Death Assemblage (Frankie MacFarlane Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Susan Cummins Miller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Frankie MacFarlane Mysteries | Publication Date: March 15, 2002

The first of the Frankie MacFarlane Series The mountains west of Pair-a-Dice, Nevada, hold mysteries geological, historical, and personal. Geologist Frankie MacFarlane has mapped the Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of the range for the past three summers. In the final week of her dissertation fieldwork, she searches for an elusive final key to her research: a limestone marker bed—a death assemblage of fossil ammonoids—hidden by dangerous, shifting talus. But as Frankie strives to piece together her geologic jigsaw puzzle, the denizens of Pair-a-Dice, her base of operations, embroil her in a web of ancient and recent murders, a manhunt, kidnappings, and blackmail. A thirty-truck town, fifty miles from anywhere, Pair-a-Dice boasts two restaurants, three bars, seven pool tables, twenty-one slot machines, and a motley assemblage of misfits, including Diane Laterans, a punk schoolteacher who wears her Phi Beta Kappa key from her ear; Isabel Elorrio, crusty ex-marine and motel proprietor; Lon Bovey, rancher and would-be congressman; Walker, a mute handyman; the Anderson brothers, hooligans claiming kinship to infamous Bloody Bill; and a stranger, E. J. Killeen, U.S. Army, retired. Two bodies are discovered near Interstate 80, disrupting Frankie’s research. Are the killings linked to Killeen, to the new waitress in town, to Frankie’s ex-fiancé, who disappeared four months ago, or to older violence, the clues of which Frankie discovers in the mountains? Frankie’s environmental sensibilities and her grasp of geologic and human continuums make her truly a woman—and sleuth—of the new millennium.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Frankie MacFarlane hasn't come to derelict Pair-a-Dice, Nev., for its 21 slot machines, or even its three bars or seven pool tables; she's there for the rocks the ones she's surveying for her geology dissertation. But this heroine of a new series by geologist Susan Cummins Miller, inaugurated with the assured and erudite Death Assemblage, gets tangled up with the eccentrics of the truck-stop town when two recent murders seem tied to ancient violence that she's discovered in her geological research.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Near Pair-a-Dice, Nevada--a "thirty-truck town"--Francisca "Frankie" MacFarlane is unraveling a fossil puzzle that could bring her a professorship. Heading home, she finds human remains and encounters a stranger who warns her of a serial killer. Then her friend is murdered, and a manuscript that could be the key to solving the crime disappears. Frankie dodges death three times before she unravels the puzzle that links the fossils, the murder, and the manuscript. This fast-paced, edgy debut combines a suspenseful plot, well-drawn characters, and rich atmosphere. Although the pace slows some prior to the climax, and the geology is sometimes hard to follow--"death assemblage" is the paleonlogical term for fossils brought together after death--Miller vividly captures mountain and desert life, and she offers fascinating and unsettling insights into western history and the lives of ranchers. Recommend this to fans of Michael McGarrity's Kevin Kearney series, James Doss' Shaman novels, and Beverly Connor's archaeology thrillers. John Rowen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press (March 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896724816
• ISBN-13: 978-0896724815
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,415,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Mystery Read That Shouldn't Be Missed, August 3, 2002

By 

Leigh G (Redlands, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death Assemblage (Frankie MacFarlane Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Susan Cummins Miller has scored a hit with this one. Frankie MacFarlane, a graduate geologist, is intertwined with the people of Pair-A-Dice, several murders, and the geology of Nevada. This one kept me spellbound for hours and the ending caught me totally by surprise. For a change, this is a totally challenging murder mystery fraught with suspense. Certainly not your run-of-the-mill butler-did-it suspense tale. If you are looking for a great mystery read, try this one. You won't be disappointed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rocky Thrill, March 20, 2002

By 

P. Miller "mystery woman" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death Assemblage (Frankie MacFarlane Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Susan Cummins Miller brought me hours of pleasure with her anthology of Women writers, "A Sweet Separate Intimacy". Now she has branched into a new field of adventure fiction with a gutsy geologist named Frankie who stirs up a hot desert town. Thanks Ms. Miller for a great read!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The geology was very interesting., May 18, 2005

By 

Miami Beach & Boston (Sedona, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death Assemblage (Frankie MacFarlane Mysteries, Book 1) (Paperback)

The geology information was very well done and interesting. I found the book very similar to Nevada Barr's books. The main character is in the wilderness on her own, encounters physical dangers, is badly injured but is able to persevere and is successful in solving the crime and recovering. Too many villians.