Nicolette Scott is an archeologist whose knowledge of early airplanes has gained her kudos as an expert, a reputation for ignoring authority and a job at the Smithsonian. Shortly after she begins there, she is thrilled to be included in the museum`s latest project. A large pharmaceutical company is equipping an expedition to a remote region of Alaska, where during World War II a Japanese plane was shot down.It`s a gamble, but the money is provided, and if the small group of experts could locate the plane and somehow bring it back to Washington, it would be a coup - and a boost for Nicolette`s career.Not long after the search begins, the plane is indeed found, but the move would be risky - it has started disintegrating in unusually "warm" weather. Instead of returning in moderate triumph, Nicolette is dismayed to discover that there is a darker reason for the company`s generosity. The expedition`s real goal turns out to reach all the way back to the great Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919, grimly nicknamed "The Spanish Lady," which killed millions around the world.The virus of this flu still exists in its few victims who happened to be preserved in constantly frozen ground. The expedition`s backers had recently learned that three World War One veterans searching Alaska for gold had died of the disease near their crashed plane, and it is their bodies that is the real goal of the expedition.Nicolette is shocked.The only reason she can see for the search, the willing expenditure of money, and the odd cast of characters is an ominous one, and she soon discovers a plot that equals the threat of global atomic war.Unless she can defuse it - and the effort could easily mean her death - the lives of the innocent members of the expedition will be forfeit and the lives of hundreds of millions will be at stake. AUTHORBIO: Val Davis studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of California at Berkeley and now lives in Northern California.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Nicolette Scott is an archaeologist with an unusual expertise: she tracks down old airplanes, a specialty that's landed her a new job at the Smithsonian and made her just the right person to take part in a privately financed expedition to unearth a rare Japanese plane shot down in Alaska during World War II. That the financing comes from a pharmaceutical company doesn't seem particularly strange to Scott--her only concern is whether she got the job due to the influence of her father, an archaeologist who's not interested in any ruins less than a thousand years old. In Nicolette's fourth adventure (after Track of the Scorpion, Wake of the Hornet,and Flight of the Serpent), the first part of the expedition goes smoothly, despite warnings from a shaman-like Alaskan park guide that the spirits of the dead don't want the pristine wilderness of the Hammersmith Bear Sanctuary disturbed. And neither, it turns out, do the bears themselves, whose attack on Scott and her party reveals the real agenda of the benefactors who've funded the "dig." They want the remains of gold prospectors who died near the site of the plane crash of a now-extinct strain of influenza, the Spanish Lady of the title. It's an implausible setup, which might have worked in the hands of a writer more skilled at explication of her characters. But the Alaskan landscaped is nicely realized, and the flashbacks to New York at the outset of the flu epidemic of 1917, which killed millions of people, manage to add some flesh to an otherwise thin story. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
The mad scientist/millionaire/megalomaniac conspiracy formula gets a thorough rehash in Davis's latest Nicolette Scott mystery, following Wake of the Hornet (2000). Archaeologist Scott joins an expedition to Alaska to find a valuable Japanese plane downed during WWII. Backing for the project comes from a "philanthropic" pharmaceutical company, whose real motive is to locate the frozen bodies of a group of gold miners who died from the Spanish influenza that killed millions worldwide in 1918-1919; their camp is near the plane wreck site. The plan is to extract the flu virus from the 80-year-old corpses, reintroduce the disease, then make a fortune with an antidote. Davis alternates this paranoid plot with the tale of the miners, who were infected in New York City and died in Alaska. Her research and recreation of 1918 Manhattan provide some depth to an otherwise flat story. The contemporary characters are cardboard creations with their hearts on their sleeves. The action involves countless treks along snow-covered escarpments by a number of unlikely hikers. The most interesting characters--and most realistic threats--are a female grizzly and her two cubs, searching for food before going into hibernation. The plot devices--getting Scott to the locale of the airplane crash and then putting her in peril--are clunky enough, but the idea that a venal drug company would go to such ridiculous lengths asks too much of the reader.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Warning! Don't read the cover blurb!,
By
This review is from: The Return of the Spanish Lady (Hardcover)
Nick Scott is back for another round of her favorite airplane archeology (bet you didn't know such a thing existed!) in THE RETURN OF THE SPANISH LADY. Author Val Davis sets up a nicely suspenseful scenario, but the cover blurb gives away everything, so I never had a chance to figure things out with Nick. Don't read the cover blurb!!!I might have rated the book higher, if the cover hadn't taken away all the suspense. The 1918 characters were well done, and I liked those parts best. And if you haven't read TRACK OF THE SCORPION, the first Nick Scott book, you should do so, as this is a very nicely written and unusual series.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable,
By
This review is from: The Return of the Spanish Lady (Hardcover)
See story summary above.I enjoyed this mystery thriller. The locations in Alaska and the flashbacks to NYC all helped to bring a little more substance to this story. The characters did come of as a little shallow in my opinion. I also think a little more history could have been wrapped in the story. As with any fiction novel, I rarely read the whole jacket summary, for it gives away far to much information and leaves few surprises. I get the protagonists name and read the first couple sentences and that's usually all. Recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ms.Davis has a great plot here wrapped around a mytery story,
This review is from: The Return of the Spanish Lady (Hardcover)
The E-Group, a powerful pharmaceutical company, offers to fund an expedition to the Aleutians to try to recover a shot down Japanese World War II plane, The Val. The National Air and Space Museum and its patrons would benefit if the Aichi D 3A 1 aircraft has survived weathering and can be recovered. The Smithsonian assigns Assistant Curator archeologist Nicolette Scott, known for her knowledge of airplanes, to represent them on the expedition.Unbeknownst to Nicolette and her superiors, the E-Group has a more sinister agenda then recovering an old plane. Nick and other individuals on the trek are their expendable ticket to gain entrance to a natural wildlife range with an endangered species population residing there. THE RETURN OF THE SPANISH LADY is a very good medical thriller with clever twists, but the publisher gives away the key plot on the back cover, ruining much of the suspense. Nick is an intriguing archeologist and much of the support cast such as the WW II vet Wes Erickson, the Smithsonian staff, and a Hammersmith grizzly bear seem genuine. The villains appear too amoral to be real, but move the tale forward. Still, avoid the back cover, wear warm layers of clothing and enjoy a fun thriller filled with excitement Harriet Klausner
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