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Book Review of The Arrow Points to Murder

The Arrow Points to Murder
WhidbeyIslander avatar reviewed on + 693 more book reviews


I was not able to find a plot summary online and when I bought the book I hoped it would be set in Alaska among the local tribes, since the publisher is in that area.

Although the author lived in Alaska, the book is set in a museum in NYC where she worked. The writing is fine, but the book is too long, with some passages about archeological expeditions that can be easily skimmed.

She throws so many characters at the reader immediately that I had trouble keeping them apart. A Golden-Age type Cast of Characters was badly needed. A map of the building would have been nice, too; one character tells of drawing a diagram of the critical area, so why not include it?

The amateur detective (an archeologist working at the museum) is dogged in his efforts to prove murder, but some of his decisions so baffled me that it cast a shadow on my enjoyment of the whole book. Not a total misfire, but needed some tightening up.