Digging Up Death by Triss Stein
(Worldwide, $4.99, NV) ISBN 0-373-26310-4
***
Reporter Kay Engels is back in New York City after that high school reunion which turned out to be quite a bit more exciting than she had planned (Murder at the Class Reunion). Continuing a long distance relationship with an old friend turned lover is making independent Kay more than a bit nervous about how much she has come to care about this new man in her life. Added to that, Kay is having doubts about her career. Once it was her dream job, but now Kay is disenchanted with life as a reporter. Plans to chuck it all in and move back to her home town to write a book (and be with Tony ?) are beginning to take firm shape.

Then Kay visits old friend Vera Contas at her archeological dig, a building site located – of all the unlikely places – just off Wall Street. The two friends are shocked to find the body of one of the construction workers at the site, and though his death appears to be an accident, it seems to be the most recent in a series of troubles plaguing the dig.

Vera is sure that the site is going to be an important one, but vandalism and personal attacks seem aimed at scaring her off before she finds anything. She enlists Kay's help to discover what is going on. Kay does her best to get to the bottom of the situation, but she is distracted by a personal mystery of her own: finding her birth mother after only recently having learned of her existence.

This is a pleasant story, though not particularly compelling. The characters are fresh and likeable and I particularly enjoyed the setting, the site and the archeological details. In fact, I wish the mystery had incorporated this aspect more. The conclusion of the story is suspenseful, but nagging doubts about the logic (or perhaps the likelihood) of the villains' actions made it a bit hard to suspend disbelief.

--Jeri Wright


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