Burials: A Faye Longchamps Mystery

Evans’s enjoyable 10th Faye Longchamps mystery (after 2015’s Isolation) takes the archeologist and her husband, Joe Mantooth, from Florida to Oklahoma. Faye is doing a consulting gig for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, whose members plan to build a park on tribal land. As soon as she arrives at the site, someone fires gunshots in Faye’s vicinity. Digging uncovers the skeletal remains of archeologist Sophia Townsend, who was the leader of a team exploring the same site three decades earlier. Skull fractures suggest that she was hit with a blunt instrument. Faye and Joe get caught up in tribal police chief Roy Cloud’s subsequent murder investigation. Why was Sophia never reported missing? And where did the grave goods found with her remains come from? When the site claims another victim, the tension mounts. Evans sensitively explores the issue of how to balance respecting cultural heritage and gaining knowledge of the past through scientific research. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates (Mar.)