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Rituals of the Dead: An Artifact Mystery

Adventures of Zelda Richardson, Book 3

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Rituals of the Dead: An Artifact Mystery

By: Jennifer S. Alderson
Narrated by: Chelsea Stephens
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About this listen

Stolen artifacts, a missing anthropologist, and a pesky amateur sleuth.

Art-history student Zelda Richardson is working at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam on an exhibition of bis poles from the Asmat region of Papua - the same area where a famous American anthropologist disappeared in 1962. When his journal is found inside one of the bis poles, Zelda is tasked with finding out more about the man's last days and his connection to these ritual objects.

Zelda is pulled into a world of shady anthropologists, headhunters, missionaries, art collectors, and smugglers - where the only certainty is that sins of the past are never fully erased.

Join Zelda as she grapples with the anthropologist's mysterious disappearance 50 years earlier and a present-day murderer who will do anything to prevent her from discovering the truth.

All four mysteries in the Adventures of Zelda Richardson series are stand-alone novels, and they can be listened to in any order.

©2018 Jennifer S. Alderson (P)2018 Jennifer S. Alderson Cosy Historical Mystery Thriller & Suspense Fiction

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Zelda Richardson had secured an internship at the Tropenmuseum in the Netherlands and was present at the press worthy arrival of crates of artefacts collected years before from the head hunting, ancestor worshiping Asmat tribes of Papua before Christian missionaries put an end to their belief system, activities and, consequently, their art. The boxes had been in storage for decades and had been delivered to the museum for a forthcoming exhibition. But the opening of one of the huge boxes held a surprise, the journal of a collector who disappeared without trace some 50 years before.

The story artfully moves between the present day preparations for the exhibition and Zelda's investigation, and the story of Nicholas Mayfield, the man who's journal that had been found. And along the way, much fascinating information about the Asmat and the political situation extant at the time. All is well written and with nice characterisation. Narrator Chelsea Stevens has a clear voice, her intonation good, if a little stilted at times. Young sounding, she is an excellent voice for the youthful main protagonist, Zeke, and she delivers distinctive seperate character dialogue.

My thanks to the rights holder of Rituals of the Dead, who, at my request, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom. At times the pace was a little slow but overall this was a fascinating glimpse into a world now long gone and, as such, highly recommended for anyone interested in art history and the time of the great artifact collectors

Property of Nicholas Mayfield

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I love books that run two timelines - this one past which explains the present but you have to listen to all the book to make sense of it.

I loved it, no heavy archaeology or anthropology but enough information to know the author either is one or other or is very good at research.

A fifty-year-old mystery, headhunters, Dutch Museums, your typical overworked, always blamed intern, a few modern murders and thefts and mix it together and you have a very enjoyable book which keeps you reading until the very last page.

I felt the Narrator has just the right voice for the book, she speaks clearly, no rushing yet conveys the emotions of the characters

I was given this book free and asked to write a review but what I have written is totally honest - if I thought it was bad I would say so, check my reviews.

This is book three so I am off to see if Audible has books one and two as I want to visit more with Zelda. I hope if they do its the same narrator.x

HeadHunters, Intern, Archaeology

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I was really impressed by Jennifer S Alderson with this book. Archeology has always intrigued me, and this book pulled me in from the very beginning. I haven't thought much of rituals of the dead from other countries before listening to this book. I am not naive in believing that shady things do not happen when dealing with antiques and art from other places. This book really brought to light how some things could have been done. The author was brilliantly clever in solving this case, and had unexpected twists. The performance by Chelsea Stephens was great. I really thought she did great with the suspense and proper emotions.

Great Story, Great Narration!

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