Digging Up Momma [Paperback]

Sarah Shankman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

Samantha Adams has received a message from her mother--postmarked Santa Fe, penned in her mother's writing, and full of details only her mother could know. All well and good, except for one thing: Sam's mother died in a plane crash 30 years ago. Didn't she?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Melodrama reigns in this seventh in the series, which finds Samantha Adams, author of books on the bizarre, starring in her own personal Twilight Zone episode. Sam gets a letter from her mother, who was presumed to have died in a plane crash when Sam was eight, asking for her help. With enough information to sound authentic, the letter prompts Sam to leave New Orleans for Santa Fe immediately. Sam and her mother have a brief reunion, but before explanations are offered, the older woman dies, an apparent suicide. Desperate to understand her mother's past, Sam probes her life in Santa Fe and meets her tenant (an artist who paints cars), her lawyer and other denizens of the desert who fill in some of the blanks for the grieving daughter. What Sam learns makes her doubt the police verdict of suicide. Fleshing out the narrative, Shankman tacks on a subplot about a local televangelist and his wife. The story of Sam's mother exerts an emotional pull?but on easily plucked heartstrings, which, added to an unconvincing villain, diminishes this tale's overall impact.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In receipt of a cryptic message from her mother?who supposedly died in a plane crash 34 years ago?series sleuth Samantha Adams (He Was Her Man, LJ 10/1/93), crime reporter-turned-writer, flies to Santa Fe. She meets mom (a successful interior designer) long enough to realize that she lives in constant fear, then loses her hours later to an apparent suicide. Sam's investigation into her mother's past brings immediate trouble in the form of dangerously deceitful suspects, a trashed house, attempted murder, and a forbidding turquoise mine. Shankman sticks with her proven formula: a strong protagonist, fascinating plot, and effective setting. An essential purchase.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671897527
• ISBN-13: 978-0671897529
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars absolutely awful, December 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Digging up Momma (Samantha Adams Mystery) (Hardcover)

This is the latest and worst Sam Adams book. Reading this is like reading an afterthought of ms shankman's. Why do we need to know what happened to Sam's mother? And why have this all of a sudden mystery about it? Why didn't George or Peaches drop hints about Sam's mother in all the previous books? It would have worked better,and this book would have been more successful and plausible. Truly,I think that Ms Shankman only wrote this book because she had to fulfill her contract. If you really want to read Sam Adams books,go read King is Dead which is HILARIOUS or Hang all the Liars,or better read Now lets talk of graves

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars trashy, soap-opera of a book, July 19, 2008

By 

E. Durham (lakehurst, nj) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Digging Up Momma (Paperback)

Oh my god what trash! I have been reading the genre of 'cozy mysteries' for a few months now. I have gone through Mary Danheims' Alpine series and her Bed and Breakfast series (the first being the better of the two), I adored the funny wit of the Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich. Then I got this book. The charachters are one dimentional. There is NO substance to the male characters that is not stereotypical. The main character is so unlikable I was rooting for her death. Really, a forty year old thinking her mom is dead for thirty years and when she finds out she isn't, does she demand answers to abandonment...no she cries Momma and tearfully adores unquestionly. What utter nonsense! The style of writing is daunting to follow and adding in the supernatural aspect is almost like the author is trying to appease as many possible readers who might shell out a buck for this trash. Please understand I don't dislike the supernatural. It has it's place and I recommend the Kim Harrison's Demon series or Jim Butcher's Dresden File books. You expect it there. I hate buying a book and not reading it, but I resorted to reading every 5th to 10th word and even skipped paragraphs as the end apppeared to be coming to this 300 page nightmare. Thank god I have not bought more than one of this series. If you insist on listening to other reviews here, for heaven's sake buy the book used and don't spend more than a dollar....I would even send you my copy, but I refuse to pass along garbage! Instead try The Southern Sisters Mysteries by Anne George or the other series I mentioned.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why the supernatural?, April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Digging Up Momma (Paperback)

This was the first Samantha Adams novel I have ever read, so maybe there is something about the genre I don't understand. Don't get me wrong, I really think this is a gifted author. She had me in a "can't put this book down even at 1:00 a.m. during the work week" mode all the way to the very end. Then I had some questions, to wit: Why Earl? (See comments in the review above. And my biggest problem with the book--Sam is rescued in the end by (1) a character who doesn't appear, and who is mentioned no more than once, prior to the next to the last chapter who is assisted by (2) the ghost of a Native American woman--the same entity who appeared to be very much of this earth when she bought Sam some fast food early in the book. This was just too much for me. I will read one more Sam Adams novel, since they are so well received, and see what the first ones are like. I hope that there are no more interventions from "beyond the pale." Those are great for Anne Rice novels, but some of us like our sleuths a bit more realistic.