Dead Past (Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation, No. 4)

Beverly Connor packs a lot of action into this novel while weaving together threads from a World War I legend, a twenty-year-old cold case, and a series of modern day murders. Especially interesting to me is her main character, quick thinking and multi-talented Dr. Dianne Fallon. Connor always includes plenty of forensic information but never bogs down the story line with too much detail. The fast pace and the shifting focus keep the reader's interest until the end.

I got this as a Christmas present, it's not something I would normally buy for myself. I'm glad my Aunt/Uncle have such good taste in books, this was perfect for me. This is the fourth book in the series and I'm anxious to go back and read the previous ones. The characters are wonderful and while the ultimate solution to the case was somewhat bizarre it was an interesting trip

Diane's forensic lab is overworked when a meth lab explodes underneath a student party. Meanwhile she's targeted by both grieving family and politicians wanting faster and different results, but Diane knows that the truth is no amenable to opinion. Surprisingly a historic link seems to explain some of the motivations.

Some of the characters are able to extract remarkable information which speeds the plot along, but isn't really very believable. No caving.

Not that any of Beverly Connor's Fallon series mysteries are happy go luck or utterly joyful, but this novel was quite the darkest of the series so far.

A house down the street from Diane that houses students from Bartam University explodes, waking Diane up and soon she's not only embroiled in the investigation to figure out who was responsible. At the same time she's accused of murder, and on the museum side of things she has to figure out who's stealing things from almost all the department vaults (Oh, and she nearly gets carjacked at the beginning as well as ending the novel with quite an assortment of injuries). As I said. Quite a dark novel.

The darkness was well done though. Connor had small bits with Frank or Star or the other show more supporting characters that gave the reader a little respite from the death, destruction, and overwhelming anger that seemed to permeate the plot. Everyone seemed to be angry, from Diane to the parents of the kids who died.

As usual the story also left some dangling plots that could be picked up in the next book, and I hope they are and not just left hanging.

This one was very much a Crime Lab centered book, and it would be nice if there were more museum centered ones, but, then again, the Crime Lab stories are generally more compelling. show less

Diana Fallon series. Enjoyable as always.