title: Mansions of the Dead (Sweeney St. George Mysteries)
author:  Sarah Stewart Taylor 
description: In Taylor's engrossing second mystery to feature art history professor Sweeney St. George (after 2003's <i>O' Artful Death</i>), one of her students, Brad Putnam, is found dead wearing an odd assortment of mourning jewelry. Called in by Detective Timothy Quinn to help identify the artifacts, Sweeney dates them to the Civil War era and is later fascinated to find irregularities in the birth and death dates of one of Putnam's long dead relatives. Since Brad was the scion of one of Boston's wealthiest and most powerful families, Quinn and the Cambridge, Mass., police department must tread lightly as the family closes ranksjust as it did five years earlier when Brad's youngest brother was killed in a car crash. After two hit-and-run incidents come on the heels of Brad's untimely demise, Sweeney and Quinn are convinced the deaths are linked but have no evidence to support their beliefs. Both become immersed in an increasing web of lies, love triangles, politics and money. Sweeney's researches into the cultural mores of death provide an unusual backdrop, while Tim Quinn is deeply affecting as a young father trying to juggle his work and home lives. More skillfully plotted than <i>O' Artful Death</i>, this moody, atmospheric novel will appeal to fans of darker cozies. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  ## 02 TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD
  
  
    
  
  
  ###
  
  
  _( James Asher - 2 )_
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Barbara Hambly
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  **TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  James Asher - Book Two
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  **BARBARA HAMBLY**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A Del Rey Book Published by Ballantine Books
  
  
  Copyright 1995 by Barbara Hambly
  
  
  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
  Conventions.
  
  
  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random
  House,
  
  
  Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada
  Limited,
  
  
  Toronto.
  
  
  For George
  
  
  With a prayer in the shadow of the Aya Sofia
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  **Prologue**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The house was an old one, inconspicuous for its size. Curiously so, thought
  Lydia Asher, when she stood at last on the front steps, craning her neck to
  look up at five stories of shut-faced dark facade. More curious still, given
  the obvious age of the place, was the plain half timbering discernible under
  centuries of discolo