Dead Men's Hearts
By Aaron Elkins
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
An ancient skeleton tossed in a garbage dump is the first conundrum to rattle Gideon Oliver when he arrives in Egypt. There to appear in a documentary film, he expects an undemanding week of movie star treatment and a luxurious cruise up the Nile with his wife, Julie. But when Gideon discovers a tantalizing secret in the discarded bones—and violence claims a famous Egyptologist’s life—he is thrust into a spotlight of a different kind. Plying his calipers as the world’s foremost forensic anthropologist, Gideon’s investigation of the goings‑on leads him through the back alleys and bazaars of Cairo and deep into the millennia‑old tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
As the puzzle is painstakingly pieced together, Gideon will find that the identifying traits of a cunning killer are the same now as they were in the time of the pyramids: greed without guilt, lies without conscience . . . and murder without remorse.
Dead Men’s Hearts is the 8th book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Aaron Elkins
Aaron Elkins’s mysteries and thrillers have earned him an Edgar, an Agatha, a Nero Wolfe Award, and a Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement Award. His nonfiction works have appeared in Smithsonian magazine, the New York Times magazine, and Writer’s Digest. A former anthropology professor, Elkins is known for starting the forensic-mystery genre with his 1982 novel, Fellowship of Fear. He currently serves as the anthropological consultant for the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force in Washington State. Elkins lives in Washington with his wife, Charlotte—his occasional collaborator—who is also an Agatha winner.
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Titles in the series (10)
Fellowship of Fear Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Murder in the Queen's Armes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Old Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Place Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Icy Clutches Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Curses! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Make No Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Men's Hearts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twenty Blue Devils Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skeleton Dance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Dead Men's Hearts
73 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"...DEAD MEN'S HEARTS is set in an unbeatable location for old bones and new skullduggery: the ruins of ancient Egypt."A promised role in a documentary film draws Gideon Oliver to Egypt's famed Valley of the Nile, where he expects an undemanding week of movie-star treatment plus a top-of-the-line cruise along the river with his wife, Julie."But a skeleton unexpectedly turns up in the garbage of the Egyptological institute where the filming starts. The bones, Gideon determines, are those of an anonymous Fifth Dynasty scribe who has been uneventfully gathering dust in a storeroom for seventy years. These venerable relics are cleaned, sorted, analyzed, and place back in storage with all due respect."Sifting through bones is nothing new for the man known as the Skeleton Detective, but wandering skeletons are out of the ordinary. So when the same remains inexplicably wind up in another/i> garbage heap a few days later -- days during which a staff member has died under highly suspicious circumstances -- Gideon hauls out his calipers for a second, longer look."What he discovers will send him and Julie through the bazaars and back alleys of modern Egypt and deep into the ancient Valley of the Kings. And as the puzzle is pieced together, Gideon will find that the identifying traits of a cunning killer are timeless: greed without guilt, lies without conscience ... and murder without remorse."~~front flapI don't think Aaron Elkins can write a bad book, but I didn't like this one as much as I did some of the others. The plot wasn't one I really enjoyed, although the cast of characters was as wonderful as always -- especially Clifford Haddon, the director of Horizon House, and one of the world's most pompous and excruciating bores. It's worth reading this book for the entertainment of this character alone.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I found this to be very slow going until the last forty pages or so. I also didn't find the main characters particularly engaging or believable. so-so.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I like this one - partly because Gideon screws up at the start and admits it later. Didn't excuse himself either, and he had a good one - he did say given "the fact that we're talking about a Fifth Dynasty Theban"...I remembered who (vaguely) but not why or how. And Gideon acts as somewhat an idiot - action hero - but it's still fun to read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Excellent Gideon Oliver mystery set in Egypt.
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Dead Men's Hearts - Aaron Elkins
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