Erased from Memory

This mystery is the second (I believe) in a series in which the detective-character, Carla Day, is the daughter of a well-known archeologist (Egyptologist) with early Alzheimer's. Her identity in this book is more or less that -- one of my concerns with this book (who is she BESIDES her father's daughter and caregiver). Carla has taken a job working at the facility where her father lives (he can't live independently). Nearby is a privately-owned museum centered on Egyptian artifacts, and Carla takes her father there to see a coffin lid he discovered that has changed the field (his great discovery). While there, a man collapses and her father is accused of killing him. Carla, fiercely protective of her father, tries to prove he was not responsible. Carla's father is invited to live as a visiting scholar at the museum (attached to the mansion of the museum-owner), and Carla accompanies him. There are various deaths that follow, and a mystery involving something that happened at a dig in Egypt many years ago. All in all, this book was well-plotted. I found the writing style a bit awkward at parts -- not badly written, but requiring more concentration than I usually give to mysteries. But the big problem for me was that I was not as engaged by the book as I like to be if I am to give a book five stars. I enjoyed the book and read it in a few days, but this book did not keep me up until 2 in the morning reading it -- which for some readers, may be a good thing! Otherwise, an enjoyable read.

There are two heroes in this mystery: a gentlemanly scholar (his expertise is ancient Egypt) who happens to have Alzheimers, and his feisty not so ladylike daughter. They make a terrific -- and humorous -- pair. He's in danger, but doesn't exactly know it. She does know it, and is trying to save him. I liked the author's first book (Murder Never Forgets) in this series just as much. The action all takes place in California, which in a way becomes a character, too.

In Northern California, Carla Day takes her octogenarian father Edward, a renowned Egyptologist suffering from Alzheimer's father to see his greatest find, an ancient coffin lid housed at Egypt Regained Museum. While there, a man collapses to the floor; Edward rushes to his aid starting with loosening the victim's tie. However, security yanks him away as they assume he is choking the man to death. Local police arrest Edward charging him with strangulation, but the man lives lying in a coma in a nearby hospital. At the hospital, the comatose man apparently got up and left. Not long after he vanishes, he reappears as a corpse with an ankh in his mouth. Edward keeps arguing that they came here to see his coffin lid though he has visited it several times while Carla tries to uncover the truth about the dead man, not realizing how much danger she and her father are in from an unknown assailant who prefers to remain anonymous. The sequel to MURDER NEVER FORGETS plays out on two levels as readers obtain a first hand look at the ravages of Alzheimer's on the victim and his daughter inside a cleverly design whodunit. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Dr. Day intervenes until the final unnerving shocking final confrontation. Diana O'Hehir provides readers with a terrific Egyptology mystery combined with a strong personal look at senior health care issues. Harriet Klausner