Review: Dr Pimms, Intermillennial Sleuth Series by LJM owen

Canberra author LJM Owen says that after an itinerant childhood, 

She attended university in Canberra, then went on to work in several public service departments before landing a job as a librarian with the National Library of Australia. It was in the map room at the library Owen imagined the Dr Elizabeth Pimms character.

Owen discusses her books and her heroine, Dr Elizabeth Pimms in the Canberra Times:

The hero of Owen's Intermillennial Sleuth novels is Dr Elizabeth Pimms, a skilled archaeologist, knowledgeable Egyptologist and reluctant librarian at Canberra's fictional Mahony Griffin Library. Elizabeth's best friend describes her as curious, intellectual, tenacious and secretive.

From the age of four Elizabeth dedicated herself to the discovery of lost civilisations and ancient treasures. Young and a touch naïve, Elizabeth is aided in her investigations by the machinations of her phrenic library - and a growing sense that something is awry in the world.

Asked to reference the Dr Pimms series, Owen suggests it is a hybrid of Bones, the US TV crime procedural based on Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan novels, and the rural potboiler Midsomer Murders. 

"My PhD involved comparing the genetics of past human populations through the examination of dental remains. This expertise fed directly into my first novel, Olmec Obituary. The forensic science in all three Dr Pimms novels is based on firsthand experience or significant research."

Brief synopsis of the series so far:

Part one of the planned nine-book series is Olmec Obituary ...... is set in Canberra where Dr Elizabeth Pimms works while she unpicks the cause of mysterious deaths in ancient civilisations, and more contemporary crimes. The second book, Mayan Mendacity, sees Dr Pimms exploring the ancient world of Mayan politics, scribes and female rulers. Part three, Egyptian Enigma sees Dr Pimms on the hunt for the identity of a cache of mummies hidden in a Golden Tomb. There are female pharaohs, ancient grave robbers, modern cannibals, loads of skeletons, cats and cups of tea, she says.

So to my thoughts on each of the books in turn.

The Olmec Obituary

This is where it all begins - Elizabeth is forced to return home from an archaeological dig in Egypt due to a family crisis - and to say she's not happy about that would be an understatement. Here is where we get more of a sense of the character of Elizabeth - indulged, spoilt, emotional, petulant, sulky. Forced to take a job in a library (courtesy of family connections) does not help - she really wants to be out in the field. Then ... a chance to return to archaeology when the skeletal remains form a newly discovered Olmec burial are brought to Canberra. 

I liked the narrative between modern day Elizabeth and the Olmec Kingdom. I admit to knowing next to nothing about Olmec Civilization - and for readers like myself, here is a brief synopsis:

The mysterious Olmec civilization, located in ancient Mexico, prospered in Pre-Classical (Formative) Mesoamerica from c. 1200 BCE to c. 400 BCE and is generally considered the forerunner of all subsequent Mesoamerican cultures including the Maya and Aztecs. 

But one thing really stood out for me - I found it curious that Elizabeth, a self confessed Egyptologist, should be requested to work on Mesoamerican remains. I guess I naively assumed that most archaeologists would have a specialty field - and thus someone with more than a passing interest (and more qualified) would have been brought in. Anyway, Elizabeth soon comes into conflict with those around her.

Mayan Mendacity

The sub-setting for this mystery is the Mayan Empire during what is called the "classical period" 250-950 CE. This period was the height of the Maya civilization in which they perfected mathematics, astronomy, architecture and the visual arts and also refined and perfected the calendar. In Mayan belief, however, one did not die and go to a `heaven’ or a `hell’ but, rather, embarked on a journey toward Tamoanchan. This journey began in the dark and treacherous underworld of Xibalba and if one could navigate through Xibalba, then one could then find the way to ascend through the nine levels of the underworld, and the thirteen levels of the higher world, to paradise. The only ways in which a soul could by-pass Xibalba and travel instantly to Tamoanchan were through death in childbirth, as a sacrificial victim, in warfare, on the ball court, or by suicide.

Elizabeth is approached to do some research on the newly discovered skeletal remains from a newly discovered Mayan site in Guatemala by her boyfriend Luke, whom she has seen (in person) for nearly two years. Hang on a minute - what's he doing in Guatemala when he was supposed to be in Mexico, and why is he interviewing for jobs in America and not here closer to home? But that's not the only mystery that will confront Elizabeth - long hidden family secrets are about to be revealed (publicly).

I still find Elizabeth annoying with her constant need for approval and validation for everything she does; other than that, I am enjoying the mysteries.

Egyptian Enigma

On holiday in Cairo with New York chum Henry, Elizabeth is robbed of the journal she has been keeping of their visit - what possible value could it be to anyone?

Then we head back to Egypt of the 19th Dynasty, during the reign of Seti II and his Queen Twosret (Tausret), whose story is of one woman's struggle too hold the throne of Egypt. Her short reign ended in a civil war, which is documented in the Elephantine stela of her successor Setnakhte, founder of the Twentieth dynasty. It is not known if she was overthrown by Setnakhte or whether she died peacefully in her own reign. Joyce Tyldesley's "Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt" notes "A mummy found in KV35 and known as Unknown Woman D has been identified by some scholars as possibly belonging to Twosret, but there is no other evidence for this other than the correct Nineteenth Dynasty period of mummification."

This then would appear to be the back drop of Egyptian Enigma, the curious remains of an Egyptian Prince of the Golden Tomb, which finds Elizabeth and her group of friends doing their own investigations in an attempt to solve the mystery, whilst preparing her papers on her Olmec and Mayan investigations.

Mongolian Mayhem is believed to be the next book in the series - I would be very interested to see how the next six books pan out, and if Elizabeth manages to grow up!