Burials by Mary Anna Evans
A woman waits under five feet of dirt-a woman who is by now nothing but bones stained the deep red of Oklahoma clay. A delicate silver necklace, a handful of ancient pearls, and a priceless figurine rest with her. Twenty-nine years is a long time to wait for a proper burial.Faye Longchamp-Mantooth, who runs a small and shakily financed archaeological consulting firm with her husband, Joe, has come to Sylacauga so she and Joe can join his father, Sly Mantooth, in dispersing his mother's ashes. Fifteen years is a long time to wait for a proper ceremony.
Faye has partially financed the trip by hiring on to consult on the reopening of a site closed down 29 years ago when archaeologist Dr. Sophia Townsend disappeared-for good. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation intends to create a park if nothing sacred lies in the soil. What no one expects is the lonely red bones that emerge as the backhoe completes its work. Inevitably they prove to be those of Sophia Townsend. And examination shows Sophia was first killed by a blow to the head.
Chief Roy Cloud of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's Lighthorse Tribal Police hires Faye, who clearly can't be a suspect, to consult. Which is fine with Faye, who won't rest easy until Sophia's murder is solved. But the investigation comes uncomfortably close to home when she learns that her father-in-law knows more about the dead woman than he is willing to admit. So, it appears, does everyone in tiny Sylacauga.
Dr. Sophia Townsend had possessed a sexual magnetism as forceful as an Oklahoma tornado, and she had never hesitated to use it to manipulate everyone around her, people whose hearts she broke and whose marriages she destroyed. Was she killed by one of her lovers, or by one of their wives? Or by the woman who became enthralled with her? Or maybe Sly Mantooth? Or was something else elemental-greed, buried treasure, fame-at work?
Faye's obsession with this case tests her professional ethics and it tests her marriage. Such was the power of Sophia Townsend that, twenty-nine years after her murder, she wreaks havoc (along with the weather) once again.
Mary Anna Evans holds degrees in physics and engineering, but she is most passionate about storytelling. Faye Longchamp and Larabeth McLeod, two of Mary Anna's imaginary characters, enjoy the thrilling lives of an archaeologist and a globetrotting CEO, respectively, and Mary Anna envies them a little. The Faye Longchamp mysteries--ARTIFACTS, RELICS, EFFIGIES, FINDINGS, FLOODGATES, and STRANGERS--as well as the environmental thriller WOUNDED EARTH--are among her published works. They've won awards, including a place on the Voice of Young America's (VOYA) list of Adult Mysteries with Young Adult Appeal. They've been named Noteworthy Books by Booksense and Indiebound, and they've been on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's (IMBA) bestselling list.
Mary Anna has won the Patrick D. Smith Award from the Florida Historical Society. Smith received the Florida Literary Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and a Bronze Medal from the Florida Book Awards. Her works have been nominated for the SIBA Book Award and ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year. While Mary Anna's novels are aimed at adults, they have developed a following in schools, where they are being utilized to teach subjects like social studies, arithmetic, and science.
The book's author was not surprised by the social studies connection, given that her protagonist is an archaeologist, but she says she never put math or science in her writings on purpose. (Yet her readers have never complained that her books don't follow the laws of physics.) Discovering that she had done this unintentionally has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt the dictum that authors write about themselves. They can't help themselves.
She's putting her engineering training to good use these days. Pearson will publish her book MATHEMATICAL LITERACY IN THE MIDDLE AND SECONDARY GRADES, which she co-wrote with Dr. Faith Wallace. Because math and physics describe the world, they're essential in any fiction set in it. They're also extremely useful tools for an amateur investigator to have.
PLUNDER, the next Faye Longchamp mystery, will be released in 2012. Visit http://www.maryannaevans.com for more information on Mary Anna and her art.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781464207525 |
| ISBN 10 | 1464207526 |
| Title | Burials |
| Author | Mary Anna Evans |
| Series | Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mysteries |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Sourcebooks, Inc |
| Year published | 2017-04-07 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |