Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed Reader
Review: "The Bone Vault" is by far the worst of the heretofore uneven but still enjoyable Alexandra Cooper series. I found myself annoyed almost from the first page, but because I have been such a huge fan of Linda Fairstein, I kept on going. And going. And going. It felt like the book grew a chapter or two every day, it was that difficult to plough through. The main plot (and there are several confusing subplots as well) concerns the discovery of a young woman's amazingly well preserved body in a sarcophagus belonging to the Natural History Museum in New York. Or it is the Met? The description of the museums, their histories, their methods of operation, their hidden labyrinthian nooks and crannies, and above all, their rivalries, was somewhat interesting for a while, but halfway into the book, I no longer cared if I ever set foot in a museum again, New York's or otherwise. At any rate, while investigating this murder, Alex and her cohorts, Chapman and Mercer, uncover a lot more than they bargained for. Surprise, surprise. There are plenty of loose ends that are never discussed again...but lucky us, we also get a highly annoying visit to Martha's Vineyard again, for another "girls' weekend out" at Alex's beach house, so we can all feel bad that we are not rich enough to enjoy same--from the perfect food, to the masseuse-for-three, to the luxe accommodations. But what really sent me around the bend was the sidetrack into a soliloquy about September 11. With all due respect for the author's very real feelings about this event, the rest of America has them too. Somehow, the way she described her own real horror (and I certainly do not question her feelings or degrade them in any way), she managed to convey that she and others in her immediate circle were somehow more privy to the grief and horror of that day. I found it gratuitous, and it made me very angry. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the plot, even peripherally, and it rubbed me very much the wrong way. The plot finally wends its weary way to the end, and not a moment too soon, as this reader would willingly have taken the body's place in the sarcophagus just to get away from a character who has become a parody of herself. Perhaps it's time for Fairstein to give Alex Cooper et al. a rest?
Rating: 
Summary: A page-turner for me!
Review: After Deadhouse, I didn't rush to pick up The Bone Vault . However, I was delightfully surprised. Fans of Fairstein will enjoy another romp with her heroine, Alexandra Cooper, and supporting cast of police officers. New York's Metropolitan and Natural History museums have planned a joint exhibit "The Bestiary," featuring depictions of animals in medieval art and artifacts. While they are setting up the exhibit, the body of a young South African intern is discovered in an Egyptian tomb. Who was this intern and why was she murdered? That's the main plot of the book and we have plenty of detours for special cases of Cooper's Sex Crimes unit. As other readers have noted, the book isn't especially scary, despite a short "trapped" scene near the end, even when the characters prowl around deserted museum floors after dark. However, there IS suspense, created by our search for the intern's history. And we do learn an awful lot about how skeletons and other remains have been placed in museums. If the book is accurate, there's been a callous disregard for ancestors of people who care very much about honoring the dead. While terror may be missing, there's an abundance of likeable characters, including a young woman who flies from London to help the investigation. We learn a lot about museums and museum politics. I'll never view the Met the same way again. I had trouble putting the book down -- a happy, rare event these days -- but the ending was a little disappointing. If we were given clues ahead of time, I didn't detect them. And I have to agree with Alexandra's friend who warns that Jake, Alex's current boyfriend, isn't right for her. It's obvious the author has trouble making Jake, the international journalist, come alive on the pages, and soon he'll be gone.
Will Alexandra become romantically involved with her cop friend, Mike? Perhaps after his current love dies tragically?
I hope not. We need to maintain the tensions of their friendship. And Alexandra remains an attractive thirty-six years old. She's far too wise for that age -- only ten years out of law school -- and she needs some long-term goals, both career and personal. A 36-year-old whiz kid won't stay in that job forever.
Rating:
Summary: Needs Better Editing
Review: Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cooper investigates when museum intern South African Katrina Grooten is found dead in a sarcophagus. This was interesting (especially compared to the author's earlier novels), though some bits could've been left out. (B+)
Rating: 
Summary: N.Y. museum history---fascinating
Review: I am fascinated by the facts that Fairstein includes in her novels. This time it is information about the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, and the Cloisters. The dimensions of the buildings, the incredible number of items in their collections, and the awesome task of trying to catalogue and keep track of these items almost outweighs the crime involved. A young woman from S. Africa is found in a sarcophagus, mummified no less, and Alex Cooper must try to solve this murder. Along with her friend, Det. Mike Chapman,
their search takes them to the curators of the museums and all
associated helpers. Such a mind-boggling task!
I have read 4 Fairstein books in the last 3 weeks. Love her and the N.Y. history she tells as well as a great mystery novel.
Rating:
Summary: N.Y. museum history---fascinating
Review: I am fascinated by the facts that Fairstein includes in her novels. This time it is information about the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, and the Cloisters. The dimensions of the buildings, the incredible number of items in their collections, and the awesome task of trying to catalogue and keep track of these items almost outweighs the crime involved. A young woman from S. Africa is found in a sarcophagus, mummified no less, and Alex Cooper must try to solve this murder. Along with her friend, Det. Mike Chapman,
their search takes them to the curators of the museums and all
associated helpers. Such a mind-boggling task!
I have read 4 Fairstein books in the last 3 weeks. Love her and the N.Y. history she tells as well as a great mystery novel.
Rating:
Summary: Freakish discovery leads to museum caper...
Review: I like Fairstein's books. Great literature they are not, but they are very well-written and very researched. This one involved the museums in New York (which I really, really want to see thanks to this book). A shipment of artifacts to share with other museums goes a bit awry, meaning one of the sarcophagus' open and share it's inhabitant to the men loading the artifacts. It becomes too apparent that the woman inside, though well-preserved is not a member of the royal Eqyptian family! Cooper and Chapman have their hands way too full this time. Part of it is due to heat, crime goes up with heat. Part of it is sheer stupidity of the criminals. Fairstein does a heart-breaking analysis of 9/11 and its impact on both the city and the people who rushed to respond (cops, firefighters), and it made me remember the anquish all over again. Cooper and Chapman have a good working relationship. They need to in this one, since the museums are bound and determine not to let the police interfere even though one of the museums is harboring a killer. Thanks to Fairstein, I got a lot of background about museums I didn't know. Very interesting. What a warren of rabbit holes, filled with stuff we will never get to see, though I would love to visit down there. Maybe the museums should think about having limited tours for those who are interested in seeing the old and 'other' stuff. Fun book for the beach. Karen Sadler
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed Reader
Review: I was at first pleased with the book but when it drifted into a political statement on the rights of minorities even to the point of a white woman from South Africa being raped by a blackman not seeking to pursue justice as couldn't bring herself to accuse a blackman because of the injustices done to blacks in her native county in the past it lost my interest.
Rating:
Summary: Colorful background about two great museums.
Review: In Linda Fairstein's new mystery, "The Bone Vault," a young woman named Katrina Grooten has come to New York City from South Africa to work at the Cloisters, which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Grooten's dead body is found in the sarcophagus of an Egyptian princess. Who murdered Grooten and placed her in this unusual coffin? Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper is on the case, along with her pals, detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace. The problem with "The Bone Vault" is that the mystery element is almost nonexistent. There is no tension, there are no thrills, and the ending is almost anticlimactic. However, as in Fairstein's "The Deadhouse," the author's thorough research has made "The Bone Vault" a treasure trove of information. The reader is treated to arcane and fascinating details about two of the greatest museums in the world, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History. We learn about their vast and varied collections, their tremendous storehouses, and the army of people who keep these institutions up and running. Fairstein loves her subject; her enthusiasm and vivid descriptions make the museums the most interesting characters in the book. Fairstein, as always, writes lighthearted and cute banter for Alex and her friends, and she is always sharp when it comes to legal matters and police procedure. The book could have been so much better had Fairstein written a more intriguing story. As it stands, I give "The Bone Vault" a marginal recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Coulda-Mighta-Shoulda
Review: On paper, "The Bone Vault" looks like a sure-fire pleaser: a behind-the-scenes look at the wheeling and dealing of two mighty museums, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum. All the off-limits basements, vaults and circuitous corridors are open for our inspection. (Think "Relic" by Preston/Childs). A body of a young woman is found remarkably preserved in an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus. "The Bone Vault" never finds a focus. Rather than being entertained, the reader is distracted by meandering threads, dead-end sub-plots, and a dull cast of characters. I found this one of the most put downable books of the year. The suspects are so lack luster, I was indifferent as to which of them did the dirty deed. Heroine Alexandra Cooper, head of the Sex Crimes Department, is presented as fearless and energetic, but with "issues." She takes tremendous comfort in the dog-like loyalty of her loudmouth, red neck, graceless police department detective, Mike Chapman. I was strongly reminded of Patricia Cornwell's loutish Marino, whose slavish devotion to Kay Scarpetta is unquestioning and limitless. Strangely, I think Ms. Fairstein does have an inner core of toughness that Ms. Cornwell lacks, but both have a blind eye to how little these charmless behemoths add to the storyline. Though I think Ms. Fairstein did some excellent researching on her source material, the story just isn't there. Grade: 2.5 stars -sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer
Rating: 
Summary: Great setting, poor author
Review: This is my first Linda Fairstein book, and I must say, even though this is a mixed review, that I am impressed. She uses the occasion of the discovery of a freakishly preserved corpse discovered in a sarcophagus where only a mummy should have been to write a detailed and convincing police procedural about the world behind the exhibits in several of the world's most famous museums. As I discovered with 'The Relic,' I am a sucker for stories that play out in the almost gothic settings these museums and their secret places provide. Alexandra Cooper, head of the Manhattan DA's Sex Crimes Unit, becomes involved in this case as the result of attending a museum event announcing a new joint exhibit to be created but the Metropolitan, the Cloisters, and the Museum of Natural History. When the body is discovered while in the process of shipment, she is asked to consult, and brings in the Manhattan Police Department when it becomes clear that this is a murder case. Thereby triggering a steady stream of museum political wrangles and infighting. Balancing this is her regular caseload of criminal investigations and prosecutions. This makes for a rich and satisfying story with plenty of mystery, complications, and personality. I have to issues with the narrative, however. The first is that Fairstein writes almost an entire chapter using the events of 9/11 to build sympathy for both Alexandra Cooper and her colleague, Mike Chapman. Personally, I do not think this was necessary, certainly not to the extent that it was done. Moreover, at the end of it all, we really know very little more about either character. I think there are more effective ways to honor the lives lost on that day, and more effective ways to do character development. On a more literary note, Fairstein puts considerable energy into creating suspense with a complicated and interwoven story line. Thus building into what should have been a climactic ending where the solution to the crime should have been an epiphany. Instead, the plot simply unravels, and the ending, while still a bit surprising, does not live up to its harbingers. You want the conclusion to be shattering, the material is there, but it simply does not happen. Despite my complaints, this is an eminently readable story, and so far Fairstein hasn't fallen for the excessive angst that eventually ruined Patricia Cornwell's series. The detailing about the museums is wonderfully fine, worth the price of admission on its own. I intend to go back and read 'The Deadhouse,' her first novel, and will watch for new work from her as well.
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