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Faye Longchamp #7
Plunder
2012 - Florida Book Award Bronze Medal Winner for General Fiction
2012 - Florida Book Award Bronze Medal Winner for Popular Fiction
"Details of archaeology, pirate lore, and voodoo complement the strong, sympathetic characters, especially Amande, and the appealing portrait of Faye's family life." —Booklist
Faye Longchamp and her Native American husband Joe Wolf Mantooth are working near the mouth of the Mississippi, researching archaeological sites soon to be flooded by oil. The Deepwater Horizon disaster has morphed her run-of-the-mill contract job into a task that might swamp her fledgling consulting business.
Then her injured babysitter leaves Faye to work with a toddler underfoot. Thankfully, Amande, a bright and curious teen lives nearby with her eccentric grandmother. But when the girl's grandmother and her no-account uncle are murdered, Amande's prospects worsen. The girl has but two known relatives, both battling over her small inheritance: a raggedy houseboat, a few shares of stock, and a hurricane-battered island that's not even inhabitable.
Pirate-era silver coins are found and disappear. A murderer is on the loose, and as the oil slick looms, Faye can see that Louisiana is still being plundered....
6 pages, Audio Cassette
First published March 1, 2012
65 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
About the author
Mary Anna Evans
36 books458 followersMary Anna Evans is an award-winning author, a writing professor, and she holds degrees in physics and engineering, a background that, as it turns out, is ideal for writing her new book, The Physicists' Daughter. Set in WWII-era New Orleans, The Physicists' Daughter introduces Justine Byrne, whom Mary Anna describes as "a little bit Rosie-the-Riveter and a little bit Bletchley Park codebreaker."
When Justine, the daughter of two physicists who taught her things girls weren't expected to know in 1944, realizes that her boss isn't telling her the truth about the work she does in her factory job, she draws on the legacy of her unconventional upbringing to keep her division running and protect her coworkers, her country, and herself from a war that is suddenly very close to home.
Her crime fiction has earned recognition that includes the Oklahoma Book Award, the Will Rogers Medallion Awards Gold Medal, the Mississippi Author Award, a spot on Voice of Young America’s (VOYA) list of “Adult Mysteries with Young Adult Appeal,” a writer’s residency from The Studios of Key West, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Florida Historical Society’s Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals.
In addition to writing crime fiction, she writes about crime fiction, as evidenced by the upcoming Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie, which she coedited with J.D Bernthal.
For the incurably curious, Mary Anna’s first published work, her master’s thesis, was entitled A Modeling Study of the NH3-NO-O2 Reaction Under the Operating Conditions of a Fluidized Bed Combustor. Like her mysteries, it was a factually based page-turner but, no, it’s not available online.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryAnnaEvan...
Twitter: @maryannaevans
Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/maryannaevans/
BookBub: @maryannaevans
When Justine, the daughter of two physicists who taught her things girls weren't expected to know in 1944, realizes that her boss isn't telling her the truth about the work she does in her factory job, she draws on the legacy of her unconventional upbringing to keep her division running and protect her coworkers, her country, and herself from a war that is suddenly very close to home.
Her crime fiction has earned recognition that includes the Oklahoma Book Award, the Will Rogers Medallion Awards Gold Medal, the Mississippi Author Award, a spot on Voice of Young America’s (VOYA) list of “Adult Mysteries with Young Adult Appeal,” a writer’s residency from The Studios of Key West, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Florida Historical Society’s Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals.
In addition to writing crime fiction, she writes about crime fiction, as evidenced by the upcoming Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie, which she coedited with J.D Bernthal.
For the incurably curious, Mary Anna’s first published work, her master’s thesis, was entitled A Modeling Study of the NH3-NO-O2 Reaction Under the Operating Conditions of a Fluidized Bed Combustor. Like her mysteries, it was a factually based page-turner but, no, it’s not available online.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryAnnaEvan...
Twitter: @maryannaevans
Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/maryannaevans/
BookBub: @maryannaevans
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
September 29, 2019
This book reached out and grabbed my attention immediately, unlike the last book in this series that took me a long time to slog through. The new mix of characters intrigued me, maybe because of my avid interest in genealogy. Joe and Faye take on their first major job in the company they have started. Inevitably, they become involved in the investigation of multiple murders.
Faye Longchamp and her Native American husband Joe Wolf Mantooth are working near the mouth of the Mississippi, researching archaeological sites soon to be flooded by oil. The Deepwater Horizon disaster has morphed her run-of-the-mill contract job into a task that might swamp her fledgling consulting business.
This time they are in New Orleans cataloging the archaeological sites before a major oil spill in the ocean creep upon the land. Amande is a new character in this series and is very likable indeed.. She is a teenager, who Faye identifies with personally.
Then her injured babysitter leaves Faye to work with a toddler underfoot. Thankfully, Amande, a bright and curious teen lives nearby with her eccentric grandmother. But when the girl's grandmother and her no-account uncle are murdered, Amande's prospects worsen. The girl has but two known relatives, both battling over her small inheritance: a raggedy houseboat, a few shares of stock, and a hurricane-battered island that's not even inhabitable.
Pirate-era silver coins are found and disappear. A murderer is on the loose, and as the oil slick looms, Faye can see that Louisiana is still being plundered....
Faye and Joe instinctively help the teen after she loses her mother, whom she had never known to cancer; her uncle, whom she discovered murdered; and her grandmother, an eccentric woman who raised her even though she wasn't a blood relative. I really enjoyed this book much more than the one before it in New Orleans.
This is a clean series and delivers a H.E.A. Each installation is able to stand on its own, but further gleanings about the characters can be appreciated more thoroughly by reading each of the installations in order.
I would recommend this series to anyone who is interested in an interesting mystery and/or archeology.
------------------------------------------
Plunder (Faye Longchamp Series Book 7) Kindle Edition
by Mary Anna Evans (Author)
Length: 306 pages
"Details of archaeology, pirate lore, and voodoo complement the strong, sympathetic characters, especially Amande, and the appealing portrait of Faye's family life." —Booklist
..
Faye Longchamp and her Native American husband Joe Wolf Mantooth are working near the mouth of the Mississippi, researching archaeological sites soon to be flooded by oil. The Deepwater Horizon disaster has morphed her run-of-the-mill contract job into a task that might swamp her fledgling consulting business.
This time they are in New Orleans cataloging the archaeological sites before a major oil spill in the ocean creep upon the land. Amande is a new character in this series and is very likable indeed.. She is a teenager, who Faye identifies with personally.
Then her injured babysitter leaves Faye to work with a toddler underfoot. Thankfully, Amande, a bright and curious teen lives nearby with her eccentric grandmother. But when the girl's grandmother and her no-account uncle are murdered, Amande's prospects worsen. The girl has but two known relatives, both battling over her small inheritance: a raggedy houseboat, a few shares of stock, and a hurricane-battered island that's not even inhabitable.
Pirate-era silver coins are found and disappear. A murderer is on the loose, and as the oil slick looms, Faye can see that Louisiana is still being plundered....
Faye and Joe instinctively help the teen after she loses her mother, whom she had never known to cancer; her uncle, whom she discovered murdered; and her grandmother, an eccentric woman who raised her even though she wasn't a blood relative. I really enjoyed this book much more than the one before it in New Orleans.
This is a clean series and delivers a H.E.A. Each installation is able to stand on its own, but further gleanings about the characters can be appreciated more thoroughly by reading each of the installations in order.
I would recommend this series to anyone who is interested in an interesting mystery and/or archeology.
------------------------------------------
Plunder (Faye Longchamp Series Book 7) Kindle Edition
by Mary Anna Evans (Author)
Length: 306 pages
"Details of archaeology, pirate lore, and voodoo complement the strong, sympathetic characters, especially Amande, and the appealing portrait of Faye's family life." —Booklist
..
March 29, 2024
Pirates. That's never a bad thing. To read about, at least.
Faye Longchamp is facing the challenge of a lifetime: she has been contracted to survey archaeological sites along the mouth of the Mississippi which are in imminent danger from the oil pouring from the Deep Horizon site. She and her husband both have extreme reservations about their tiny fledgling company's ability to manage the massive project, but Faye is determined: she knows that turning this down or, worse, failing would be a death blow to her business.
Added to the pressure of the job – and the stress of the reason for the job, the tide of oil that is heading in to coat not only her beloved Louisiana coast but also the island she inherited, Joyeuse – is the constant requirement of care for her one-year-old son Michael. When Olympe, Michael's nanny (also a mamba, or, in the vernacular, voodoo priestess), is injured, Faye turns for help to a sixteen-year-old girl living on the nearby houseboat with her grandmother (also a voodoo priestess, which causes sparks to fly when she and Olympe meet). Faye and Amande quickly form a bond, as the girl has a passion for finding old things herself.
Then, on top of everything, Amande finds the body of her uncle floating by the houseboat. After which, in quick succession, she has to face the additional deaths of her grandmother – the only stable point in her life – and of the mother she never knew, while another uncle and aunt and her mother's husband circle in like sharks trying to figure out how best to seize the biggest piece of her pitiful inheritance for themselves. Police investigate, social workers try to figure out not what's best – that's obvious – but how to legally achieve it, and Faye and Joe fight to keep all of their bases covered, while a young man dives for treasure, and the oil keeps coming closer.
I loved the way this story was told, through Faye's first-person point of view intercut now and then with first-person never-to-be-released podcasts by the teenaged girl the mystery revolves around, Amande. It's a clever way to inject the piratical history of the place, the buccaneering background, while also giving an intimate look at the wrecked emotional landscape of a wounded teenaged girl. It helped a great deal that I liked Faye, a lot. She's a lovely, well-built character, who gives every indication that of course she has a life outside – before, after, and during – the story being told. All of the characters do, whether it's a story anyone would ever want to read about or not; Amande's no-good awful relatives are all very busy people in their own sordid and unsavory ways.
Actually, for characters I despised, Amande's uncle Tebo and aunt Didi are in an odd way admirable. As human beings, I'm glad they're fictional – though, sadly, not far-fetched. As fictional characters, they were kind of great. Each in his own way has a life outside of the story. Each looks on surface like a cliché of selfish drunken awfulness – but neither fits the pigeonhole perfectly. Each came up with some surprises. They were still selfish and drunk and awful – but they avoided cliché.
There were a number of surprises in this book. Again, pigeonholes never quite fit – always a good thing. Faye is much closer to an actual human being than the vast majority of mystery heroines – she is a hard-working mother and wife, and she's a heroine. I look forward to reading the earlier books and finding out more about her marriage – if her husband Joe wasn't so well-rounded he'd be (again) a stereotypical Native American hunk. But he's better than that. Amande was about as different from the usual fictional teenaged girl as it's possible to be (she'd have to be, wouldn't she?). The tone of the book, which I expected to be fairly Cozy, wasn't: despite a non-sleuth main character, a happy marriage in the forefront, and kids front and center – all staples of the Cozy in my experience – this was much more grounded in reality and the grit and sand - and oil - of Faye's work. Faye takes some actions which – to me sitting safe and dry reading about them – seem completely stupidly dangerous (another staple of cozy mysteries), but about which her reasoning makes sense: in the moment, given the circs, she had no choice.
The two things that surprised me the most, though, were that, though the killer seemed fairly clear from early on, the suspense never slackened – and that nobody was really safe in this story. There was always the sense that any one of these characters (except perhaps Faye, the narrator) might be the next murder victim. Particularly because this was the first book I've read by the author, I had no expectations of how Amande's story would play out. I knew how I wanted it to go, and that seemed less and less likely as the pages (figuratively) turned.
This was the seventh book in its series, and I haven't read any of the others (I will, though). It stood on its own very well … though … that makes me wonder, just a little, if this is one of those series in which the events of one book have little to no impact on the stories that follow. That is, what happens in Plunder will certainly affect the next book, and obviously Michael is something that happened in an earlier tale – but what I wonder is if the oil will still affect book #8, and such. I can't wait to find out.
This was a Netgalley read, so thank you to them.
Faye Longchamp is facing the challenge of a lifetime: she has been contracted to survey archaeological sites along the mouth of the Mississippi which are in imminent danger from the oil pouring from the Deep Horizon site. She and her husband both have extreme reservations about their tiny fledgling company's ability to manage the massive project, but Faye is determined: she knows that turning this down or, worse, failing would be a death blow to her business.
Added to the pressure of the job – and the stress of the reason for the job, the tide of oil that is heading in to coat not only her beloved Louisiana coast but also the island she inherited, Joyeuse – is the constant requirement of care for her one-year-old son Michael. When Olympe, Michael's nanny (also a mamba, or, in the vernacular, voodoo priestess), is injured, Faye turns for help to a sixteen-year-old girl living on the nearby houseboat with her grandmother (also a voodoo priestess, which causes sparks to fly when she and Olympe meet). Faye and Amande quickly form a bond, as the girl has a passion for finding old things herself.
Then, on top of everything, Amande finds the body of her uncle floating by the houseboat. After which, in quick succession, she has to face the additional deaths of her grandmother – the only stable point in her life – and of the mother she never knew, while another uncle and aunt and her mother's husband circle in like sharks trying to figure out how best to seize the biggest piece of her pitiful inheritance for themselves. Police investigate, social workers try to figure out not what's best – that's obvious – but how to legally achieve it, and Faye and Joe fight to keep all of their bases covered, while a young man dives for treasure, and the oil keeps coming closer.
I loved the way this story was told, through Faye's first-person point of view intercut now and then with first-person never-to-be-released podcasts by the teenaged girl the mystery revolves around, Amande. It's a clever way to inject the piratical history of the place, the buccaneering background, while also giving an intimate look at the wrecked emotional landscape of a wounded teenaged girl. It helped a great deal that I liked Faye, a lot. She's a lovely, well-built character, who gives every indication that of course she has a life outside – before, after, and during – the story being told. All of the characters do, whether it's a story anyone would ever want to read about or not; Amande's no-good awful relatives are all very busy people in their own sordid and unsavory ways.
Actually, for characters I despised, Amande's uncle Tebo and aunt Didi are in an odd way admirable. As human beings, I'm glad they're fictional – though, sadly, not far-fetched. As fictional characters, they were kind of great. Each in his own way has a life outside of the story. Each looks on surface like a cliché of selfish drunken awfulness – but neither fits the pigeonhole perfectly. Each came up with some surprises. They were still selfish and drunk and awful – but they avoided cliché.
There were a number of surprises in this book. Again, pigeonholes never quite fit – always a good thing. Faye is much closer to an actual human being than the vast majority of mystery heroines – she is a hard-working mother and wife, and she's a heroine. I look forward to reading the earlier books and finding out more about her marriage – if her husband Joe wasn't so well-rounded he'd be (again) a stereotypical Native American hunk. But he's better than that. Amande was about as different from the usual fictional teenaged girl as it's possible to be (she'd have to be, wouldn't she?). The tone of the book, which I expected to be fairly Cozy, wasn't: despite a non-sleuth main character, a happy marriage in the forefront, and kids front and center – all staples of the Cozy in my experience – this was much more grounded in reality and the grit and sand - and oil - of Faye's work. Faye takes some actions which – to me sitting safe and dry reading about them – seem completely stupidly dangerous (another staple of cozy mysteries), but about which her reasoning makes sense: in the moment, given the circs, she had no choice.
The two things that surprised me the most, though, were that, though the killer seemed fairly clear from early on, the suspense never slackened – and that nobody was really safe in this story. There was always the sense that any one of these characters (except perhaps Faye, the narrator) might be the next murder victim. Particularly because this was the first book I've read by the author, I had no expectations of how Amande's story would play out. I knew how I wanted it to go, and that seemed less and less likely as the pages (figuratively) turned.
This was the seventh book in its series, and I haven't read any of the others (I will, though). It stood on its own very well … though … that makes me wonder, just a little, if this is one of those series in which the events of one book have little to no impact on the stories that follow. That is, what happens in Plunder will certainly affect the next book, and obviously Michael is something that happened in an earlier tale – but what I wonder is if the oil will still affect book #8, and such. I can't wait to find out.
This was a Netgalley read, so thank you to them.
April 12, 2023
This is the seventh book in Mary Anna Evans' Faye Longchamp archaeology mystery series. In this one, archaeologist Faye Longchamp has married Joe Wolf Mantooth and together they have started an archaeology-based consulting business. Their first big job finds them working near the mouth of the Mississippi River, researching archaeological sites that may soon be flooded by oil. This is during the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Their lives are now complicated by the fact that they have a son who is a toddler and they must provide for his care while they are working in the field. When their babysitter is injured, their solution to that particular problem is to hire a local teenager, Amande, who lives nearby with her eccentric grandmother.
Then Amande's grandmother and her uncle are murdered, leaving her with only two other known relatives who are only interested in claiming her small inheritance, and Faye and Joe find themselves as surrogate parents who must protect the young woman from their avarice.
Silver coins that are hundreds of years old have been found in the era, leading to the possibility that there may be a shipwreck hiding under Gulf waters and who knows what riches it might contain. Meanwhile, the police are investigating the murders and Faye and Joe are attempting, in spite of the chaos, to carry on with the job that they have been hired to do. Of course, they do inevitably end up as part of the murder investigation.
Mary Ann Evans does a very good job of developing her characters, both the main characters and the supporting cast, with the result that they appear as fully-formed human beings, not just words on a page. It makes it easier for the reader to feel invested in the action of the novel and in its outcome. Those are important qualities for a cozy mystery series to have and "cozy" very much describes this series. The books are not challenging reads in any sense but they are quite satisfying for a reader who only wants to be entertained.
Their lives are now complicated by the fact that they have a son who is a toddler and they must provide for his care while they are working in the field. When their babysitter is injured, their solution to that particular problem is to hire a local teenager, Amande, who lives nearby with her eccentric grandmother.
Then Amande's grandmother and her uncle are murdered, leaving her with only two other known relatives who are only interested in claiming her small inheritance, and Faye and Joe find themselves as surrogate parents who must protect the young woman from their avarice.
Silver coins that are hundreds of years old have been found in the era, leading to the possibility that there may be a shipwreck hiding under Gulf waters and who knows what riches it might contain. Meanwhile, the police are investigating the murders and Faye and Joe are attempting, in spite of the chaos, to carry on with the job that they have been hired to do. Of course, they do inevitably end up as part of the murder investigation.
Mary Ann Evans does a very good job of developing her characters, both the main characters and the supporting cast, with the result that they appear as fully-formed human beings, not just words on a page. It makes it easier for the reader to feel invested in the action of the novel and in its outcome. Those are important qualities for a cozy mystery series to have and "cozy" very much describes this series. The books are not challenging reads in any sense but they are quite satisfying for a reader who only wants to be entertained.
March 14, 2022
"Time is not on Faye Longchamp's side. She and her Native American husband Joe are working near the mouth of the Mississippi, researching archaeological sites soon to be flooded by oil. The Deepwater Horizon disaster has morphed her run-of-the-mill contract job into a task that might swamp her fledgling consulting business.
It isn't helping that an injured babysitter has left Faye to work with a toddler underfoot. Thankfully, Amande, a bright and curious teen battling to break free from a poverty-stricken life on a houseboat with an eccentric grandmother, lives nearby. Amande is an insatiable student. But when the girl's grandmother and her no-account uncle are murdered, her prospects worsen.
"The girl has but two known relatives, both battling over a complicated if small inheritance that includes the raggedy houseboat, a few shares of stock, and a hurricane-battered island that's not even inhabitable.
"Pirate-era silver coins are found and disappear. A murderer is on the loose. But why should Faye be surprised by more shady events here in these watery lands once harboring the greatest pirates of them all? And she can see, as the oil looms, Louisiana is still being plundered."
~~front & back flaps
I do love reading about Louisiana. Much as I hated living there, Louisiana is really a unique place -- filled with old customs and old charm -- and it's enjoyable to read about the people and places. Ah yes, Plaquemines Highway, Venice, Chalmette ... all fond memories.
The story is somewhat trite, and the murderer easy to fathom out, by process of elimination. Lots of terror, lots of Faye struggling to save Amande, etc. But a grand read -- I wouldn't have missed it for the world!
It isn't helping that an injured babysitter has left Faye to work with a toddler underfoot. Thankfully, Amande, a bright and curious teen battling to break free from a poverty-stricken life on a houseboat with an eccentric grandmother, lives nearby. Amande is an insatiable student. But when the girl's grandmother and her no-account uncle are murdered, her prospects worsen.
"The girl has but two known relatives, both battling over a complicated if small inheritance that includes the raggedy houseboat, a few shares of stock, and a hurricane-battered island that's not even inhabitable.
"Pirate-era silver coins are found and disappear. A murderer is on the loose. But why should Faye be surprised by more shady events here in these watery lands once harboring the greatest pirates of them all? And she can see, as the oil looms, Louisiana is still being plundered."
~~front & back flaps
I do love reading about Louisiana. Much as I hated living there, Louisiana is really a unique place -- filled with old customs and old charm -- and it's enjoyable to read about the people and places. Ah yes, Plaquemines Highway, Venice, Chalmette ... all fond memories.
The story is somewhat trite, and the murderer easy to fathom out, by process of elimination. Lots of terror, lots of Faye struggling to save Amande, etc. But a grand read -- I wouldn't have missed it for the world!
May 2, 2022
When I was little, I wanted to be an archeologist. That obviously didn't happen, but still, I love reading these books because I can live vicariously through Faye and Joe. This was one of my favorites of the series so far, and I liked the addition of Amande.
April 4, 2024
Awesome read. Love this series.
February 15, 2012
Kindly downloaded to my Kindle by Netgalley.
I sure wish I had read the previous books in the series,for although this one does work as a stand alone, I would have enjoyed knowing more about the characters.
Faye Longchamp and her husband Joe are working near the mouth of the Mississippi, researching archaeological sites soon to be swamped by oil. An enormous oil disaster has turned her usual contract job into something much larger. Time is short for Faye, made even worse by the fact that her trusted babysitter is injured and unable to care for her toddler, Michael.
Amande is a bright, curious, and poverty-stricken adolescent who lives on a houseboat with an eccentric grandmother (a voodoo mambo). When the girl's grandmother and her no-account uncle are murdered, Amande seems destined for an even worse fate. Soon, Faye and Joe find themselves battling to defend Amande's rights: a rundown houseboat, a few shares of stock, and a tiny island that's not even inhabitable. Battling also to save the young girl's life...
The ending was a bit predictable but a little more cruel than I expected.
I sure wish I had read the previous books in the series,for although this one does work as a stand alone, I would have enjoyed knowing more about the characters.
Faye Longchamp and her husband Joe are working near the mouth of the Mississippi, researching archaeological sites soon to be swamped by oil. An enormous oil disaster has turned her usual contract job into something much larger. Time is short for Faye, made even worse by the fact that her trusted babysitter is injured and unable to care for her toddler, Michael.
Amande is a bright, curious, and poverty-stricken adolescent who lives on a houseboat with an eccentric grandmother (a voodoo mambo). When the girl's grandmother and her no-account uncle are murdered, Amande seems destined for an even worse fate. Soon, Faye and Joe find themselves battling to defend Amande's rights: a rundown houseboat, a few shares of stock, and a tiny island that's not even inhabitable. Battling also to save the young girl's life...
The ending was a bit predictable but a little more cruel than I expected.
July 1, 2014
In the 7th installment of the Faye Longchamp series, Mary Anna Evans takes this story down to New Orleans. On an oiling archeology gig, Faye and Joe Mantooth were on the search of lost shipwreck debris, when they come across a family on the ocean. The Landrenaus are embroiled into a mess of greed, murder and family secrets and scandals. That's when Faye and Joe help Amande and protect her from harm. This young woman have been dealt a bad hand of cards, when she encountered a missing loot of rare Spanish coins. Everyone wants to get their hands of them and her money. The closer they unravel the whodunnit and why in this mystery, the more endangered they'll be. They'll do anything to place her in a safe home until she's at legal age. A great story.
April 8, 2021
faye and Joe are in the mouth of the Mississippi chekcking for areas of archeological importance. They befriend a young girl and her grandmother -- then her step-uncle and grandmother are murdered. While trying to complete their job before the oil spill destroys the area they also help in the murder investigation and hire the young woman to watch their son. Then it becomes obvious she is also threatened.
August 29, 2020
The 7th book in the Faye Longchamp series. Faye and her husband Joe are working to locate archaeological sites on the Louisiana coastline. They meet a teen girl and her voodoo practicing grandmother, and are soon caught up in a murder mystery involving the family. Captivating setting. Interesting characters. Suspenseful plot.
April 9, 2018
Part of the reason I enjoy this series is how the author makes the preservation of past relevant and urgent to our world today. Set in the Louisiana gulf are, the author made me think anew about the off-shore oil rig explosion and myriad ways life and oil mix.
November 15, 2019
Faye Longchamp is hired to do an archaeological survey at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The project takes on more urgency in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Faye’s is only one of the projects desperately trying to record the state of the coastline before it is forever changed by the insidiously encroaching oil. In dire need of a babysitter, Faye approaches Amande, a teenager who lives on a nearby houseboat with her grandmother. Although this story does not contain that much archeology, the author has obviously thoroughly researched the setting and history of the Louisiana bayous and islands. The plot has little intrinsic suspense and the author compensates by putting women and children at risk.
September 13, 2023
Audiobook. This is the first time for this book so I had no idea how the story line was going to unfold, and I wasn't disappointed. Faye, Joe and little Michael are in Plaquemines Parish region looking into pirates, treasure and researching archaeological sites just a step ahead of the oil coming in from the Deepwater Horizon Rig blowout. During their time there they cross paths with a teenage girl and her wildly dysfunctional extended family, and of course said family members start getting killed. All sorts of shifty people move in and about the area and the story, and the element of disaster hovers over each day they spend there.
July 22, 2021
Faye and Joe are back in Louisiana again. This time they are working what was a routine job for their company, but an oil spill puts pressure on finishing. They have son, Michael, so that poses other problems. They become involved with a family, some of whom are murdered, and that further complicates things. It looks as though their lives will change, too; so I am anxious to get on with the next book.
September 22, 2023
Intriguing and suspenseful installment in the Faye Longchamp mystery series. This time Faye, her husband and son are trying to beat the devastation from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. They were hired to inspect archaeological sites in the path of the oil spill and in the process find themselves in the middle of a tug a war with scumbags who are claiming rights to the inheritance of a young girl.
March 30, 2025
I enjoy the combination of real events, real archaeology and history and murder mystery. This one combines the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the gulf of Mexico with pirate lore and legend with archaeological sites on the Mississippi coast as background to a mystery that brings in a new attractive young character and her fairly despicable relatives.
November 6, 2017
Enjoy this series. I love how Faye's character grows and develops with unforeseen life changes.
January 7, 2018
Love this series. Looking forward to the new one in 2018
May 10, 2018
Some nicely drawn characters.
August 4, 2018
Faye and Joe become involved with a young girl living on a houseboat
November 26, 2018
My favorite Dr. Faye Longchamp Wolf Mantooth (and Joe) tale thus far!
April 7, 2019
Did not particularly like the format of the book, but interesting story.
April 22, 2019
Too much life, not enough archaeological searching and discovery.
December 25, 2019
Great writing , interesting as usual.
September 15, 2020
Great book! I love this series, and this book was another great one.
October 21, 2022
Another great read with Faye and Joe! I love this series and I am so glad I found it with the Audible Premium deal.
January 14, 2025
Excellent!
The best book since Artifacts, the first in this series! I loved the suspense, the history, the effects of the oil spill, I loved it all.
The best book since Artifacts, the first in this series! I loved the suspense, the history, the effects of the oil spill, I loved it all.
August 7, 2025
An abundance of scummy characters in this book of the series set during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Faye and Joe Mantooth save the day as always.
July 24, 2015
Faye and Joe have taken on a project in Southern Louisiana that is really too big for their fledgling archaeological consulting project, but they need the business. While Faye tries to hire and manage contractors, and Joe is out doing field work, and they're both trying to keep an eye on their toddling son...Faye also strikes up a friendship with a remarkable teenage girl who lives in the houseboat next to the cabin they're renting. But when the girl's estranged uncle...and then her grandmother...end up floating in the bay, Faye and Joe of course become entangled in the investigation while trying to protect the girl. Throw in a couple of devious treasure hunters and an encroaching oil spill, and they've got more than enough on their hands to get them into trouble.
I'm tearing through these too fast! I loved the addition of Amande's voice to this book, and I really appreciated getting to spend a little time with Dauphine and Bobby from New Orleans again. Even so, I wish (once again) that GR let us give half-stars, because I want to give this one 4.5 because of one thing that bugged me. Unusually, the bad guy was pretty easy for me to pick out on this one (maybe I'm just getting used to how the author's mind works?), but it didn't matter - the awesome characters are what keep drawing me back to this series, and that has not changed!
I'm tearing through these too fast! I loved the addition of Amande's voice to this book, and I really appreciated getting to spend a little time with Dauphine and Bobby from New Orleans again. Even so, I wish (once again) that GR let us give half-stars, because I want to give this one 4.5 because of one thing that bugged me. Unusually, the bad guy was pretty easy for me to pick out on this one (maybe I'm just getting used to how the author's mind works?), but it didn't matter - the awesome characters are what keep drawing me back to this series, and that has not changed!
August 27, 2012
In the aftermath of a disastrous oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, professional archeologist Faye Longchamp and her husband and business partner, Joe Wolf Mantooth, race against time to document historic Mississippi Delta sites before they are forever ruined by the approaching tides of oil, all the while coping with the needs and demands of Michael, their one-year-old son. But Faye and Joe’s already daunting task becomes even more difficult and dangerous when a murdered man is found floating in the little marina from which they are operating.
The victim was Herbert, the uncle of Amande, a precocious teenager who lives with her grandmother on a dilapidated houseboat moored at the same marina. Amande’s grandmother is a mambo, a voodoo lady, who spends her days fashioning charms and dolls for the locals and who expects the free-spirited Amande to learn the family trade.
Another brutal murder occurs and suspicion soon falls on Amande’s many relatives. There’s Steve, the recent widower of Amande’s mother, who abandoned her baby sixteen years before, never to return. There’s Didi, the aunt, who can’t resist anyone wearing pants and Dale, her husband who can’t wait to be rid of his wayward wife. They, and a few other odd (in every sense of the word) relations are gathering like swamp flies and just as welcome at the old family houseboat.
The laws of inheritance in Louisiana are as twisted and difficult to navigate as its dark delta waterways. Someone has placed a high value on what the family members stand to inherit and that person is willing to kill to increase their share. Even though Faye is desperate to complete the archeological survey before the spreading oil slick arrives, her maternal instincts can’t be resisted as she comes to understand the deadly danger lying in wait for young Amande.
Reviewed by Andrew MacRae, author of “Murder Misdirected” for Suspense Magazine
The victim was Herbert, the uncle of Amande, a precocious teenager who lives with her grandmother on a dilapidated houseboat moored at the same marina. Amande’s grandmother is a mambo, a voodoo lady, who spends her days fashioning charms and dolls for the locals and who expects the free-spirited Amande to learn the family trade.
Another brutal murder occurs and suspicion soon falls on Amande’s many relatives. There’s Steve, the recent widower of Amande’s mother, who abandoned her baby sixteen years before, never to return. There’s Didi, the aunt, who can’t resist anyone wearing pants and Dale, her husband who can’t wait to be rid of his wayward wife. They, and a few other odd (in every sense of the word) relations are gathering like swamp flies and just as welcome at the old family houseboat.
The laws of inheritance in Louisiana are as twisted and difficult to navigate as its dark delta waterways. Someone has placed a high value on what the family members stand to inherit and that person is willing to kill to increase their share. Even though Faye is desperate to complete the archeological survey before the spreading oil slick arrives, her maternal instincts can’t be resisted as she comes to understand the deadly danger lying in wait for young Amande.
Reviewed by Andrew MacRae, author of “Murder Misdirected” for Suspense Magazine
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