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Summary
Summary
Never published in the U.S. before, Skulduggery introduces Dr. Ellen Christie, an anthropologist who knows San Francisco can be a dangerous city, yet she admits a frightened stranger into her apartment. He brings a report of a treasure and involves her in a desperate hunt that leads through the darkest byways of Chinatown. Ellen dives into the chase and isn't certain of her own motives. Does she want to help Jimmy and his brother Dan? Or is she playing them along to advance her own career? And what are those feelings she has for Dan?
Author Notes
Carolyn G. Hart is the author of eight award-winning Death on Demand mysteries and four Henrie O mysteries. The first writer to win all three major mystery awards--the Agatha, the Anthony, and the Macavity--for her novels, Hart is the former president of the organization Sisters in Crime.
Hart's first novel in her mystery series, entitled Death on Demand, focuses on prime murder suspect Annie Laurance Darling and her attempt to clear her tarnished name. Some of the other novels in the series include Something Wicked, winner of the Agatha Award in 1988 and the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original in 1989, Design for Murder, and Honeymoon with Murder, which won the Anthony Award in 1990. Letter From Home also won the Agatha Award for Best Novel in 2003.
Her latest novel is entitled, The Devereaux Legacy. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hart (Dead by Midnight) combines a treasure hunt with a tribute to San Francisco's Chinatown of the early 1980s in this diverting reissue of a 2000 title. Physical anthropologist Dr. Ellen Christie answers a knock at her door one evening to find Jimmy Lee, a young Chinese man with an unexpected request. Taking her to a basement room in Chinatown, Jimmy shows Ellen an oddly shaped skull that she identifies as belonging to the "Peking Man" fossil group. Jimmy's happiness at the prospect of making a hefty profit from his rare discovery is interrupted by the arrival of two thugs, and in the ensuing scuffle both he and Peking Man disappear. With help from Jimmy's brother Dan, Ellen attempts to retrace his last few days and figure out where he could have happened upon such an unusual find. During their search, Ellen comes to understand the intermingled hardship and beauty of life in Chinatown. Hart's tale deftly blends thrills with more thoughtful moments. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
This early novel from the author of the much admired Annie Laurance and Henrie O series, first published in Britain in 1984, stars San Francisco physical anthropologist Dr. Ellen Christie, whose romantic dinner plans are interrupted when young Jimmy Lee bursts in, empties his backpack, and asks her to assess some aged bone fragments. Ellen recognizes them immediately as belonging to Peking Man, an archeological treasure that disappeared from China at the end of WWII. Eager to snare the cache of bones for her museum, Ellen accompanies Jimmy to his Chinatown home, where his sexy lawyer brother Dan appears just in advance of two thugs. Jimmy takes off with the bones, one step ahead of the goons, and the chase is on. When Ellen and Dan retrace Jimmy's movements of the past two days, they encounter Miss Chow, who originally brought the bones from the east, and Wilkie Lee, owner of the upscale Middle Kingdom Gallery, who decided to steal them rather than buy them from Jimmy. There'll be time for a spot of torture, the Chinese New Year's Day parade, and a break-in at City Hall before Jimmy and the bones are safe, and Ellen and Dan are making romantic dinner plans of their own. A finely detailed examination of squalid living conditions for the poor and aged in Chinatown, and of hostile Chinese/Japanese relations pre- and post-war, is undercut by flat and repetitive writing. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Feline-loving mystery fans will find much to enjoy among these 12 tales, 9 of which have never been published. Fans of Carole Nelson Douglas' Midnight Louie series will appreciate "Sax and the Single Cat" in which Socks, the presidential cat, goes missing, and Midnight Louie, Douglas' feline protagonist, is called upon to find him. Readers who love cats but don't think they should talk will be relieved to find Nancy Pickard's "Dr. Couch Saves a Cat." In this charming tale, a retired veterinarian tells his 10-year-old granddaughter a story set during World War II in which cats play a big role in solving a mystery. Another clever story without talking cats is "The Maggody Files: Hillbilly Cat" by Joan Hess, author of the popular series set in Maggody, Arkansas, and starring police chief Arly Hanks. Here Arly must figure out why the nephew of two elderly citizens wants to force them out of their home--and away from their beloved old tomcat, Eppy. A collection varied enough to suit finicky readers. --Jenny McLarin
Library Journal Review
Ellen Christie, a museum anthropologist, leads a ho-hum life in 1980s San Francisco. Recently, however, a newspaper article profiling her as "the bone lady" attracts a young Chinese American man named Jimmy. He believes that he's come into possession of the Peking Man (rare fossils that have been missing since the start of World War II). All anthropologists dream of treasure hunts, and Ellen throws caution to the winds. Needless to say, bad guys want those bones too, and the duo immediately runs into trouble. Soon Jimmy's lawyer brother Dan is helping them navigate the back alleys of Chinatown and Ellen finds she is thinking about more than bones as she gets to know Dan. VERDICT Hart's (Death Comes Silently; What the Cat Saw) light romantic suspense stand-alone is thickened with just enough espionage and intrigue to keep readers guessing. Additionally, the award-winning Hart provides a superb new introduction to this title that was originally published in 2000. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.