in Raleigh with her husband and son. She also has a married daughter.
