The Moon Tunnel

First Sentence: The man in the moon tunnel stops and listens to the night above, shivering despite the sweat which trickles into his ears, making the drums flutter like the beat of pigeons' wings. Journalist Philip Dryden is doing a story on an archeological dig at the site of a WWII PoW camp. More is found than artifacts when a tunnel is uncovered containing the skeleton of a man who had been shot in the forehead. What makes it more unusual it that he had been traveling toward the camp rather than escaping from it. This embarks Dryden on a story of murder, artifacts and family secrets, including this own and his wife's, a woman in a Locked-In Syndrome for the past five years. There was a harder edge to this book than the previous in the series. Kelly does a wonderful job of conveying the emotion of his characters which gives this book great impact. For Dryden, it is the frustration and fatigue of caring for this wife, along with the guilt and love that still exists. There is also his antagonistic friendship with Humph, his driver and all the fears and nightmares with which Dryden lives. I love learning from books. It was interesting to be at Dryden's shoulder as he wrote and filed his news stories. Not only did I learn about the PoW camps in England but about Seahenge, the artist Richard Dadd and chariot burials. All fascinating stuff and I am so grateful for the existence of the internet. More importantly, these things added strength and veracity to the story. It's not the easiest book in the series to read. The story is a complicated one, aided by narrative from the past (unfortunately written in long passages of italics). Where it begins down one path it ultimately turns and goes down another path entirely. I was never able to anticipate when the story was going but allowed it to take me with it to a very satisfying end.

In England's Fen region, the archeological team led by Cambridge's Professor Valmgimigli was digging for Anglo-Saxon artifacts at a World War II POW camp when they found the underground tunnel that apparently was an escape route. Inside the tunnel is a skeleton in which the deceased seemingly heading back to the camp was shot in the head. Local law enforcement already overworked treats the homicide as a five decade old cold case. The Crow reporter Philip Dryden finds the murder mystery quite fascinating especially since he previously reported on the "Ely Dig" so he begins making inquiries. As he discovers clues to the identity of the dead man that take him to a landfill owner, the enigmatic legendary powerhouse Ma Trunch and a nearby Italian community the clues to the homicide seem to always dead end. The third Dryden journalist investigation is a fabulous mystery due to the hero and other caring eccentric protagonists helping him as he makes his inquiries. Interestingly Dryden is a bit of a coward, but does not allow his fears for example of dogs to stop his investigation as he rides his motivations of curiosity and compassion to learn the truth. Throwing in a touch of 1940s history, Jim Kelly provides a super tale. Harriet Klausner