Preston & Child’s Hot Book of the Week

Are you interested in a signed copy of the current Hot Book of the Week? The Scorpion’s Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is the second Nora Kelly book. Signed copies are available through the Web Store, and they come with an exclusive photo of Preston on horseback. You can order a copy, as well as a copy of Old Bones, the first in the series, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2us95e9

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, referred to The Scorpion’s Tail as a Cussler/Hillerman fusion.

#1 bestselling authors Preston & Child return with the latest book in the new series featuring archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson.

Following the acclaimed debut of OLD BONES, this second “happily anticipated” new thriller in Preston & Child’s series features Nora Kelly, archaeologist at the Santa Fe Archeological Institute, and rookie FBI Agent Corrie Swanson, as they team up to solve a mystery that quickly escalates into nightmare (Booklist).

A mummified corpse, over half a century old, is found in the cellar of an abandoned building in a remote New Mexico ghost town. Corrie is assigned what seems to her a throwaway case: to ID the body and determine cause of death. She brings archaeologist Nora Kelly to excavate the body and lend her expertise to the investigation, and together they uncover something unexpected and shocking: the deceased apparently died in agony, in a fetal position, skin coming off in sheets, with a rictus of horror frozen on his face.

Hidden on the corpse lies a 16th century Spanish gold cross of immense value.

When they at last identify the body — and the bizarre cause of death — Corrie and Nora open a door into a terrifying, secret world of ancient treasure and modern obsession: a world centered on arguably the most defining, frightening, and transformative moment in American history.