48. Judgment of the Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor

Searching for elusive round-skull gravestone carvings in a Concord cemetery, gravestone art expert Sweeney St. George meets a frail young boy named Pres Whiting. Sweeney learns Pres is a descendent of the gravestone carver she is searching for, Josiah Whiting, and when they hear shots fired, Pres assures her they are from a Revolutionary War reenactment taking place. Walking Pres home, Pres finds a dead man dressed in a Revolutionary War soldier’s British uniform, and Sweeney immediately gets involved in solving the mystery. At the same time, Detective Tim Quinn is looking into a missing person case – a professor who liked to take part in historical reenactments and was in Concord recently. The stonecutter Sweeney is researching, Josiah, also was in a missing person in the area – in 1775 – and Sweeney and Tim pair up to find out if the three cases could be connected.

The third in her Sweeney St. George series, Sarah Stewart Taylor weaves the Revolutionary past together with modern day war reenactments. There is less gravestone art talk in this mystery compared to her other three novels, but the historical feel to the book is similar to her other titles. This book also explores a possible budding relationship between Sweeney and single father Tim, while Sweeney must evaluate her long distance relationship with Ian. For other reviews of this series, check out http://www.tcpl.org/sarah/2007/02/10-oartful-death-by-sarah-stewart.html and http://www.tcpl.org/sarah/2007/04/19-mansions-of-dead-by-sarah-stewart.html.