โIncisive wit . . . a sleuth worthy of comparison to Agatha Christieโs Hercule Poirot or Sue Graftonโs Kinsey Millhone.โโJames W. Hall
Diana OโHehir beguiled audiences with I Wish This War Were Over, runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. Now, she presents a mystery set in that most shadowy of landscapes: the human mind.
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Green Beach Manor, set on the jagged cliffs of the California coast, calls itself โA Colony for Independently Functioning Adults.โ It costs a pretty pennyโand Carla Day is confident that her affectionate-but-confused elderly father is getting the best care there. An accomplished former Egyptologist, he now lives in a fusion of past and present. The staff hasnโt a clue what heโs ranting aboutโand theyโre ready to send him to what they privately call No Hope House.
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Then a string of suspicious events unravels. A fire starts inexplicably in the beauty parlor, and some drugs go missing. Carla, hoping to keep a close eye on her dad, lands a job as an aide at the Manor. But management has one condition: Spy for us, figure out whoโs doing thisโand you and your father can stay.
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Soon, a guest swallows glass hidden in her food. An employee dies an eerie death. And Carlaโs father begins rambling not only about Egyptian pyramids, but also about a dead woman on the nearby beach. The answer may lie in an ancient Egyptian tomb. Or maybe itโs somewhere furtherโin the deep recesses of a brilliant old manโs memory.
โOne of the most intellectually delightful murder mysteries ever written . . . The narrating voice is a pleasure from beginning to end, and the reader comes away with an education in ancient Egyptology!โโVivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments