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The staff at the Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., are horrified when two corpses are discovered in the Cultures of Africa exhibit. The two African-American men are dressed in traditional African costumes and both have been shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest. The case becomes even more urgent when the dead men are found to be in possession of a priceless emerald necklace from the museum's gems exhibit. How did they manage to steal the necklace without setting off the museum's sophisticated security system? Matt Alexander, a Detective Lieutenant with the D.C. Police Department, is assigned to the case and vows to solve the puzzle. The plot was intriguing, but the novel suffered from some problems of execution. In describing the investigation, Fleming does a good job of highlighting the racial issues present in the case. There is tension between blacks and whites on the museum staff and between the (mostly) white museum officials and the black cops assigned to the case. This means that there are plenty of characters with motives for the crime. However, most of the characters were painted so broadly that it was hard to distinguish between them. Fleming did create a few memorable characters, including Kofi Asante, a janitor at the museum who leads an African temple in his spare time, and Skinny Lester, a drug addict with a gift for cracking safes. Unfortunately, most of the other characters, especially the museum staff, ran together for me. This made it difficult for me to keep people's motives straight. I found it hard to identify with some of the characters' actions, as well. Many of the museum staff and the police officers seemed to be unnaturally angry all the time; there were too many scenes where people shouted each other down. Also, some of the police officers' actions are inconsistent. They are furious when museum staff disturb the crime scene, yet Matt has no problem taking one of the costumes to a local university to show it to an expert on African culture. If the police are so worried about the evidence being contaminated, shouldn't the professor have come to the police station to examine the costume? Transitions between scenes were not always smooth, and the dialogue could be awkward as well. Fleming has a tendency to put detailed factual information into her characters mouths, which results in unrealistic conversations. In one scene, Matt and a fellow officer trade statistics about the Washington murder rate and the local drug trade, information they would have no need to discuss with each other. Although the mechanical problems made the novel difficult to read, the plot was interesting; I thought the solution to the problem of the necklace theft was very ingenious. If Fleming can bring her writing up to the level of her plotting, the next Matthew Alexander novel should be more enjoyable to read.
Reviewed by Kathleen Chappell, October 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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