Hamilton, Lyn. The Chinese Alchemist. Lara McClintoch is an antiques dealer who becomes involved in a complicated series of events when a friend asks her to purchase a silver nesting box. Lara ends up in China when the box ,withdrawn from a New York auction, then appears for sale at a Beijing auction.
The contemporary story of the box is alternated with the story of the T'ang Dynasty Chinese alchemist and the eunuch who serves her. Lara's attempts to solve the theft of the box and the murder of a museum curator leave her curious about the woman to whom the boxes originally belonged.
I enjoyed this mystery and will look into the 10 or so others in this series of "archaeological mysteries."
Fiction. Mystery. 2007. 257 pages.
Archealogical mystery, eh? Sounds like a winner. I love the idea of mixing contemporary and past storylines in books anyway.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, this definately sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteSounds good, indeed.
ReplyDeleteCarl - I like that combination as well!
ReplyDeleteNicola - Not the best, but certainly not the worst mystery I've ever read. I enjoyed it enough to want to read a few more by the same author, but then, I like historical stuff and love the combination of a little history and mystery! And like Carl, I like the mixture of two story lines.
Booklogged - It was a fun, quick read!