|
THE ORKNEY SCROLL
By: Lyn Hamilton
Berkley Publishing Group: New York
2006 (hc)
As has become the case with a number of authors I have
reviewed, the publication of a new Lyn Hamilton “Archaeological Mystery” is
almost like a visit from an old friend. In this, her tenth Lara McClintoch
novel, Hamilton seems to have reached new heights of excellence. She
maintains those elements of her earlier works that work very well—an
engaging protagonist with a sense of humor and a sense of self that for the
most part steers clear of irritating personal “issues,” and an artist’s eye
when it comes to describing exotic lands and locales. In this newest entry
she spins a wonderfully complex murder mystery deftly wrapped within the
lore and legends of Orkney, a group of tiny islands off the northeast coast
of Scotland, whose prehistory dates back some 5,000 years and features some
of the oldest monuments in Europe.
The story begins in typically low-key Lyn Hamilton
fashion with an informal soiree for some of Toronto’s elite and experts in
the world of antique trade—including Lara McClintoch. They are gathered to
celebrate the acquisition by a prominent local lawyer of an extremely
valuable 19th Century writing table—valued at well over $1
million. Lara has verified its provenance and Trevor Wylie, an antiques
dealer has closed the deal. To everyone’s consternation, Blair Baldwin, the
buyer, suddenly turns on Lara and Trevor, accusing them of foisting a fake
upon him and destroying the Mackintosh table with an axe. Later that same
evening Trevor Wylie is found dead, with an axe buried in his skull!
While Baldwin is clearly the Toronto police favorite
suspect, Lara mourns the death of her colleague and agonizes over the stain
upon her reputation for she had verified the genuineness of the desk and
further investigation of the table following the death of Wylie showed that
the table was indeed a fake. Following a trail of invoices and other
documents, Lara traces the desk to Orkney and discovers an even more
mysterious trail that links antique furniture, the thousand-year-old
journeys of a Viking adventurer known in the Orkneyinga Saga as
Bjarni the Wanderer, and the Arthurian legends of the Fisher King and the
search for the Holy Grail. Lyn Hamilton unfolds this wonderfully complex
mystery while teaching the reader much about the spare beauty of Orkney, the
prehistoric treasures of those tiny islands and the charm and humanity of
its inhabitants.
As has been the case with a number of earlier Lara
McClintoch mysteries, I find myself adding Orkney to the list of places I
must visit in the not too distant future—all because of Lyn Hamilton’s
ability to make a distant land too magical to miss.
The Orkney Scroll easily deserves four trowels!
Back to Review Page
|
