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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 - February 2010
Review Archive
| Author |
Title |
Rating |
Review Date |
| Ackroyd, Peter |
The Fall of Troy |
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May 2007 |
| Adams, Will |
The Alexander Cipher |
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September 2009 |
| Alcorn, Alfred |
Murder in the Museum
of Man |
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October 2009 |
| Alexander, Tasha |
And Only to Deceive |
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April 2009 |
| Arnold, Margot |
Exit Actors, Dying |
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April 2002 |
| Arnold, Margot |
Zadok's Treasure |
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July 2002 |
| Asensi, Matilde |
The Last Cato |
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June 2006 |
| Baron, Aileen G. |
A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes |
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May 2003 |
| Baron, Aileen G. |
The Torch of
Tangier |
|
January 2007 |
| Bass, Jefferson |
Carved in Bone |
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April 2007 |
| Bennett, Janey |
The Pale Surface of Things |
|
August 2008 |
| Bonansinga, Jay |
Frozen |
|
January 2006 |
| Cameron, Dana |
Grave Consequences |
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January 2003 |
| Cameron, Dana |
Past Malice |
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September 2003 |
| Cameron, Dana |
More Bitter Than Death |
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May 2006 |
| Cameron, Dana |
Site Unseen: An Emma
Fielding Mystery |
|
March 2002 |
| Cannon, Deborah |
The Raven's Pool |
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February 2008 |
| Christie, Agatha |
Murder in Mesopotamia |
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July 2009 |
| Christopher, Paul |
The Lucifer Gospel |
|
November 2006 |
| Cleverly, Barbara |
Bright Hair Above the Bone |
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February 2009 |
| Cleverly, Barbara |
The Tomb of Zeus |
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April 2008 |
| Connor, Beverly |
One Grave too Many |
|
February 2004 |
| Connor, Beverly |
A Rumor of Bones |
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December 2006 |
| Connor, Beverly |
Questionable Remains |
|
October 2008 |
| Coomer, Joe |
Beachcombing for a
Shipwrecked God |
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November 2002 |
| Davidson, Lionel |
Menorah Men |
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February 2003 |
| Dawkins, Cecil |
Clay Dancers: A Mystery |
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June 2005 |
| de Laguna, Frederica |
Fog on the Mountain |
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February 2007 |
| Dietrich, William |
Napoleon's Pyramids |
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August 2007 |
| Dungan, Marilyn |
Fields of Stones |
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November 2004 |
| Easterman, Daniel |
The Seventh Sanctuary |
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May 2005 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Dead Men's Hearts |
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April 2005 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Good Blood |
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March 2004 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Skeleton Dance |
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December 2001 |
| Elkins, Aaron |
Uneasy Relations |
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December 2008 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Blood Pit |
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January 2009 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Merchant's House |
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November 2003 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Plague Maiden |
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September 2004 |
| Ellis, Kate |
The Shining Skull |
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November 2008 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Artifacts |
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December 2003 |
| Evans, Mary Anna |
Effigies |
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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 |
Relics |
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August 2005 |
| Frankos, Laura |
St. Oswald's Niche |
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January 2010 |
| Froese, Robert |
A Dark Music |
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July 2007 |
| 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 |
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June 2002 |
| Goshgarian, Gary |
The Stone Circle |
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October 2004 |
| 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 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The African Quest: An
Archaeology Mystery |
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March 2001 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Celtic Riddle |
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July 2001 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Magyar Venus |
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June 2004 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Moai Murders |
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September 2005 |
| Hamilton, Lyn |
The Orkney Scroll |
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October 2006 |
| Hart, Erin |
Haunted Ground |
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August 2003 |
| Hart, Erin |
Lake of Sorrows |
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January 2005 |
| Hartley, A.J. |
The Mask of Atreus |
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September 2006 |
| Holland, Tom |
The Sleeper in the Sands |
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June 2003 |
| Linnea, S.L. |
Chasing Eden |
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December 2007 |
| Jay, Charlotte |
Beat Not the Bones |
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May 2001 |
| Joseph, Tom |
Song of the Tides |
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December 2009 |
| Kearsley, Susanna |
The Shadowy Horses |
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May 2002 |
| Knox, Tom |
The Genesis Secret |
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November 2009 |
| Land, Jon |
A Wall in the Darkness |
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June 2001 |
| Lasky Knight, Kathryn |
Trace Elements |
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June 2008 |
| Lehrer, Jim |
No Certain Rest |
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September 2007 |
| Lewis, Roy |
The Cross Bearer |
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February 2002 |
| Lewis, Roy |
Dead Secret |
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January 2002 |
| Lewis, Roy |
The Shape-Shifter |
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February 2005 |
| Little, Bentley |
The Return |
|
December 2002 |
| MacGregor, Rob |
Indiana Jones and the
Peril at Delphi |
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March 2003 |
|
McNay Brumfield, James |
A Tourist in the Yucatan |
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March 2007 |
| Michaels, Barbara |
The Sea King's Daughter |
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September 2008 |
| Michaels, Barbara |
Search the Shadows |
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January 2008 |
| Navarro, Julia |
The Bible of Clay |
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May 2009 |
| Paine, Michael |
Cities of the Dead |
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July 2003 |
| Peters, Elizabeth and Kristen Whitbread |
Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A
Compendium |
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April 2004 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
Crocodile on the Sandbank |
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January 2004 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
Guardian of the Horizon |
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May 2004 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
The Jackal's Head |
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October 2007 |
| Peters, Elizabeth |
The Serpent on the Crown |
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October 2005 |
| 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 |
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April 2003 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Cross Bones |
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November 2005 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Fatal Voyage |
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September 2001 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Grave Secrets |
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September 2002 |
| Reichs, Kathy |
Monday Mourning |
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August 2004 |
| Reilly, Matt |
Temple |
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April 2001 |
| Rice, Anne |
The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned |
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October 2003 |
| Sackett, Jeffrey |
Stolen Souls |
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February 2006 |
| See, Lisa |
Dragon Bones |
|
March 2009 |
| Shuman, Malcolm |
Burial Ground |
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October 2002 |
| Shuman, Malcolm |
The Meriwether Murder |
|
November 2007 |
| Shuman, Malcolm |
The Last Mayan |
|
November 2001 |
| Snyder, Gene |
Tomb Seven |
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April 2006 |
| 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 |
| Wisseman, Sarah |
Bound for Eternity |
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December 2005 |
| Wisseman, Sarah |
The Dead Sea Codex |
|
July 2006 |
| Wisseman, Sarah |
The Fall of Augustus |
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February 2010 |
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