Table of Contents
About The Book
The New York Times bestselling author of Devil's Bridge and renowned former Manhattan prosecutor delivers a mesmerizing Alexandra Cooper novel set at the crossroads of big money, high culture, and murder...
The Bone Vault begins in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's glorious Temple of Dendur, where wealthy donors have gathered to celebrate a controversial new exhibit.
An uneasy mix of scholarship, showbiz, and aggressive marketing, "A Modern Bestiary" will be a joint venture of the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. With its IMAX time trips and Rembrandt refrigerator magnets, the "Bestiary" has raised fierce opposition from some of New York's museum elite. Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper, off duty for the evening, observes the developing tensions with bemused interest until Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside. He needs her advice. There's an urgent problem out at a loading dock on a New Jersey pier.
A Twelfth Dynasty mummified princess, enclosed for eternity in a huge stone sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a woman many centuries younger than her royal predecessor.
Who is this woman with the small physique, the dark hair, and the shiny barrette? What is her connection, if any, to the rarefied world of priceless art and objects? And how and when did she become entombed in the sarcophagus?
Teaming with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must explore behind the scenes at the elegant but severe Metropolitan, travel uptown to the remote setting of the Cloisters and its medieval trove of funerary art, and on to the massive array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.
Atmospheric, chilling, and rich with the kind of procedural authenticity that only Linda Fairstein can provide, The Bone Vault is a page-turning tour de force from one of crime writing's brightest stars.
The Bone Vault begins in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's glorious Temple of Dendur, where wealthy donors have gathered to celebrate a controversial new exhibit.
An uneasy mix of scholarship, showbiz, and aggressive marketing, "A Modern Bestiary" will be a joint venture of the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. With its IMAX time trips and Rembrandt refrigerator magnets, the "Bestiary" has raised fierce opposition from some of New York's museum elite. Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper, off duty for the evening, observes the developing tensions with bemused interest until Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside. He needs her advice. There's an urgent problem out at a loading dock on a New Jersey pier.
A Twelfth Dynasty mummified princess, enclosed for eternity in a huge stone sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a woman many centuries younger than her royal predecessor.
Who is this woman with the small physique, the dark hair, and the shiny barrette? What is her connection, if any, to the rarefied world of priceless art and objects? And how and when did she become entombed in the sarcophagus?
Teaming with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must explore behind the scenes at the elegant but severe Metropolitan, travel uptown to the remote setting of the Cloisters and its medieval trove of funerary art, and on to the massive array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.
Atmospheric, chilling, and rich with the kind of procedural authenticity that only Linda Fairstein can provide, The Bone Vault is a page-turning tour de force from one of crime writing's brightest stars.
Reading Group Guide
1. THE BONE VAULT opens with Alexandra Cooper returning from the morgue and closes with her discovering a controversial collection of bones deep in the Museum of Natural History. How are these two outwardly dissimilar bone vaults linked thematically?
2. The investigation into Katrina Grooten's murder takes Alex through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Natural History museum. What do these museums have in common, and how is each distinct?
3. Alex says that she feels fortunate that her boyfriend Jake Tyler's unpredictable schedule helps him understand the demands of her own profession. But what are the drawbacks to this type of relationship? Do her concerns that Jake is leaking information about her cases point to larger issues between them?
4. Do you think that Alex made the right call in taking a tough stand with Angel Alfieri? What kind of person does it take to be able to make those kinds of judgment calls every day?
5. What are Alex and Mike Chapman's favorite rooms of the Met, and what do their choices tell us about them?
6. Alex's stalker, Shirley Danzig, has followed her from THE DEAD HOUSE to this novel. What does Shirley's presence add to this story? Why do you think that Alex waited so long to tell Chapman that Shirley was back in her life?
7. Alex wants to know as many personal details as possible about the victims she encounters, while Chapman doesn't want to know the deceased any better than the facts force him to. What do their investigative styles say about them? Is either approach better than the other?
8. Hiram Bellinger, a curator at the Cloisters, tells Alex and Chapman, "If you're going to work in a museum, get used to the fact that most of what you see has been stolen from beneath someone's nose" (p. 172). Were you surprised to learn this? How accurate do you think this statement is?
9. Similarly, Pierre Thibodaux argues that the Taliban's destruction of the giant Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 justifies the museum's history of smuggling art away from the lands where it was created. Do you agree that some works of art are better off in the hands of curators half the globe away?
10. Although Alex welcomes Chapman's new girlfriend with open arms, she admits to herself that she feels a little jealous of Val's happiness. What, in particular, do you think she envies?
11. Joan confides to Alex that she doesn't think that Jake is "the one." Do you agree?
12. Did you think it was important for Linda Fairstein to address the events of September 11th in this novel? How did the attack affect her characters? Why was Chapman able to open up about the experience only to Alex?
13. Ultimately, do you think that the bones that the museum holds should, when possible, be given back to the families and lands from which they were taken, or do you think that they now belong to the museum?
2. The investigation into Katrina Grooten's murder takes Alex through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Natural History museum. What do these museums have in common, and how is each distinct?
3. Alex says that she feels fortunate that her boyfriend Jake Tyler's unpredictable schedule helps him understand the demands of her own profession. But what are the drawbacks to this type of relationship? Do her concerns that Jake is leaking information about her cases point to larger issues between them?
4. Do you think that Alex made the right call in taking a tough stand with Angel Alfieri? What kind of person does it take to be able to make those kinds of judgment calls every day?
5. What are Alex and Mike Chapman's favorite rooms of the Met, and what do their choices tell us about them?
6. Alex's stalker, Shirley Danzig, has followed her from THE DEAD HOUSE to this novel. What does Shirley's presence add to this story? Why do you think that Alex waited so long to tell Chapman that Shirley was back in her life?
7. Alex wants to know as many personal details as possible about the victims she encounters, while Chapman doesn't want to know the deceased any better than the facts force him to. What do their investigative styles say about them? Is either approach better than the other?
8. Hiram Bellinger, a curator at the Cloisters, tells Alex and Chapman, "If you're going to work in a museum, get used to the fact that most of what you see has been stolen from beneath someone's nose" (p. 172). Were you surprised to learn this? How accurate do you think this statement is?
9. Similarly, Pierre Thibodaux argues that the Taliban's destruction of the giant Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 justifies the museum's history of smuggling art away from the lands where it was created. Do you agree that some works of art are better off in the hands of curators half the globe away?
10. Although Alex welcomes Chapman's new girlfriend with open arms, she admits to herself that she feels a little jealous of Val's happiness. What, in particular, do you think she envies?
11. Joan confides to Alex that she doesn't think that Jake is "the one." Do you agree?
12. Did you think it was important for Linda Fairstein to address the events of September 11th in this novel? How did the attack affect her characters? Why was Chapman able to open up about the experience only to Alex?
13. Ultimately, do you think that the bones that the museum holds should, when possible, be given back to the families and lands from which they were taken, or do you think that they now belong to the museum?
About The Author
Linda Fairstein
Linda Fairstein was chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the district attorney's office in Manhattan for more than two decades and is America's foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (January 21, 2003)
- Length: 400 pages
- ISBN13: 9780743250702
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- Book Cover Image (jpg): The Bone Vault eBook 9780743250702
