A Hope Unburied

June 10, 2024
Murder, lies, and scientific discovery animate Woodhouse’s exciting third Treasures of the Earth novel (after Set in Stone). It’s 1916 and Eliza Mills has parlayed her dreams of becoming a paleontologist into the next best thing—working at the Carnegie Institute Museum’s Dinosaur Hall. When she’s chosen to be the museum’s representative at a high-profile Utah dig, she’s thrilled, even though the ranch where she’ll be staying is said to be haunted. Once there, the stresses on Eliza pile up. There’s the scheming curator who’s jealous of her success and wants to smear her reputation, as well as judgmental churchgoers who accuse her of working with “heathens.” When Eliza receives a chilling note warning her to stop digging or risk being buried at the site herself, it seems even more sinister forces may be at play. Her suspicions are confirmed when several of the ranch’s farmhands turn up dead. Help comes in the form of her childhood best friend Devin Schmitt, who pays a visit to the ranch as the danger mounts. Together, they draw on their faith to find the killer before more people die, and possibly spark a romance in the process. Though the rapid perspective shifts from one character to the next give the narrative a fractured feel, Woodhouse vividly portrays the thrills and tensions of early 20th-century paleontology. Series fans will be eager to dig in.