Entertaining read

Quick paced and entertaining. A good book to while away a frigid afternoon. I have to admit that I don't think Milo is right for Elizabeth.

tl;dr: No

The longer version:

TW: Racism (specifically toward Native Americans and Black people), racist science, sexism, fat hatred, murder, toxic masculinity, cheating

I had very low expectations of this book when I picked it up, but it was $0.25 at my local used book store and I have a dream that someday I will collect books with "bone" in the title (because I already have three books and they are good).

Plot: Anthropology students go on a dig in Appalachia in order to help a Native American tribe prove their historical ties to the area and apply to be a reservation. Then there's a murder. It's noted in the preface that the tribe in the book is fictional.

What I liked: It was short, surprisingly readable, detective story centered around an anthropology dig. Actually, there was a lot more anthropology content than murder/detective content, no matter what the title will tell you. It was also written in 1985, so there's some fun retro tech happening. The book also had a sense of fun which probably earned it the second star.

What I disliked: This book's subject matter is race issues but the white writer handled it poorly. You can tell that Sharyn McCrumb like, did a little research on Native Americans and understood some issues (A man corrects a white guy calling him chief, a white guy who appropriates Native cultures is endlessly satirized, white historical land grabbing is presented as negative, modern white corporate land grabbing is presented as negative, the Trail of Tears is briefly mentioned).

However, even the positive aspects largely feel like white people touring Native America. The main cast is white, with the tribe characters largely appearing only for plot purposes, exposition, or to be suspects. The token person of color in the main cast, Jake, is described as appearing "Spanish or Italian" and revealed to be Cherokee in the book's last few pages. He explains to one of the other main characters, Elizabeth, that he sometimes allows people to perceive him as white in order to avoid racism, which I accept, but treating his race as a twist is a really gross move by the author. Like, seriously. Elizabeth figured out who the murderer is because of something he says while they talk about his race.

Speaking of Elizabeth, she's a sociology student who's on this dig because her brother's roommate, an anthropology student named Milo, invited her. The first few chapters are Milo and Elizabeth (and the brother) spending time together, bantering, making jokes, and talking about Milo's work. Though these scenes could be platonic, Milo later invites Elizabeth on the dig because he's interested in her romantically, an interest that you later learn is mutual. That is very early on in the book, and that is the end of them having any positive interaction whatsoever. Milo's joking personality evaporates and he complains about her talking too much, wanting to spend time with him, and generally having emotions the rest of the book. At the end of the book, Milo sort-of-not-really apologizes and Elizabeth offers to "try again". It's gross.

When you look at it from the point of the author making choices, it becomes extra gross because while Milo is off whining and being sexist, Elizabeth spends a large amount of time with Jake. They have similar fun platonic interactions that Elizabeth had with Milo at the beginning of the book. In addition, Jake sympathizes with Elizabeth's struggles, a small amount of emotional labor that Milo never does in the entire book. I kept waiting for Elizabeth to mention an interest in Jake. Or prioritize her friendship with him over her inexplicable interest in Milo. This never happens. Why? I assume because the author finds Elizabeth making positive relationship choices incompatible with the goddamn race twist. After Jake explains that he's Cherokee, Milo fucking asks him if Elizabeth was COMFORTABLE BEING ALONE WITH HIM and this is treated as A LEGITIMATE QUESTION AETKHJ3LKJEG;H359OGJLKGJL;K

Speaking of which, I felt like there wasn't much tension in the book? And in retrospect, I realize a lot of the tension probably was supposed to come from the fact that the audience is supposed to be worried for white students hanging out in a Native American tribe?? Which is super gross??

Milo and Alex, his professor, both say similarly sexist things about the women around them. There's a lot of talk about whether or not individual women will work hard at the dig and talk about women "understanding" men they're in relationships with. The women, by the way, are similarly sexist creations who are prone to easily crying and having sudden emotional reactions. My "favorite" is this one:
Alex: I have an assignment for you.
Mary Clare: What is it?
Alex: [explains]
Mary Clare glared at him through tears. "I wish you were dead!"
Like, where the fuck did that come from??

There's a character named Victor who is characterized as lazy, a possible suspect, and a hypochondriac. This is all supposed to be a source of comedy. He's also fat and the protagonists we're supposed to sympathize with engage in fat hatred against him and they act super gross. He's the second murder victim and they struggle to be nice to him in death. Basically, everyone is the worst.

The dig is entirely about determining people's race based on their skulls. Is it related to ye olde super racist 19th century bunk "science" or does the story's science have basis in modern science? I have no idea because the book never acknowledges anthropology's racist history. (Anthropology as a science, is treated as Neutral and Good and the various harm it has done is never acknowledged in the book.) I found this Slate article which discusses race and skulls: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_an... tl;dr: race cannot be conclusively determined from a skeleton, esp. not one bone, but scientists can make educated guesses about a person's race. But even that is somewhat controversial.

There's another big race twist at the end where they reveal the Native American tribe is not Native American at all, but are mixed race people who are white and Black. WHICH. LIKE. LIKE, WHAT??? WHAT. What. WHAT. I don't even have the will to unpack that right now. This was the cause of the murders because someone was trying to prevent the anthropologists from determining that with their skull study. While pretty much no one in the tribe was aware, the guy who requested the study was aware?? But he thought it wouldn't matter because no one would READ THE STUDY?? I just, it makes no sense.

Oh yeah, and the cops say super gross racist things about the tribe. Like saying they commit terrible murders that go unpunished, every man in the tribe has spent time in jail, that they're drunks, and the cops even make scalping jokes. It's gross and it's not contradicted. After it's revealed that the tribe is ACTUALLY BLACK, NOW instead of the jokes being about Natives being violent drunk criminals these are about Black people being violent drunk criminals. Also these parts are enormously oblivious to police violence against Black people and Native people?????????

Oh, by the way, remember that guy who I mentioned is satirized for appropriating Native cultures? He hangs out with the cops because of hijinks but he's inept at helping them BUT THEN he gets promoted to be the deputy of the alleged Native tribe, a role that the tribe members LITERALLY FOUGHT FOR. It pretty much undoes any slight good that satirizing his appropriation could have done. WHITE MEDIOCRITY AT ITS FINEST.

Okay, my hand is bothering me and I need to stop typing, lol, but I think I covered the worst of it. Don't read this book.

A quick read and a welcome break from my "serious" reading of martyrs and serious history.

I love these books. It's the kind of book you finish and just wish so badly that the characters were real and you were friends with all of them - - well, most of them. They're never too heavy, always creative, and the characters are the real jems - - they're what keep you coming back for more. I love the way Milo and Elizabeth's relationship is developing and the I get the watch it grow from the start.

I would really give this 3 1/2 stars if that were possible. I know this was one of the first in the series, so I anticipate them getting better as we go along. I liked it enough to go on the next one, certainly. Not as good as her later "ballad series" books. But a fun summer read.

This is the second book in this series, and the third of Sharyn McCrumb's novels that I have read. I am always happy to crack open another. The Elizabeth MacPherson series leans toward cozy mysteries with a few chortles and a belly laugh included. I am going to be binge reading her for a bit - that's how much I am enjoying reading her.

Lovely in Her Bones by McCrumb (1990)

The plot is thin and not humourous. The characters were shallow and robotic. Elizabeth spends a lot of time mooning over potential beau Milo. She does no detective work, but figures out who the murderer is. Then she immediately runs to the murderer, expecting Milo will save her??? I want my detectives to be smart, strong and actively searching for the criminal. Or flawed, but self-aware and actively looking for a solution. Silly and stupid does not do it for me.

After reading this second in McCrumb's series starring Elizabeth as an amateur sleuth, I'm hoping the series will improve soon as I so liked one of her later books. This mystery is set on an archaelogical dig involving Native Americans and a couple of murders. I found the dialogue to be over-simplified and the plot a bit disjointed.

I'd read such great reviews for this book: I kept thinking it's going to get better any minute now ... then I thought maybe I'm reading the wrong book ... you know, one with a similar title .. but no this was the book people were raving about. I don't know why? It was an elementary attempt at a mystery and not on par with the writers like Tony Hillerman or J.A. Jance at all. Now they're mystery writers.

Maybe I should have read the first one, but it was on the work bookshelf one day when I had some time. The story started out with possiblities, but it was blah, the murder was unbelievable and the characters flat. Not sure I would try this author again.