Judgment of the Grave. Sweeney St. George Mysteries (Volume 3) Sarah Stewart Taylor St. Martin's Press. As gravestone expert Sweeney St. George tours.
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Sarah Stewart Taylor's intricate and engaging follow-up to her acclaimed Agatha Award finalist debut, O'Artful Death, is an absorbing and suspenseful novel about love and family, secrets and lies-and murder. Judgment of the Grave. George has come looking for a different sort of history.
An expert on funerary art, she roams the local cemeteries, fascinated by the macabre carvings of a celebrated stonecutter and hero of the Revolution--a project that takes a strange turn when a man dressed in a uniform of is found murdered in the nearby woods. With police suspecting that the victim may be a missing Cambridge scholar who had been researching the very same historical figure as Sweeney, the investigation draws her in. Now, searching for clues in the weathered stone markers of the dearly departed, and with the help of a precocious twelve-year-old boy and Cambridge police detective Tim Quinn, Sweeney St.
George closes in on a year-old enigma--and a desperate killer without remorse. Art history professor Sweeney St. George is in the middle of putting together an exhibit on her specialty, "the art of death," for the university museum when she makes an unusual discovery: A valuable piece of Egyptian funerary jewelry that should be in the museum's collection seems to be missing. Searching for answers, Sweeney learns that a student intern at the museum was the last person to check out the piece, a young woman who died of an apparent suicide soon after she handled the piece, more than twenty-five years ago.
Going on with the exhibition without the intricately beaded Egyptian collar, Sweeney can't let it drop altogether. Nor can she forget the student, Karen Philips, who died just a few months after working with the piece. A little digging shows that Karen was working at the museum the night it was robbed, that same year, and Sweeney becomes even more curious. But her interest in mysteries past pales when a present-day murder brings Sweeney and her colleagues at the museum under the Cambridge Police Department spotlight in the person of Detective Tim Quinn, whom Sweeney has worked with before.
In the latest installment in this rich and fascinating series, Sweeney and Tim go after a killer, trying to resolve questions both immediate and decades-old before it's too late. Praise for Mansions of the Dead. Mansions of the Dead is agreeably tricked out with red herrings and jarring switches in mood: Just as readers settle in for an academic cozy, the atmosphere changes, and disaster that has the coarse feel of reality intrudes.
Praise for Judgment of the Grave. Praise for Still As Death. George mystery displays all the wit and charm of its predecessors. Unlike some other series leads, it's not just Sweeney's name that sets her apart: The mysteries are complex, intriguing and the author offers insight into the characters as perspective changes among the major characters in the book.
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While Sweeney does get involved in solving the mystery, she is usually brought in because of her expertise. She is not TSTL, but she does have her moments when she will act a bit recklessly. She does need help with her love life, however. She seems to be a commitment-phobe. She waffles about how she feels about him, but uses him at times. Sep 15, Cooper rated it really liked it. There was a lot going on with this story, but it all came together in the end. This is my first book in the series this is book 3 in the series and I found the characters to be interesting, complex, and flawed.
The storyline and mystery definitely kept me guessing and as a good mystery should, had me thinking at one time or another that everyone could be the murderer. George is a Harvard art history professor who has come to Concord, MA to research eighteenth-century headstones. Be There was a lot going on with this story, but it all came together in the end. Being one who loves to explore historic cemeteries, reading about the stonecutters who created these headstones feed right into my obsession.
The only issue that stood our for me on the, 'what?? Now, I haven't been into many precincts, but I just found that odd and not sure why Ms. Did it bother me enough that it took me out of the story, no.
Judgment of the Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor
I just found it a little bizarre. Good story, good mystery, good characters. Looking forward to catching up on all the Sweeney St. Nov 03, Larraine rated it it was amazing. I've fallen in love with this short lived series and have two more to read. This is such an interesting and literate series of books. I guess I can understand why it apparently didn't do well. The author is now writing childrens' books. So unless she lost interest in the series, I can only assume that it didn't sell well.
That's too bad because a reader can learn a lot.
George is an art historian whose specialty is grave stones. She is in Concorde researching Josiah Whiting whose gra I've fallen in love with this short lived series and have two more to read. She is in Concorde researching Josiah Whiting whose grave stones were very artistic and much more unusual than a lot of his contemporaries. When the body of one of the re-enactors is found, it is apparently the body of a professor and historian who was researching the same person as Sweeney but from a totally different angle.
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Then it turns out it's NOT his body, but someone else. The book features Detective Quinn whose wife committed suicide leaving him with an infant daughter. Soon Sweeney finds herself embroiled in the investigation. It's a fascinating story with a lot of rich detail. It's really too bad that it had to end. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Although this started out well, it was ultimately kind of irritating. If a book is supposed to be more or less realistic fiction, I expect it to follow normal rules. Since when do policemen take babies with them on assignment? And I was very bothered by the murderer's confession.
A confession extracted at gunpoint would not have been admissible in court, and there didn't really seem any reason for said murderer to suddenly tell all--no evidence. The whole thing just seemed far-fetched. Then ther Although this started out well, it was ultimately kind of irritating. Then there were way too many subplots that never came to anything. Why spend so much time on Sweeney's various strange relationships? And the historical mystery, which is what originally attracted me to the book, turned out not to have any bearing on anything. I liked Sweeney as a character and there was some good potential here, but just too many disjointed parts.
Feb 25, Terry rated it liked it Shelves: George's latest adventure finds her in historic Concord, Massachusetts, investigating a confusing and grisly murder. But when her sleuthing c Sweeney St. Mar 29, Jenn Estepp rated it liked it Shelves: George is a taphophile someone that enjoys cemeteries and this book highlighted the lore and the background of one of the premier stone cutters of the s. Other than that, it's one of those "boilerplate" mysteries that was really good, but a little too "off track" for me in other words there was some stuff they could've left out and it still would've been good but a great read.
Nov 03, P. An enjoyable blend of historical mystery combined with contemporary mystery. I particularly relished the depiction of Sweeney St. George and her relationships with the various men in this book; sometimes it's difficult to remember, at least in fiction, that one woman can have many men in her life and not be sure at any given time which man is "right" for her.
I'll be looking for others in this series. May 04, Becky Rippel rated it really liked it Shelves: Number 3 in the series of Sweeney St. George, gravestone expert and Harvard art historian. I had a friend who wrote her master's thesis on gravestone history and I find the subject very interesting! Sweeney has come to Concord, MA to study the works of an 18th century stonecutter. In a Revolutionary War area of a cemetery, she meets Pres Whiting a young boy who tells her about a reenactment taking place nearby. On their way out, they find a body in a Revolutionary War uniform.
Sweeney St. George Series
Mar 16, Mark Baker rated it really liked it Shelves: Sweeney's interest in grave art leads her to Josiah Whiting, a gravestone carver from the Revolutionary War. But a researcher who was looking into Josiah goes missing. What could Josiah's secret be?
Another good story with characters I like. Well, most of them anyway. I still haven't warmed up to Tim Quinn. Read my full review at Carstairs Considers. Jul 03, Sandy rated it really liked it Shelves: