Thread of the Spider: A Mystery

Nicolette Scott Mystery #5

by Val Davis

"That car ...belonged to a pair of bank robbers. Their names were Knute and Nora and they were almost as famous as Bonnie and Clyde during the Depression....They got killed in the Green River Massacre, but the car was never found."

"There's more, " Nick said. "This paper is dated more than a year before the Japanese attacked Pearl. . . . And there's a handwritten notation at the bottom: 'If need be, we must allow the Japanese to strike the first blow in order to unite the American people for the coming war,' ... initialed 'FDR'."

Nicolette Scott and her father are both archaeologists, but with differences. Professor Elliott Scott lives and breathes very early Americans, like the Anasazi. His digs are in the southwest, where the ancient peoples lived. To him, his daughter Nicky's area of concern is not to be taken at all seriously. Nicky goes for the culture embodied by artifacts from the twentieth century -- a crashed plane from either World War is enough to send her senses tingling. So when she discovers a 1937 Packard convertible hidden in a sealed cave in the Utah desert, she is ecstatic. It's only when she begins to read through the papers hidden under a seat cushion that the thrill turns to something very like a chill. If those papers are genuine, they represent a huge find for Nick. But they also represent one of the most scandalous secrets in our country's history.

Authentic or fake, they are still important to someone, as Nick learns when invisible threats come closer and closer to Nick, to culminate in a murderous meeting under the blazing Utah sun. This is Nicolette's most suspenseful dig, and one that will keep readers gasping and pages turning.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2002

About the author

A pen name used by Robert Irvine with his wife Angie.

Val Davis studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of California at Berkeley and now lives in Northern California.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another 20th century conundrum. A '37 Packard convertible secretly sealed in an Utah cave. A perfect mystery for Nicolette, but not so interesting for her professor father. He only is interested in his Anasazai artifacts in the same desert badlands in southern Utah where the Packard is found. But a 20th century artifact contains written documents. Documents which wind the story back and back--prior to WWII. The Professor also discovers an important archaeological clue. Webs. Webs.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was like a show on the WB (or i guess it's called the new CW now)... lots of build up, fairly interesting story, and then bam! It's over. It was almost like the authors (it's a husband/wife team) realized they were getting close to the page limit and said, Guess we'd better wrap this up here... who needs killing that hasn't been killed?

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Although I did think it was missing a little spice ? Did not like what I felt was a quick conclusion in the end. Makes me feel as the author was hurried in the end and wanted to finish the book. But despite that I found it a very interesting and entertaining story.