A Carla Day Mystery Series

As they have so many times before, Carla Day and her Egyptologist father are visiting the museum—and the ancient coffin lid he discovered years ago—when a fellow museum-goer falls to the floor, choking. Dr. Day rushes to pry off the poor man’s tie, but instead of getting praise, he gets charged with murder by strangulation—and accused of faking Alzheimer’s.
 
The charges are dropped when it’s learned that the museum-goer isn’t dead, but comatose. And when he vanishes, Carla begins to suspect that her father’s faulty memory may be the only link between a millennia-old Egyptian death and a present-day California one.
 
“Clever and poignant . . . The puzzle intrigues and the characters come to life.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
 
“[An] acerbic, funny, insightful voice.”—The Boston Globe
 
“A cleverly designed whodunit [with an] unnerving shocking final confrontation.”—Midwest Book Review

“Incisive wit . . . a sleuth worthy of comparison to Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot or Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone.”—James W. Hall

Diana O’Hehir beguiled audiences with I Wish This War Were Over, runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. Now, she presents a mystery set in that most shadowy of landscapes: the human mind.
 
Green Beach Manor, set on the jagged cliffs of the California coast, calls itself “A Colony for Independently Functioning Adults.” It costs a pretty penny—and Carla Day is confident that her affectionate-but-confused elderly father is getting the best care there. An accomplished former Egyptologist, he now lives in a fusion of past and present. The staff hasn’t a clue what he’s ranting about—and they’re ready to send him to what they privately call No Hope House.
 
Then a string of suspicious events unravels. A fire starts inexplicably in the beauty parlor, and some drugs go missing. Carla, hoping to keep a close eye on her dad, lands a job as an aide at the Manor. But management has one condition: Spy for us, figure out who’s doing this—and you and your father can stay.
 
Soon, a guest swallows glass hidden in her food. An employee dies an eerie death. And Carla’s father begins rambling not only about Egyptian pyramids, but also about a dead woman on the nearby beach. The answer may lie in an ancient Egyptian tomb. Or maybe it’s somewhere further—in the deep recesses of a brilliant old man’s memory.

“One of the most intellectually delightful murder mysteries ever written . . . The narrating voice is a pleasure from beginning to end, and the reader comes away with an education in ancient Egyptology!”—Vivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments