Razing the Dead (Museum Mystery Series #5)

Razing The Dead is the fifth book I the A Museum Mystery series. Connolly does another wonderful job of story telling in this book. Once again Connolly skillfully blends current events and a little of the local areas history, to give the reader a very interesting mystery. Nell Pratt has been approached by Michael Wakeman, a real estate developer, to look into the history of a tract of land that he has purchased and wants to develop. The land is near the site where Duffy's Cut had taken place. This is a site where over thirty Iriah immigrants had been found buried to cover up their death by the company they were working for. Wakeman doesn't want something similar to come up with his tract of land. Nell hires an intern, Lissa Penrose, to pour threw the archives to learn the background of the land. But first on the agenda, is a trip with Wakefield and Lissa to visually get a feel for the land and surrounding area. As they are about to leave, the body of George Bowen is found floating in a pond. Bowen, a township employee, had suffered a blow to the head. Wakefield, not feeling confident that the local police can solve the murder quick enough, he makes some calls and get the FBI involved. Of course, James, Nell's boyfriend is assigned to case. Soon the bones of two humans are found buried near where Bowen was found. Who were they and how long have they been buried only adds to. Most all of the characters from the previous books are back. Eric continues to show his value to Nell, efficiently handling the administrative duties. Marty is back to provide Nell with some additional history of the area. In addition to Lissa, another new character is added, that being Ben Hartley. Hartly, a military veteran, is recovering from an automobile accident that has left him paralyzed. He is learning to cope with his disability and should be an interesting character in future books. As always, I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Sheila Connolly consistently writes an excellent book. They always contain all of the qualities that I enjoy anyway --- mystery, romance, interesting plot-line. Keep them coming. Highly recommended - give her a try.

Mystery wasn't hard to solve, but the book was a fun read.

This has to be the most politically correct of the series -- I'm not sure I'm going to read another. Unmarried couple having sex? Check; planning to live together without marriage? Check; encouraging a friend to do the same? Check; Developer planning on destroying hundreds year old farm but doing it 'sensitively'? Check. Handicapped employee? Check. The book summary should have said: couple stresses for seemingly chapters on end about where they are going to shack up . . . and by the way there's a murder too.

Good geneology mystery but who killed george is cop out. Too much about james and nell and not enough mystery.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It reminded me of the TV series "Bones" because of Nell's position with the Historical Society and with how they use history to study things. I also enjoyed reading about how one has to be so careful of what one might unearth back in the east, where battles took place so long ago. I have never been much interested in history but when I travel to the eastern states and realize there is so much that went on there to shape our country, I find in much more intriguing! Thanks for writing a fun, cozy mystery that brings all of that together!

This is a nice continuation of the series and a good blend of history and mystery. I was so pleased to see the introduction of some new characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

However doubt if a whoke farm buy would mean too much not like a lot in town realky like my mysteries to keep on one level several went downhill upon marriage and children sonme managed to stay same age forty years after