Customer Reviews

Site Unseen (Emma Fielding Mysteries, No. 1)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Emma Fielding is trying to find the site of Fort Providence. The Fort is the first known English settlement in the United States, predating Jamestown by a few years. By good chance the likely site is on the property of her old friend Pauline Westbrook who gives her blessing to the dig. Shortly after arrival Emma finds a body on the beach and is threatened by a pothunter with a gun. Strangely, a senior colleague with no interest in New England archeology stops by to examine the site. Worst of all, Pauline's house burns down with her in it. She had just changed her will to benefit Emma, so now she is a suspect. There are also alot of strange things going on in the anthropology department at her college. Emma has to get to the bottom of things, hopefully without adding her own corpse to the body count.

This is a very quick moving mystery. The author takes the reader into the world and work of the archeologist. She goes into just enough detail for illustration and not so much that you are bored. The characters are very vivid and there is alot of action. It wasn't too difficult to solve the mystery, she leaves alot of clues, but it is alot of fun getting to the solution.

Emma Fielding, a young archaeologist, is excavating the earliest English settlement in the US. As if this wasn't exciting enough, the site ends up yielding more than 17th-century pot sherds. Before long Emma is confronted by a very modern dead body, then another, then a third. Soon she's feeling the heat : the locals are wondering if she's somehow responsible for the sudden crime wave in their sleepy Maine town. In the meantime, Emma is beginning to suspect a rival may be out to destroy her reputation - or worse. So Emma finds herself puzzling over not one, but two mysteries : who is the killer- and what is the link to her precious archaeological site ? With the help of an unforgettable cast of friends and supporters, Emma gets to the bottom of it all, but not without considerable danger to herself.

"Site Unseen" stands out from the many books with female heroines in mystery fiction in many ways.

The most important one is that from the very first page on, Emma Fielding strikes the reader as REAL. She's not a superthin glamour-gal, nor a physical fitness freak with the muscles of a SWAT team member. Her dreams (to get tenured, to be able to spend more time with her husband) and her worries (is she good enough ? Will she make it ?) are instantly recognizable and easy to identify with. An interesting aspect of Emma's life is her happy marriage to Brian. I find it refreshing to meet a heroine who's got her personal life more or less under control - no three divorces in her past, no abusive ex-boyfriends, no sexual confusion. Brian is one of the most attractive domestic partners for fictional characters I've come across in years. As a laid-back Californian, he's the perfect foil for Emma's East-Coast personality.

Although Emma clearly steals the show, the author has lavished loving care on the secondary characters as well. My two personal favorites are Brian's friend,Kam, and Teresa Moretti, the medical examiner who loves her job perhaps a little too much. Let me illustrate this with two quotes. When Kam dares to give Emma a pep talk , she peevishly asks him where he got his degree in psychology. The Pakistan-born, Oxford-educated Kam replies, unperturbably : "Oh, you know, Himalayan lamas and all. Same place I learned to sustain a woman in a continuous state of orgasmic pleasure for hours on end. "

And here's the irascible Dr. Moretti describing an autopsy : "Okay, then we have a wee peeksy in the gut, and we find the remains of dindins."

If you like strong women protagonists, this is the mystery for you. If you like unusual locales and twisting plots, this is the mystery for you. If you like unforgettable minor characters, this is the mystery for you. If you like... oh, what the heck, go out and buy this book and read it. I guarantee you'll enjoy it.

Emma Fielding is an archaeologist trying to succeed out of the shadow of her famous archaeologist grandfather. She's returned to her childhood home to work on a site that could guarantee her receiving tenure, but her discovery of a body could destroy that chance.

Soon more deaths follow, and although the sheriff believes she's innocent the town's suspicion of her grows. Emma must also deal with a cockey student worker, another sullen student who seems to wish that he were anywhere but on the site, and that student's father who sees Emma as a rival to his position at their college.

Emma herself is a wonderful character. She's impulsive, decisive, and survives the academic politics through her sardonic sense of humor. She also has a great relationship with her husband, who happens to be Asian (yet this is refreshingly treated matter-of-factly and never made an issue). Other characters are as well entertaining and believable, including an ancient medical examiner who ironically sees Emma as a morbid invader of the dead.

Emma's struggle to retain her sense of humor as well as retain control over her career at the college, her site, and the students who work it creates a fast-paced read that also provides a fascinating glimpse of an archaeological excavation. My only disappointment with this novel was that it had to end. I look forward to the next Emma Fielding mystery, Grave Consequences.

This book has ALMOST everything I want in a good mystery.It starts off with a great opening paragraph, always a good sign in my opinion. The characters are engaging, and there is an interesting subject to learn about in the form of the archaeology and the academic atmosphere.
What is missing is a good mystery. There is only one suspect, and the denouement is completely predictable, a real disappointment. (It didn't help that the back of the book gave away too much of what little suspense there was.) I was enjoying the other aspects of the book so much I had looked forward to something a little cleverer.
This was Dana Cameron's first book, and if she can learn to plot a better mystery, I think she'll have a good future as a mystery writer. Otherwise, perhaps she should consider a different genre?

Emma Fielding works as an assistant professor of archeology at Caldwell College in Maine. She is doing everything she can to guarantee she obtains tenure when she is eligible for it. She is heading a dig off the Maine coast belonging to her closest friend Pauline and she is looking for the oldest settlement in the New World, one that was founded fifteen years before the landing at Plymouth.

Things start going wrong when Emma stumbles across the body of a dead man. Then a grave robber pulls a gun on her in front of a witness. While she is dealing with those two traumas, Pauline's house catches fire with the owner inside. Later it is discovered that arson occurred, leaving Emma vowing to find Pauline's killer and bring that person to justice.

SITE UNSEEN is a fascinating academic mystery starring a very intense heroine who has a strong sense of morality and a fierce desire to see justice happen. Her relationship with her husband is given the same attention and devotion that she brings to her profession. Readers will definitely like Dana Cameron's first novel and will want to see more adventures starring the intrepid archeologist.

Harriet Klausner

1st book in the Emma Fielding series, featuring female archaeologist turned amateur sleuth in New England

During an archaeological dig in Maine, archaeologist and professor Em encounters a thoroughly unpleasant man. After two murders, Em finds herself trying to clear her own name by finding out who was responsible. She's also worried about the effect the case may have when her position comes up for tenure at work. An above average amateur sleuth mystery with an engaging heroine who has both good and bad points in her personality, some other well portrayed characters, a twisty but satisfying plot, and a plausible device for having the character investigating murder.

The book begins with an archaelogical dig and a very interesting older woman friend living on the site in an old house stuffed with curios and antiques. I was looking forward to the interaction between Emma and her old friend, and getting the skinny on all those accumulated objects. What a great idea, including an older woman! Maybe she would appear in other books. Alas, she is killed before we get to know her! What a waste of a good character!

The story goes gently downhill from that point. Emma has a tiresome old flame who "looms" in the background and stalks Emma from time to time. I do not care for menace in my reading. I've got the local news on tv for that! I did enjoy the tidbits of history about the British system of forts, and would have enjoyed more info.

Emma dithers and thinks too much. As the story draws to a close, it becomes very melodramatic. Emma is subjected to unbelievable physical pain and distress, rather like a male action-hero.

The author has talent, but after reading four of her books, they are all much the same. An interesting locale, but characters get lost in a soap-opera mix of emotions, most of which have nothing to do with the plot. She needs a better editor, one who can help her develop stronger characters and an interesting story line.

I bought books 2,3, and 4 used at a booksale and read them before I got this book that is the first one in the series. I really enjoyed all the books, but reading book one explained a lot. In the whole series I enjoyed the references to the methods archeologists use to get meaning from the tiny bits and pieces that are often all they find. The characters were real to me. Emma & her husband were living with the kinds of worries that most of us deal with these days, about their marriage, money, jobs, coworkers, family, and friends. I also liked that I can safely reccomend this book series to anybody, including my mother and coworkers of both genders.

Emma Fielding has the opportunity to add an important archaeological site recovery to her accomplishments in Dana Cameron's SITE UNSEEN.
Emma is an archeology professor who is up for tenure. She and her students discover a coin thAT indicates the presence of an English settlement prior to Jamestown on the coast of Maine. Emma is lucky that the site is on the property of a close friend, but when a body washes ashore the work is hauled.
Then her friend is burned to death in her home just after she has made a new will leaving Emma the property. All evidence points to Emma's guilt to establish her career and she must find a killer before she becomes the next victim.
The background information of archaeological site development and the skills necessary for this vital work makes for a good read from a newcomer to the field.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

very easy read will definitely read more by this author, she reminds me of the diane fallon mysteries.