| When Haskell Maloney takes her premarital blood test, she finds out that she is a carrier of the Tay Sachs gene. Since neither her late mother nor the late soldier whom she always thought was her father carried this gene, she questions her true parentage. This quest leads Haskell to break off her engagement and travel to Chicago, where her mother studied at the Oriental Institute.
Luckily, Haskell studied Egyptology as her undergraduate major, so she has an excuse to pursue employment where her mother's life existed prior to her birth. She accepts an unpaid clerical job in the private collection of Victor Nazarian and carries on her investigation among former friends of her mother. As it becomes clear that her mother was murdered, Haskell finds herself running for her life, hoping to solve the mystery of her parentage and her mother's death before it is too late. The author's background in Egyptology and archaeology help to create vivid descriptions of various artifacts and incidents in Oriental scholarship. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 30% Misc. Murder Plotlets - solving long-past murder Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 % Crime Thriller Yes Crime plotlets: Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - revenge How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting United States Yes The US: - Midwest City? Yes City: - Chicago Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing A lot of techno jargon? Yes Kind of jargon? - archaeology Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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