Rattle His Bones (Daisy Dalrymple #8)
First sentence
He hurried up the stairs from the basement and unlocked the door which kept the public from wandering down into the private areas of the museum...
Description
In the summer of 1923, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple makes what should an uneventful research trip to the Museum of Natural History with her nephew Derek and her soon-to-be step-daughter Belinda in tow. But as she interviews the various curators for her article on the museums of London, she soon discovers that the Museum of Natural History is a hothouse of professional rivalry and jealousy, particularly between Dr. Smith Woodward, the Keeper of Geology - responsible for the fossil collection, and Dr. Pettigrew, the Keeper of Minerology -- responsible for the Museum's fabulous gem collection. On a later trip, as closing time nears, Daisy hears two voices followed by a tremendous crash and rushes into the next hall to discover Dr. Pettigrew dead - murdered amidst a pile of dinosaur bones. Daisy's fiance, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, is assigned to investigate and together they must unravel a most baffling case of missing gems, dispossessed European royalty, professional rivalry and murder most foul.