Murder in the Queen's Armes [Mass Market Paperback]

Aaron Elkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1986

"Anthropology professor Gideon Oliver would prefer to keep his mind on his beautiful new bride Julie during their English honeymoon, but one intrusive question won't stop nagging at him: Who would want to steal a thirty-thousand-year-old parieto-occipital calvareal fragment? Yet someone has lifted this chunk of prehistoric human skull from a musty museum in Dorchester. Then, thirty miles away, an archaeology student is murdered, increasing tensions and suspicion at a dig that had already seethed with suspicion, rivalry, and mistrust. Could there be a connection between a hot bone and a cold-blooded murder?"

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anthropologist Gideon Oliver is honeymooning in England when he decides to drop in on a Dorset dig run by his old friend Nate Marcus. The local scientific society is miffed by Marcus's publicity-grabbing theories, and definitely put off by his abrasive manner. Gideon detects an uneasy atmosphere at the dig. After a member vanishes and an unidentifiable body turns up, Gideon ("the skeleton detective" of Fellowship of Fear and The Dark Place) is dragged into the investigation by the police. He's also unwillingly involved with Marcus's great "find"that turns out to be a fake. Blackmail, academic hugger-mugger and more murder surface and Gideon and his wife are in dire peril. The characters and local color are only moderately interesting and the ending is rather tame, but the book is saved by Gideon's enthusiasm and Elkins's depiction of his neat "skeletal detective work." Foreign rights: Barney Karpfinger Agency. December 16
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Aaron Elkins is the author of the Edgar Award-winning Gideon Oliver mysteries.

--This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (December 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553262351
• ISBN-13: 978-0553262353
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,239,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a former anthropologist who has been writing mysteries and thrillers since 1982, having won an Edgar for Old Bones, as well as a subsequent Agatha (with my wife Charlotte), and a Nero Wolfe Award. My major continuing series features forensic anthropologist-detective Gideon Oliver, "the Skeleton Detective."

Lately, I've seen myself referred to as "the father of the modern forensic mystery," and, by gosh, I think I am! Before "Fellowship of Fear," the first Gideon Oliver, published in 1982, you'd have to go back 70 years and more to Austin Freeman and his Dr. Thorndyke series. Between the two good doctors (Thorndyke and Oliver), there was only Jack Klugman's "Quincy," so far as I know, and he was a TV character.

The Gideon Oliver books have been (roughly) translated into a major ABC-TV series and have been selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild, and the Readers Digest Condensed Mystery Series. My work has been published in a dozen languages. Charlotte and I live on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, our marriage having survived (more or less intact) our collaboration on novels and short stories.

Although I've been a full-time writer for some time now, I also remain active in real-life forensics by serving as the forensic anthropologist on the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder in the Queens Arms--Double Entendre?, July 15, 2009

By 

Rainbows "DLP" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder in the Queen's Armes (Kindle Edition)

One of Aaron Elkins' better works, but then his earlier works are my favorites and I believe I've read most if not all he has written. Elkins has a wonderful, almost dry sense of humor which works quite well given the European setting. I rate this one definitely higher than I would his last three, beginning with the one set in South America.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BONE DETECTIVE RULES!, November 13, 2000

By 

Kenri A. Mugleston - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder in the Queen's Armes (A Gideon Oliver Mystery) (Paperback)

Gideon and his new bride spend their honeymoon in merry olde England. Of course everything isn't tea and crumpets. Gideon finds stolen bones, murdered anthropologists and mysteries galore. Spend some time digging in the dirt with Gideon, you'll be glad you did.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, solid fun Aaron Elkins, August 24, 2007

By 

Lori A. Pfeifer (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder in the Queen's Armes (A Gideon Oliver Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Fans of Aaron Elkins won't be disappointed. A light read but good on a rainy afternoon!