Hot Stones - Cold Death — Barbara Fleming

A riveting thriller which follows a young D.C. police detective, Lieutenant Matthew Alexander, as he solves two brutal murders and the theft a fabulous emerald necklace from the Smithsonian's gem collection. The action in Hot Stones * Cold Death swirls around the theft of a dazzling and priceless emerald necklace from the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in the dead of night. The same night as the theft, two young intruders are savagely murdered and both of their bodies are strangely staged in an African village diorama where they are found by hysterical tourists the next morning. Because the murdered intruders are ritually attired as African warriors down to their spears and shields, and because they are murdered during the Smithsonian's budget hearings, the homicides take on political overtones that heighten the otherworldly aspect of a gruesome, barbaric act of violence. Sensitive to the possibility of international entanglements, museum security staff! waste precious hours shoring up their defenses and alibis before summoning the DCPD homicide division. By the time the DCPD arrives at the Museum of Natural History on the Mall, the victims have been dead at least twelve hours. The case is assigned to Detective Lieuitenant Matthew Alexander, a young man on his way up in the DCPD who has an impressive hit rate in solving difficult homicide cases. Lieutenat Alexander and his partner, Sargeant Jake Jackson, face a wall of resistance as they encounter blanket denials of any knowledge of the theft or murders from museum staff. Matt Alexander finds little evidence to indicate a motive for the murders, and even less to help in identifying the victims whose mug shots and fingerprints are conspicuously absent from both the District and federal police files.