Skeleton Crew: A Lindsay Chamberland Mystery [Hardcover]

Lindsay Chamberlain, an archeologist from the University of Georgia, is called to help excavate the site believed site of the ship. They are excavating on the ocean floor inside one of the largest cofferdams ever built for archeology. A cofferdam is a round structure that keeps the ocean out of the excavation area.

Francisco Lewis ("Lewis") is the new head of the Division of Anthropology and Archeology at the University of Georgia. John West is a Native American and friend of Lindsay Chamberlain. His construction company designed and built the cofferdam.

A diary is discovered that is believed to belong to one of the passengers that survived to tell of the ship's voyage and destruction. Harper is translating the diary while the excavation is ongoing. As they discover skeletons in the shipwreck, Lindsay uses the translated diary to help identify each skeleton. She draws what she believes the person would have looked like from studying the skull.

Various accidents as well as 2 murders plague the archaeology project. Only a few select crew members are aware that they are also searching for a possible 2nd ship that was supposed to have sunk in this same area full of treasure. They especially have to try to keep this information from modern-day "pirates" also
searching the waters.

There is lots of tension between the archeologists and the biologists who were on the neighboring island and have been displaced due to this project.

Lewis asks Lindsay to help solve the murders so that the project won't be jeopardized.

I enjoyed this book. I've never read an archeological mystery before so I learned alot about archeology along with enjoying the mystery.

I found the charactes to be likeable and very real. Many times I felt as if I was there with them.

I look forward to reading additional books in this series.

I hope that Beverly Connor has more Lindsay stories to tell and that her publisher has the foresight to print and release them!

Still lighter in touch than Cornwell's Dr. Scarpetta, Connor's skeleton detective has a number of serious adventures, a spectacular hurricane danger, and many osteological discoveries recreating the lives of the departed. These are stories of character and Southern customs, as well as leisurely unfolding mysteries. It is wonderful to see Connors becoming a skilled writer. Her villains are still a bit obvious, but then again they are often red herrings! I am also so glad Lindsay has dropped her fading beau of the first three novels, Derrick. Their relationship was becoming an annoying distraction, a romance cliche, dysfunctional, and detracting from the image of Lindsay as an intelligent independent woman. Instead we now find Lindsay growing a mature relationship with a Native American antagonist from a previous book, and it is a real contribution to the development of the plot and our interest in these characters. In addition, Lindsay has a new boss--hopefully to become a series character--who adds his slightly devious and moneyed machinations to help speed the plot along. All in all these books are ever more fascinating reading.