Paleontology student Scott Grady has gone missing, and small-time P.I. Ben Tripp is hired to pick up his trail. It doesn't take long to dig up the man's bones, but Tripp has his work cut out for him when someone tries to kill the professor who hired him. In the world of academia, Tripp eventually finds the killer--and the mother lode of motives.
A great read! I would have finished it sooner but school caught up with me, or rather I had to catch up with school. A good and proper mystery novel in my opinion; I will admit I was starting to get nervous because I was on page 223 out of 250 and the plot looked nowhere near as resolved as I thought. I had to cover whatever I hadn't read yet because my eyes kept wanting to jump down and spoil it for myself. Luckily that didn't happen, and I was pleasantly surprised that it actually ended in a satisfying manner and had a good ending that wrapped itself up nice and neatly. I thoroughly enjoyed the book being set in Montana; I've never been but now I'm intrigued enough to want to go
A retired news reporter who is now an occasional detective agrees to determine the cause of the disappearance of a graduate student. Police are uninterested because there is no sign of foul play. A stalker complicates the problem. Nice touch of dinosaur digs, friendly horses, and romance for the detective. Good book for college age and above -- especially for those with a scientific bent.
Good mystery story from start to finish about who killed Scott and why. You weren't entirely sure of the motive and who did it until the very end which is the way all true mysteries should be
Enjoyed the book immensely. Kept you hopping through the whole thing. Nice plot twists and turns. I would definitely recommend this one for an enjoyable afternoon read.
This was pretty good, although I had trouble following the chain of events as the murderer was explaining everything at the dénouement. What I did find terribly distracting—well, all right: not terribly distracting, but intermittently annoying—was that it seemed every sound came in color. “Meadowlarks […] dropped tones of orange and red into the brown morning silence […]” “High and far away: a shrill-pitched, almost reddish sound, a quick shriek into the stillness. Then insects. Flies and bees droning, a soft yellow liquid sound that seemed to fill up all the cracks of quiet. Then the faint bluish rush of trees catching and turning small breezes in their boughs.” Paxson must be a synesthete, and I suppose I should just be grateful there wasn’t even more evidence of it floating around.
Ben Tripp, former journalist, has left the hustle and bustle for the backwoods of western Montana. As a small time investigato, he is asked by Kathy Sullivan to look for a friend and university student who has disappeared. One learns a little bit about geology and paleontology. The ugly part which makes for the story is the political world of ivy tower. And the reminder that our lives are bound up in the electron bytes of the server. Enjoyed the book. Light read.
Clearly written before mobile phones became ubiquitous & the hero is a Vietnam vet - which also seems like ancient history to me; maybe less so if you're North American. I never quite bought into the set-up or felt involved in any of the developments.