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The Bone Vault (2003)

The Bone Vault (2003)

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Genre
Rating
3.85 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0743436679 (ISBN13: 9780743436670)
Language
English
Publisher
pocket star books

About book The Bone Vault (2003)

THIS SUMMARY/REVIEW WAS COPIED FROM OTHER SOURCES AND IS USED ONLY AS A REMINDER OF WHAT THE BOOK WAS ABOUT FOR MY PERSONAL INTEREST. ANY PERSONAL NOTATIONS ARE FOR MY RECOLLECTION ONLYPersonal note-- to much history for me...but going w/3 starsThe Bone Vault begins in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's glorious Temple of Dendur, where wealthy donors have gathered to celebrate a controversial new exhibit. An uneasy mix of scholarship, showbiz, and aggressive marketing, "A Modern Bestiary" will be a joint venture of the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. With its IMAX time trips and Rembrandt refrigerator magnets, the "Bestiary" has raised fierce opposition from some of New York's museum elite. Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper, off duty for the evening, observes the developing tensions with bemused interest until Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside. He needs her advice. There's an urgent problem out at a loading dock on a New Jersey pier. A Twelfth Dynasty mummified princess, enclosed for eternity in a huge stone sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a woman many centuries younger than her royal predecessor. Who is this woman with the small physique, the dark hair, and the shiny barrette? What is her connection, if any, to the rarefied world of priceless art and objects? And how and when did she become entombed in the sarcophagus? Teaming with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must explore behind the scenes at the elegant but severe Metropolitan, travel uptown to the remote setting of the Cloisters and its medieval trove of funerary art, and on to the massive array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.(less)

Synopsis: Following the critically acclaimed and top ten Best Seller The Deadhouse, Linda Fairstein now takes us behind the scenes of some of New York's magnificent and mysterious institutions in her most electrifying Alexandra Cooper thriller yet. The Bone Vault begins in the glorious Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where wealthy donors have gathered to hear plans for a controversial new exhibit. An uneasy mix of scholarship and showbiz. The exhibition has raised fierce opposition from some of the museum's elite: IMAX time trips and Rembrandt refrigerator magnets have no place for them at the Met. Assistant DA Alex Cooper, off duty for the evening, observes the proceedings with bemused interest until the Met director suddenly pulls her aside: the body of a young researcher has been found in an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus. Teaming up with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must penetrate the silent sentinels comprising New York's museum society, investigating not only at the Met but also at the Museum of Natural History and the Cloisters, to find a killer. Atmospheric, chilling, and shot through with procedural authenticity. **Review** I can honestly say that I pick up these books, not just for the mystery or who the killer is this time around, but what historic landmark in NYC will be used for the sight of their next investigation. NYC's history is amazing, and Fairstein's character Chapman, does an excellent job in his story telling ability. This time, of course, it's the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. Then again, Fairstein spent 20 years working in the DA's office so she has a unique ability to keep the reader interested throughout the book.

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This book was pretty good, good enough to keep me wanting to read further anyway. The dialogue was snappy and full of cop lingo, maybe too much in fact. It came off sounding forced at times (do people really talk that way?). What really brought this book down for me was first of all the characterizations: I never really got a feel for any of the characters, and in fact I still can't tell two of them apart (Mike and Mercer). The narrator didn't have a very distinct voice and never really seemed to be a part of the story at all, but was much more of an observer.Secondly, I felt cheated when the real reason behind the murder was revealed: It was like it came way out of left field and even after all the explanations, I am still not convinced it was a motive for murder.Third, there were too many extraneous story lines that had nothing to do with the plot. The whole aside about September 11th, the other cases, and even the rape were completely unnecessary to the overall plot, and distracting because I kept trying to figure out what the connection would be.And finally, there was just simply too much preaching and exposition on the evils of white man, etc. Clearly a well-researched book, though, with lots of interesting bits of information, and as I said the basic plot and the dialogue were enough to keep me interested throughout.
—Swissmiss

The Bone Vault is another great book in the Alexandra Cooper series. As is typical for Linda Fairstein books, this was an intense, absorbing mystery involving prosecuter Alexandra Cooper and her detective colleagues, Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace. An ancient sarcophagus being transported from the Metropolitan Museum of Art is discovered to contain a murder victim whose demise was sometime in the last several months. Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper is in a position to immediately become involved in the investigation along with her cohorts Mike and Wallace. The victim, whose autopsy indicates death by arsenic poisoning, was a former intern at the Met and was helping to plan a joint exhibition with the Museum of Natural History. Alexandra, Mike, and Wallace delve into the world of funerary art and the curiosities of natural history as they try to solve the murder. Both museums are found to keep large quantities of arsenic for restoration purposes. Several department heads and employees of the two museums are called upon to give information during the investigation, and Alexandra and her team must determine which of these would have had motive to end the life of the victim.I always enjoy the Alexandra Cooper novels, and this one lived up to my expectations. As usual, I particularly enjoyed the interaction between Alexandra and detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace. I look forward to reading the next book in this crime fiction series.
—Christa

#5 in the Alexandra Cooper series.NYC ADA Alexandra Cooper series - "Coop" is an attractive workaholic in her 30s, ambivalent about her current relationship with an always-on-the-road NBC correspondent. While she's attending a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, new Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside and asks for help with a recent crisis: a customs security dog found that a Met sarcophagus ready for shipment back to Cairo contained the corpse of a young female researcher from the Cloisters, the Met's medieval branch. Coop calls her usual NYPD sidekick detectives, brash Mike Chapman and burly Mercer Wallace, and the trio sets out to search among the museum's bookish staff and rich benefactors for a killer with a motive. In the meantime, Coop and Chapman, who should be a couple but don't know it yet, lecture one another on ancient history and contemporary law, and place bets on Jeopardy questions.
—Ed

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