Karen S. (CacaoBear) reviewed on 8/20/2022 + 85 more book reviews

I've read several of this style of mystery/fiction - where a real life mystery writer )or other famous person) ends up as a character in the story. Most of them, I've thoroughly enjoyed. This one, I only partially enjoyed. This is billed as a "G.K. Chesterton Mystery" but Chesterton plays only a supporting role. He shows up as a guest to an archeological dig in Egypt in 1919. The hero of our story is apprentice archeologist Philip Flinders. The entore dig team is beyond excited when they unearth an intact tomb and begin exploring the treasures within. Work comes to a screeching halt, however, when one team member is mysteriously found dead inside the sarcophagus. With no obvious way for the victim to have gotten inside the tomb, the game's afoot (whhops! Wrong fictional detective!). For some inexplicable reason, both Chesterton and the local constabulary adopt Flinders as their confidant and man-of-action ... pressing him into service chasing criminals, searching crime scenes and interviewing witnesses and suspects. A deadly sandstorm hits! A man goes missing! Another body appears! Romances are broken and also made! It's like reading an infomercial - BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!" And all of this in a mere 250-ish pages. It should have beeen a mile-a-minute read, but I while I liked Flinders well enough, I never felt particularly connected to the people, the setting or the plot. This is supposed to be a twist on a locked-room mystery, but I knew (albeit only roughly) how the murder was committed from very early on - the fact that it wasn't until 10 pages from the end before anyone else realized it is a bit hard to swallow. The ancient Egypt setting is beautifully described, and it makes me wish I could take part in a dig some day. There is an element of religion/philosophy involved, as that is Chesterton's forte, but mostly in the dinner-table conversations, not as part-and-parcel of the mystery or its solution.

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