| Title | : | The Maltese Goddess (Lara McClintoch Archeological Mystery, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 1998 |
The Maltese Goddess (Lara McClintoch Archeological Mystery, #2) Reviews
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I loved Lyn Hamilton’s first mystery enough to call her “the best Canadian author I’ve ever read”. I admire how she refrains from stating the obvious. This keeps action at the forefront, so stories are full of it. She kept unnecessary dialogue and steps at bay so well; I merely said she could indulge in more description. If the author received these observations of her first work, I praise her for making “The Maltese Goddess” even better!
It contains all the excellent research and cultural flavour I love but this time, she coloured in magnificent description. You accompany the protagonist, Lara, as a newcomer getting to know this island and feel her affection for the hosts and key players. The characters are developed superbly, an achievement in a story with a large quantity who are each distinct. Using students and a passionate teacher to present Malta’s ancient history is entertaining and well done. Crazy driving conditions of the country are humorous and really speak to a visitor’s awkwardness.
Lyn’s work is highly recommended by me again. There is a touch of politics, murder mystery, the exciting elements of old secrets and hidden artifacts, and relationship threads that are particularly complex this time round. Not least, it’s a pleasure to acquaint series staples better, like Lara’s shop partner and close friend, Alex. Every time I turn Lyn Hamilton pages, I learn even as I am entertained. -
Much like the first book in this series, this story is very much plot driven vs character driven. I don't mind that actually, but it will make this a hard read for some. Character development is minimal at best, but the attention to historical and physical detail is amazing. I did not guess whodunit quickly. While that is normally a GOOD thing in a mystery novel, in this case I feel like it is more lack of clues than a surprise twist. Additionally, this story doesn't feel finished. There is substantial new information given in the last chapter and no real resolution to... Well, almost anything.
If you're looking for a read that won't tax your brain much, but feels more sophisticated than a typical murder mystery, this is a great series. If you want to feel invested in the characters or drawn into the plot, bypass. -
I would give the book 2½ stars partly because this Kindle edition has a few editing errors that were annoying. However, my biggest complaint was the unnecessary 'talk' of the Goddess at the beginning of each chapter -- I liked it at first but it didn't really have anything to do with the story so I lost interest. Much of the history of Malta contained in those section was also presented in the main story line as well so it didn't even have that purpose.
I also found it extremely distracting in the climax of the mystery for the author to suddenly switch from writing in the past tense to present tense (just for that one chapter). -
I stumbled upon this series and am very happy I did. The story has many twists and turns and steady development of the main character Lara and her supporting cast. The author weaves fictional murder and mystery with historical facts leaving the reader wanting more. This is the second book in this series, and I look forward to reading more.
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I really enjoyed this literate mystery with the sub-texts of female goddess worship, architecture, and the history of Malta. The characters are interesting and developed, the story is complex and engaging, and the conclusion is not dropped on the reader from nowhere at the end. Am really enjoying this series and plan to read more.
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A wealthy and famous architect whom Lara knows purchases an expensive load of furniture and carpets from her little antiquities shop in Toronto. Then he invites her to fly off ASAP and set it all up in his Malta residence, in preparation for him to host some European VIPs in about a month. It's a lot more involved than that, because the construction isn't even finished yet, so she babysits that process for a couple of weeks. And then she discovers a body in an odd place... Uh-oh.
A good portion of the novel is concerned with the murder investigation, as well as her involvement in a local girls' theatrical production, the caretakers of the residence, and their son. She makes the acquaintance of an RCMP (a Mountie, that is) who is sent over to help investigate, because the murder may have occurred in Canada. There are some interesting twists along the way that kept me surprised and intrigued right up to the end.
The book is full of fascinating history, sweeping scenic vistas, and cultural details that really brought Malta to life for me. And I absolutely adore the protagonist, Lara. Yes, I'm likely to read the rest of the books in this series. This is only the second.
I obtained this volume for free at Smashwords during a big sale in 2016. The entire Lara McClintoch series was offered for free, except for the first book which was $1.99. (Seemed a bit odd for the first to be paid when the rest are free; opposite the usual procedure, but totally OK with me! Thanks again to the heirs of Lyn Hamilton.)
The editing and production of the e-book are good. There are a few spots where I could tell the text was input via OCR from a printed copy and the proof-reader may have been dozing or the automatic spell-checker went on the fritz: a few occurrences of "tum" for "turn", "modem" for "modern"... That sort of thing... And one occurrence of "sbarply", heh heh. (As usual, I kept notes in case anyone want the list of typos.) -
Another enjoyable quick read by Lyn Hamilton. This time, her sleuthing antique dealer sells a number of items to a architect who then asks her to travel to his home in Malta and see to the installation of the pieces before he arrives to host a gathering of dignitaries. Lara McClintock readily agrees and travels to the lovely island, and is soon enamored with the people and the community — despite the sight of a mysterious stranger in the back yard and a dead cat. When the furniture finally arrives, she is relieved ... until she finds a piece that was not meant to be part of the consignment ... and the body of her client.
Soon she is answering questions of the local police and hosting a Canadian Mountie sent to find out what is happening. Lara finds herself, as usual, in suspicious circumstances and dealing with murky clues to resolve just what is happening.
And murky it is with several twists and turns. Hamilton has created a likable character who deals with the incidents that come a her in true-t0-life fashion. Hamilton came to writing mysteries in life and didn't live long but the books she packed into the last 15 years of her life are all enjoyable, fun reading. every time I finish one, I wish she had had more time. -
The discussion of Malta and its history made a really good context for the plot. The characters were nicely drawn. I found it a bit overly complicated from time to time, in that it kept going in a lot of different directions, but it tied up nicely. I don't know if I would call it feminist, exactly, but it certainly gave the women characters a lot of agency, and fleshed them out in a lot more detail than I have often seen. I am starting the first book of the series now. I plan to read more, but only the ones that have settings that interest me. The thing I love most about murder mysteries is that most writers do such a great job with settings. I can "see" the places where the actions occur, and feel like I am getting a better sense of the place.
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Non mi ha preso: la trama non è particolarmente avvincente, ma soprattutto è annegata in un mare di chiacchiere e descrizioni da guida turistica.
La protagonista è un po' scialba, e in generale la narrazione si trascina stancamente, e con un linguaggio e uno stile un po' obsoleti. -
Lara McClintoch is the half-owner of an antiques shop in Toronto. One of her customers, an internationally famous architect and world-class jerk, wants to hire her to go to Malta to set up his newly built house there. He wants her to oversee the delivery and placement of furniture and see that the house is ready for a big soiree that he's planning to entertain various highly important people.
Lara, with some misgivings, agrees to take the assignment, but when she arrives in Malta, she finds the house still not completed and workmen in a feverish race to get everything done on time.
Soon after she arrives, strange things start happening. She sees a mysterious hooded figure at the edge of the garden at night. Then a cat is murdered and left on the property. The brake lines on the car she had been given to use are cut. And perhaps creepiest of all, an odd and obnoxious man whom she first saw on the plane keeps turning up everywhere she goes in Malta. It seems apparent that someone is trying very hard to scare and/or warn her.
The architect's housekeeper and her husband and son are on hand to assist Lara, but she feels intuitively that something is not as it should be.
Finally, the furniture arrives and Lara notices that one of the pieces is different from the pieces that were chosen back in Toronto. Instead of an armoire, there is a large chest. She opens it up and inside she finds the body of the architect. Someone has put an end to his jerkitude by murdering him. There seems to be no lack of possible suspects, his wife being perhaps first on the list.
The first question to be settled is, where did the murder happen? Was it back in Canada or when the plane had a layover in Rome? It takes a while to settle this question definitively, but in the meantime, the RCMP sends one of their sergeants over to assist in the investigation since the man killed was a Canadian citizen.
The mystery deepens further when the odd man from the plane also turns up dead. Murdered. Is there a connection between the two murders and does it have anything to do with some allegedly lost treasure on Malta that is somehow related to the worship of the Great Goddess?
Complexities and complications abound and red herrings are strewn all over the place, but Lara manages to assist the local Maltese police and the visiting Mountie in their inquiries.
I liked the fact that the author started each chapter with a brief entry that addressed some aspect of the history of the Great Goddess and of Malta, and I liked the character of the feminist Professor Stanhope who was engaged in teaching her students about the Great Goddess. However, I felt that Lyn Hamilton did this character a disservice in the arc of the story that she gave her. She was very stereotypically described as a dried-up spinster who fell madly in love with the first younger guy who showed up and showed an interest in her. That just didn't mesh with her image as an accomplished historian with a deep interest in and understanding of the Goddess culture.
I felt this book was an improvement over the first entry in the archeological mystery series. Lara seemed not quite as ditsy as she was in the first one and her interaction with the visiting Mountie seemed fraught with possibilities. I wonder if we'll meet him again in later books. -
Second in the excellent series of archaeological mysteries by Lyn Hamilton featuring antique shop owner/designer Lara McClintoch, this was a good as the first.
Lara now has part ownership of her shop back. The woman she sold it to does not like traveling and shopping abroad and dealing with customs so Lara buys back in so she can do this work. A rich architect who treats his older, rich wife like crap (he flirts with women right to her face) comes in and buys tens of thousands of dollars of items and asks Lara to travel to his homeland of Malta to decorate his new house , all expenses paid, for a social event he will hold for many diplomats.
Right away, trouble follows Lara. The house is creepy the first night as a thick fog rolls in and she (there alone) sees someone in a cape and hood creeping about the back yard . Another day, a cat is killed and hung in the yard. The car brakes are cut. An odd man she saw on the plane keeps showing up everywhere she goes and finally tries to run her off the road. She later runs into him in a crypt where he seems to be trying to bargain with her then runs away when he realizes his mistake.
The housekeeper and her husband have ties no one realizes with the architect. 18 years earlier, he got her pregnant and ran away forcing her to marry her husband. When the furniture shipment finally shows up, there is a strange chest with it- and the architect is found dead inside it. Marissa (the housekeeper's husband) had been away on a mystery trip to Rome (where the architect was killed).
Lara is forced to take things into her own hands as the murders roll on. She gets involved with the son's girlfriend's school group who is putting on a play about the goddess worshipped on Malta long ago, finds herself involved with a Canadian Mountie (the architect was from Canada) who has come as a consultant on the case, and gets clues from a man called Hedgehog after the man who tried to run her off the road tells her there is great danger then she finds him impaled on a knight's sword in a museum.
My only beef is her portrayal of a feminist professor as being an "old maid" type yet falling madly in love with a younger guy who showed up. She turned this character into a stick character full of wrong and stupid stereotypes. -
OK, this was definitely better than the first one (The Xibalba Murders, q.v.). Still a bit, I don’t know, generic I guess, but not nearly so annoying as the last one, so I have hopes the series continues to improve. I am a bit weary of feminism as a theme and, forgive me, the Great Goddess stuff is also overdone in general, but it wasn’t seriously dreary in this instance. And I can’t fault her for ringing in the Knights Templar as well, since this was published well before the recent fad took hold.
I liked the twist at the end, nicely done, and the characters were more interesting, too. Most of the bad guys were fairly obvious from their entrances on, but that doesn’t really bother me. The one character I had an ongoing problem with was the boyfriend that Our Heroine picked up at the end of the last book. We hardly met him or knew anything about him in that book, and in this one he was elsewhere throughout, which was really bugging me, but Hamilton did sort it all out by the end of this one, so that’s ok.
Only a couple of editing errors I noticed – “out of site”, eek, and a reference to workers from the Maltese electrical utility as “hydro people”, which I thought remarkably unlikely in the locale, but on the other hand, the narrator is Canadian…. -
Somehow, I read this book and then forgot I read it. Oh, I remembered the storyline, instantly, a few pages into what I thought was my first reading of the only book in this series I thought I hadn't read. It's one of the best titles in the series, in my opinion. I picked up the first title because it fit into a reading challenge that required an 'X' in the title and it sounded interesting. The first book wasn't amazing, but it was good enough that I picked up others. This one is the one that convinced me I had to read all of them. Apparently, and with the help of a rather involved cross-country move, I got so excited about it I forgot to note that I had actually read it.
You may figure out what happened fairly quickly, as sometimes happens with Agatha Christie's mysteries, but you'll be entertained anyway. Even after realizing I knew this story, I was glued to it the entire second run. I love the effort the author put into her research, and I always feel like I learned something from her in the process. Maybe I'm just charmed by ancient history (my high school teachers will attest that modern history certainly didn't hold my attention the same way), but this series makes me want to visit these places, and see these sites for myself. Hopefully, you will feel the same way. -
I wish we could give 3 1/2 star ratings! I like this mystery which is the second in Lyn Hamilton's series featuring Lara McClintoch. I learned something about the history and geography of Malta in the process of solving the mystery.
Lara travels from Toronto to Malta to help a famouse architect get his new house set up for an upcoming party. Murder and mayhem follow Lara, and she criss-crosses the island of Malta in a clunker of a car which provides some pretty funny scenes in the book.
I liked it. I didn't LOVE it, but then I think that I'm a pretty hard grader when it comes to handing out review stars. Liking a book is a good thing! I liked it enough that I will read the third book in the series when time permits.
Sadly, Lyn Hamilton died in September of 2009, so there won't be any more Archaeolocial Mysteries forthcoming. -
More like 2 1/2 stars. All the ingredients for a good solid plot are there: interesting lead character, Lara, she's the reason this gets 3 stars; an interesting locale, Malta, the island's history is well used and doesn't feel like infodump. The problem: the villains are paper thin and the twist at the end is two folds setting up Lara's romantic future and negates all of the work the writer did in a credible reason for the whole plot. Disappointing.
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Slightly better than the first one. I actually found the story more intriguing, and Lara less annoying. The setting was beautiful, and I learned quite a bit about the history of Malta. Main pet peeve: didn't like how she started each chapter with a thought/quote from the goddess-it didn't add anything to the story line.
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The second book in the series is marginally better than the inaugural volume, but I must still employ the descriptor "lame." Again, Hamilton's awkward but interesting exposition of the place, Malta, and its history, culture, and present is almost worth the reading. But: enough of Lara McClintoch and her unlikely adventures.
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Some books hold up well over time. Others show their age very quickly. This book, sadly, was an example of the latter. There wasn't anything terribly wrong with the writing or even the mystery, it just felt dated. The descriptions of clothing, some of the travel situations, and just the overall feel never quite drew me in.
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Well-paced and rich with detail about the tiny island nation. Among the best of Hamilton's work.
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A different mystery, I enjoyed. Archeological setting in Malta, murder, spies, interesting.
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I read this book because it is a mystery featuring a Canadian woman who goes to Malta. Not surprisingly, I happen to love Malta. This book describes the Malta of 1998, and also the lax airport procedures that predate September 11, 2001. Not to mention saying that $3000 is expensive for shipping furniture on a plane to Europe. (Then again I don’t really know what shipping costs *these* days, just that $3000 sounds like a bargain rather than a huge expense.)
But I digress…
Some of the things that other reviewers mentioned did not bother me. For example, Lara talking about “the hydro people” running electricity to the temple site. It’s not accurate terminology for Malta—or most other parts of the world actually—but Lara is a Torontonian, so from her POV the people in charge of the power grid are “hydro people”. Also, the chapter introductions (speeches from a history tableau being put on by the high school girls for visiting dignitaries) were insightful. I read most of them, but if I didn’t feel like reading them I just skipped over them. It was easy enough to do, since the text was in italics.
The story itself was an entertaining read, although some outcomes were easily predictable and many of the red herrings were obvious as such.
The strangest thing to me was that part of the story dealt with politics in Malta twenty-five years ago. The fictional coroner is named Dr. Caruana, and the fictional Minister for External Relations is named Giovanni Galizia. In 2017, the very REAL journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated by a car bomb, probably related to the fact that she was investigating political corruption. This is an ongoing story (latest headlines July 2022) with ties to the highest levels of Maltese government. When I last visited Malta there was a large, grassroots memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia occupying the square in front of St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.
Not sure whether to recommend this or not, but if you feel like reading a mystery set in Malta, this could be the book for you. -
This is the second book in this series, although I have haphazardly read several others. I started reading them on the recommendation of a mystery novelist (whose name I don't know) who was also a friend of the author -- she stopped by our free book tent at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, saw one of the books in the series and commented how good the series was and how sad the had been when the author died. As she said, they are quite well-crafted.
Lara McClintoch is a fully realized person, without the endearing ditziness common to many cozy heroines, or even the overly contrived involvements in the detective aspects of the books. The mystery aspect is compelling and well-crafted, but the other aspects of the series are also good. The supporting characters are interesting, but not overly colorful. The information on the locations is interesting and is incorporated in the story in a way that feels natural. I especially enjoyed this information on Malta, a place that has become more fascinating to me since I met the then-ambassador on a public open house day and he explained some of the country's history. The local people that appear in the book are not overly stereotyped or one-dimensional, but add a strong supporting element to the overall story being told. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. -
I previously read the book prior to this, The Xibalba Murders, and was so taken with it that its been a 7 year gap until I picked up this, the next in the series.
Once again, I can't say I'm blown away with character depth, plot development, adventure or the archeological mystery, of which there is very little.
Each chapter starts off with a bit of a blurb from the 'Maltese Goddess' which is rather pointless and has not much to do with anything in the story, and the story itself isn't particularly engaging either.
I would classify this as airport fiction, it will help you pass time if you're trapped with no other options but to stare out a window, but where other options exist you'll be wanting to take them. This simply isn't that great and I certainly wouldn't call it an archeological mystery as it's more of a murder mystery or furniture mystery if anything at all. -
I don't think I have ever read a cozy mystery where so much time has passed from book one to book two. According to Lara, it's been about two years since the events of the first book happened. I really read this book mostly to learn more about Malta and to uncover the mystery. Lara, as a character, is kind of still meh to me.
I loved how each chapter starts with the Goddess' thoughts. I also liked how to author tied Galea's murder into more events happening in Malta. I am sad for Lara over Lucas's letter but she'll get over it. I was surprised to find out that Marilyn had killed her husband though. I think I will continue with the series even though I am lukewarm to Lara. What I really love about this series is the ingenuity of the author, the history of the places Lara visits and how much research the author did for the book. -
2.5/5
I could tell this was one of the earlier books in this series (which I haven't been reading in order) because it was a little less polished. Some parts of the plot weren't given a lot of time, despite being underlined as a critical thread by the end. That said, most, if not everything, was nicely tied up in the end. I'm not left with any lingering questions and that's a good thing.
Each chapter begins with a section of "The Goddess" talking. I found this unnecessary; it added nothing to the story in my opinion.
I do like Lara, despite her sometimes ridiculously reckless behaviour, and the side characters were also enjoyable.
All in all, it was fine, but little more than that. -
I found this to be an enjoyable read. I'm a history buff, so the history woven into the plot (Knights of St. John, Malta's political history, the items from the Great Goddess) were really appreciated. It felt almost as if I were right there in Malta (though I've never been to Europe) and visiting the areas mentioned in the book. The author did her research and you don't feel as if you're being lectured on the information.
Book #2 in the Archaeological Mystery series, and it's good to see the additional character development. I would like to read additional books in the series and I'm glad they're available as eBooks, I can check them out from the library. -
I fell in love with this series when I was a kid because the author is really good at taking you on adventures to interesting place. She really helped inspire my love of travelling.
The writing style is very dated but upon this reread, I still enjoy it. This is not a character-driven novel, it’s a fun murder-mystery that gives you some insight on Maltese history and culture. Read it when you want something lightweight and not too emotionally taxing, like on a beach or while in covid-19 quarantine 😉
