‘The Bone Vault’ by Linda Fairstein

Published by Little Brown,
16 January 2003.
ISBN: 978-0-316-86003-4 (HB)

At a glittering reception hosted by Pierre Thibodaux, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to announce a cooperative exhibition with the American Museum of Natural History, the discovery of a perfectly preserved corpse in an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus sets DA Alex Cooper and NYPD’s Mike Chapman on a bizarre investigation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  For the body is identified as that of Karina Grooten, a young, shy, studious researcher from South Africa. Although preserved, evidence suggests that the victim has been dead for some months and the method of the killing appears to be arsenic poising.

With a staff of more than 3000 at the gallery, Mike Chapman is keen to trace the movement of the sarcophagus, but this proves to me a momentous task, as Pierre Thibodaux explains. Objects are constantly on the move and the gallery has more than three million objects and works of art, of which at any given time the most that is ever on display is less than 10%of that number. 

The descriptions of the mechanics of the gallery are enthralling, and as Alex and Mike delve into the workings of it they uncover several skeletons, such as the existence of private vaults which no one owns to know about. Not even  how many exist, or their exact locations in the vast area the gallery covers. Discussions with Katrina’s immediate colleagues Erik Poste and Anna Fredrichs reveal that arsenic is used in their work. Interspersed with the main investigation are the ongoing cases that Alex is handling, and as in her earlier books provide fascinating reading.

There are also interesting shifts in the relationship between Alex and Mike which now spans an eight year period. During that time they have developed a deep friendship and come to respect and rely on each other, but both have had relationships with other people. Could they be viewing each other differently now?

On every level this is a stunning book, and one I heartily recommend.
------
Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Linda Fairstein was born 5 May 1947 in New York. She was educated at Vassar College, University of Virginia School of Law. She was chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the district attorney's office in Manhattan for more than two decades and is America's foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.

www.lindafairstein.com