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The genre of archaeological fiction is the vehicle through which
many people first get involved in archaeology. For others it is a
way to stay involved. If you're an armchair archaeologist or one
who has the bad knees from hours of kneeling with your bottom towards
the sky - if you're just getting involved in archaeology or have years
of experience - we think you will enjoy Bill Gresens' reviews of books
which highlight the realities and misconceptions of archaeology to take
the reader on a journey. And isn't that what archaeology is about
- taking a journey to the past, discovering lives that we can only dream
about, solving mysteries? We hope you enjoy our book reviews and
that they encourage you to take a journey filled with mystery and
adventure. Start your adventure by checking out one of the book
listed below. Enjoy! Do you have a book you would like to recommend?
Click here to
e-mail your recommendations or comments. Please include book
title, author, publisher, publication date and your comments. Share your favorite archaeology fiction book with us
today!
Meet MVAC's
Book Reviewer - Bill Gresens
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Bill pondering his next book review.
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Reviewer and son Nick at 3rd Century BC Elymean site in
western Sicily.
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Bill Gresens was the Grants & Contract Officer at the University of
Wisconsin-La Crosse for thirty some years before recently retiring. He
was also a member of the MVAC Board of Directors during its first 20+
years of existence. He hopes to spend much of his retirement life
working in the archaeology laboratory during the winter and doing field
work during the summers. He spends much more time than he should reading
fiction that uses archaeology as a theme or backdrop.
On a fairly erratic basis he will review the archaeology and
fiction books he’s recently read—including the good, the bad and the
truly atrocious.
Review Rating
With the October 2004 review, we began rating
the books on the basis of one to four trowels; one trowel= don’t
bother, to four trowels= run right out to your local book store and buy
the hard cover!
Latest Review - May 2013
Review Archive
| Author |
Title |
Rating |
Review Date |
| Ackroyd, Peter |
The Fall of Troy |
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May 2007 |
| Adams, Will |
The Alexander Cipher |
 |
September 2009 |
| Alcorn, Alfred |
Murder in the Museum
of Man |
|
October 2009 |
| Alexander, Tasha |
And Only to Deceive |
|
April 2009 |
| Arnold, Margot |
Exit Actors, Dying |
|
April 2002 |
| Arnold, Margot |
Zadok's Treasure |
|
July 2002 |
| Asensi, Matilde |
The Last Cato |
|
June 2006 |
| Baron, Aileen G. |
A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes |
|
May 2003 |
| Baron, Aileen G. |
The Torch of
Tangier |
|
January 2007 |
| Bass, Jefferson |
Carved in Bone |
|
April 2007 |
| Bennett, Janey |
The Pale Surface of Things |
|
August 2008 |
| Berlinski, Mischa |
Fieldwork |
|
January 2011 |
| Blaine, John |
The Golden Skull (for
young readers) |
|
December 2012 |
| Bonansinga, Jay |
Frozen |
|
January 2006 |
| Bresloff, Robert |
The Fifth Codex (for
young readers) |
|
May 2013 |
| Brokaw, Charles |
The Atlantis Code |
 |
July 2010 |
| Cameron, Dana |
Grave Consequences |
|
January 2003 |
| Cameron, Dana |
More Bitter Than Death |
|
May 2006 |
| Cameron, Dana |
Past Malice |
|
September 2003 |
| Cameron, Dana |
Site Unseen: An Emma
Fielding Mystery |
|
March 2002 |
| Cannon, Deborah |
The Raven's Pool |
|
February 2008 |
| Child, Lincoln |
The Third Gate |
|
February 2013 |
| Christie Mallowan, Agatha |
Come, Tell Me How You Live:
An Archaeological Memoir |
|
April 2013 |
| Christie, Agatha |
Murder in Mesopotamia |
|
July 2009 |
| Christopher, Paul |
The Lucifer Gospel |
|
November 2006 |
| Cleverly, Barbara |
A Darker God |
|
November 2010 |
| Cleverly, Barbara |
Bright Hair Above the Bone |
|
February 2009 |
| Cleverly, Barbara |
The Tomb of Zeus |
|
April 2008 |
| Connor, Beverly |
A Rumor of Bones |
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December 2006 |
| Connor, Beverly |
One Grave Less |
|
July 2011 |
| Connor, Beverly |
One Grave too Many |
|
February 2004 |
| Connor, Beverly |
Questionable Remains |
|
October 2008 |
| Coomer, Joe |
Beachcombing for a
Shipwrecked God |
|
November 2002 |
| Cooper, Glenn |
The Tenth Chamber |
|
July 2012 |
| Davidson, Lionel |
Menorah Men |
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February 2003 |
| Dawkins, Cecil |
Clay Dancers: A Mystery |
|
June 2005 |
| de Laguna, Frederica |
Fog on the Mountain |
|
February 2007 |
| Dietrich, William |
Napoleon's Pyramids |
|
August 2007 |
| Doran, T.M. |
Toward the Gleam |
|
June 2012 |
| Draine, Betsy and Michael Hinden |
Murder in Lascaux |
|
October 2012 |
| Dungan, Marilyn |
Fields of Stones |
|
November 2004 |
| Easterman, Daniel |
The Seventh Sanctuary |
|
May 2005 |
| Egeland, Tom |
The Guardians of the Covenant |
|
January 2012 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Dead Men's Hearts |
|
April 2005 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Good Blood |
|
March 2004 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Skeleton Dance |
|
December 2001 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Uneasy Relations |
|
December 2008 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Blood Pit |
|
January 2009 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Cadaver Game |
|
January 2013 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Flesh Tailor |
|
April 2011 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Jackal Man |
|
November 2011 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Merchant's House |
|
November 2003 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Plague Maiden |
|
September 2004 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Shining Skull |
|
November 2008 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Artifacts |
|
December 2003 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Effigies |
|
June 2007 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Findings |
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July 2008 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Floodgates |
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August 2009 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Plunder |
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May 2012 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Relics |
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August 2005 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Strangers |
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October 2010 |
| Frankos, Laura |
St. Oswald's Niche |
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January 2010 |
| Froese, Robert |
A Dark Music |
|
July 2007 |
| Gerritsen, Tess |
The Keepsake |
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August 2011 |
| Gibbins, David |
Crusader Gold |
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March 2008 |
| Gibson, E.C. |
The Nine Lords of the Night |
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August 2002 |
| Gibson, E.C. |
Nine Lords of the Night |
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June 2009 |
| Gold, Alan |
The Lost Testament |
|
June 2002 |
| Goshgarian, Gary |
The Stone Circle |
|
October 2004 |
| Gresens, Bill |
A Selected Bibliograhy
- updated July 2010 |
No rating |
July 2010 |
| Gresens, Bill |
Archaeology in Fiction;
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly |
No rating |
March 2005 |
| Gresens, Bill |
Youth Archaeology Book
Reviews |
No rating |
June 2005 |
| Griffiths, Elly |
A Room Full of Bones |
|
March 2013 |
| Griffiths, Elly |
The Crossing Places |
|
June 2010 |
| Griffiths, Elly |
The House at Sea's End |
|
September 2012 |
| Griffiths, Elly |
The Janus Stone |
|
September 2011 |
| Gresens, Bill |
Hamilton, Lyn |
No rating |
March 2010 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The African Quest: An
Archaeology Mystery |
|
March 2001 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Celtic Riddle |
|
July 2001 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Magyar Venus |
|
June 2004 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Moai Murders |
|
September 2005 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Orkney Scroll |
|
October 2006 |
| Hart, Erin |
Haunted Ground |
|
August 2003 |
| Hart, Erin |
Lake of Sorrows |
|
January 2005 |
| Hartley, A.J. |
The Mask of Atreus |
|
September 2006 |
| Hoesel, Don |
Elisha's Bones |
|
May 2011 |
| Holland, Tom |
The Sleeper in the Sands |
|
June 2003 |
| Jay, Charlotte |
Beat Not the Bones |
|
May 2001 |
| Joseph, Tom |
Song of the Tides |
|
December 2009 |
| Kearsley, Susanna |
The Shadowy Horses |
|
May 2002 |
| Knox, Tom |
The Genesis Secret |
|
November 2009 |
| Knox, Tom |
The Lost Goddess |
|
November 2012 |
| Land, Jon |
A Wall in the Darkness |
|
June 2001 |
| Lasky Knight, Kathryn |
Trace Elements |
|
June 2008 |
| Lehrer, Jim |
No Certain Rest |
|
September 2007 |
| Leston, Daniel |
The Amun Chamber |
|
August 2012 |
| Lewis, Roy |
Angel of Death |
|
February 2011 |
| Lewis, Roy |
Dead Secret |
|
January 2002 |
| Lewis, Roy |
The Cross Bearer |
|
February 2002 |
| Lewis, Roy |
The Shape-Shifter |
|
February 2005 |
| Linnea, S.L. |
Chasing Eden |
|
December 2007 |
| Little, Bentley |
The Return |
|
December 2002 |
| MacGregor, Rob |
Indiana Jones and the
Peril at Delphi |
|
March 2003 |
|
McNay Brumfield, James |
A Tourist in the Yucatan |
|
March 2007 |
| Meade, Glenn |
The Second Messiah |
|
February 2012 |
| Michaels, Barbara |
The Sea King's Daughter |
|
September 2008 |
| Michaels, Barbara |
Search the Shadows |
|
January 2008 |
| Morrison, Boyd |
The Ark |
|
October 2011 |
| Navarro, Julia |
The Bible of Clay |
|
May 2009 |
| Paine, Michael |
Cities of the Dead |
|
July 2003 |
| Peters, Elizabeth and Kristen Whitbread |
Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A
Compendium |
|
April 2004 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
A River in the Sky |
|
September 2010 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
Crocodile on the Sandbank |
|
January 2004 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
Guardian of the Horizon |
|
May 2004 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
The Jackal's Head |
|
October 2007 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
The Serpent on the Crown |
|
October 2005 |
| Pilgrim, Kitty |
The Explorer's Code |
|
April 2012 |
| Praetzellis, Adrian |
Death by Theory: A Tale of
Mystery and Archaeological Theory |
|
August 2002 |
| Preston, Douglas |
The Codex |
|
July 2005 |
| Preston, Douglas and Lincoln Child |
Thunderhead |
|
August 2006 |
| Rees, Dilwyn |
The Cambridge Murders |
|
April 2003 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Cross Bones |
|
November 2005 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Fatal Voyage |
|
September 2001 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Grave Secrets |
|
September 2002 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Monday Mourning |
|
August 2004 |
| Reilly, Matt |
Temple |
|
April 2001 |
| Rice, Anne |
The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned |
|
October 2003 |
| Riordan, Rick |
The Kane Chronicles,
Book One: The Red Pyramid (for young readers) |
|
December 2010 |
| Rollins, James |
Jake Ransom and the
Howling Sphinx (for young readers) |
|
December 2011 |
| Rollins, James |
Jake Ransom and the Skull
King's Shadow (for young readers) |
|
May 2010 |
| Sackett, Jeffrey |
Stolen Souls |
|
February 2006 |
| See, Lisa |
Dragon Bones |
|
March 2009 |
| Shuman, Malcolm |
Burial Ground |
|
October 2002 |
| Shuman, Malcolm |
The Last Mayan |
|
November 2001 |
| Shuman, Malcolm |
The Meriwether Murder |
|
November 2007 |
| Snyder, Gene |
Tomb Seven |
|
April 2006 |
| Sussman, Paul |
The Hidden Oasis |
|
July 2010 |
| Sussman, Paul |
The Last Secret of the
Temple |
|
May 2008 |
| Sussman, Paul |
The Lost Army of Cambyses |
|
December 2004 |
| Talbot, Michael |
The Bog |
|
March 2006 |
| Thurston, Carol |
The Eye of Horus |
|
October 2001 |
| Wadley, Margot |
The Gripping Beast |
|
March 2011 |
| Wisseman, Sarah |
Bound for Eternity |
|
December 2005 |
| Wisseman, Sarah |
The Dead Sea Codex |
|
July 2006 |
| Wisseman, Sarah |
The Fall of Augustus |
|
February 2010 |
| Wisseman, Sarah |
The House of the Sphinx |
|
June 2011 |
| Wood, David |
Cibola |
|
April 2010 |
| Wood, David |
Quest |
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March 2012 |
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