Book Review: What Time Has Kept by Elizabeth Hutchison Barnard

What Time Has Kept: A Dual-Era Mystery by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Suspenseful, informative dual-era mystery about ancient artifacts and women fighting to earn their rightful spots in history.

What Time Has Kept by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard is not only a suspenseful, informative dual-era mystery about ancient carved stone balls uncovered in Scotland, but also an emotional tale of two academic women separated by more than 100 years as they fight to earn their spots in history. In the late 1800s, Christian Maclagan, an antiquarian in Stirling, Scotland, struggles to gain a foothold in the male-dominated field of archaeology while conducting meticulous, extensive research into ancient stone structures across the Scottish landscape. Her life and many of her experiences mirror the contemporary story of Ellen Byrne, a graduate student in archaeology from the US, who is in Scotland to further her thesis on the mysterious and ancient tennis-ball-sized carved stone balls that had been uncovered in the same region. Both have tragedy marring their pasts and must face their memories to overcome current challenges in their way.

The author has crafted an engrossing dual-timeline tale that is both suspenseful and rich with history and speculation about the mysterious carved stone artifacts, including the "Towie Ball" found near Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The challenges the two women face in a male–dominated field are skillfully woven into each woman’s story as they strive to belong, participate, and reach their goals. Living over 100 years apart, they face surprisingly similar attitudes.

At the time of the story, Christian is a strong single woman in her 60s, experienced in the prevailing attitudes of the time, and, because she has the financial means, not shy about going head-to-head with her male opponents or funding her own research trips. Ellen, in her early 20s, is just breaking into the field and has up till now depended upon her academic advisor, who is also her lover, to help open doors. When he abruptly breaks things off with her on the eve of her big research trip to Scotland, she is momentarily left adrift. However, she gathers herself, despite additional setbacks in her arrangements, and forges on, gradually learning to determine her own fate on her own terms.

The dual-era plot is compelling, and the descriptions of time and place are vivid and atmospheric. While Christian can be prickly and Ellen gullible at times, they are engaging and easy to root for. Both women faced tragedy as children, including loss of a parent and sexual assault, so readers who are sensitive to these topics should consider this. I recommend WHAT TIME HAS KEPT to readers of historical mysteries and fiction, especially those who enjoy dual timeline tales and archaeological-themed stories.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

View all my reviews

Book Review: Final Exam (Blame It on the Moon, #0) by Lou Pugliese

Final Exam: the Don Weston prequel to 'Blame it on the Moon' by Lou Pugliese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An intriguing peek into Don Weston’s past in this riveting tale of missing persons, sexual liaisons, and murder in the prequel to Blame It On the Moon.

Final Exam is author Lou Pugliese’s riveting prequel to his earlier cold-case historical mystery, Blame It On the Moon, and reveals some of his main character’s backstory from when he was the Chief of Police at a small liberal arts school, Churchville University. Typically a quiet member of the Churchville, Pennsylvania community, the university soon headlines the news when a well-liked university provost goes missing during a massive school restructuring, which includes sudden and extensive system-wide faculty layoffs. Rumors run rampant regarding the missing woman’s relationship with the university president and his wife, but there are few actual clues for Chief Don Weston to pursue. Calling on his connections at the county and state levels in order to leverage their more robust resources, Weston gathers a small team to investigate. However, the case barely gets off the ground when another faculty member goes missing during a fire at his home, and that won’t be the last.

While Don Weston is the university chief of police and the most experienced on the case, the investigations are truly an ensemble performance. Weston earned his law enforcement chops over the years he spent working his way up through the ranks at the Philadelphia Police Department. He is joined by Detective Rick Walker from York County and Lt. Shane Mitchell representing the state, both of whom bring a hint of hero worship to the table, having heard Don’s praises sung by their respective supervisors before their assignments.

The three conduct a steady and comprehensive investigation, the story unfolding in the style of a police procedural. Told mostly from Weston’s point of view, the reader gets a good idea of how he came to his position at Churchville and a feel for his prior successes in Philadelphia. Until the incidents of the story, he was experiencing a growing discontent with the unending sameness of his current job. He misses his wife, Helen, lost to cancer some years earlier, but uses her memory as a sounding board for his decision-making. All of this prepares the reader for Don’s eventual move to a new home and career at the opening of Blame It On the Moon.

The plot is well-paced, and the action is tight. However, the names of the characters changed at times over the course of the story and need to be reviewed. The murders are vividly described and graphically detailed, their means and methods horrifically matched to the killer’s opinion of his victim’s guilt and misdeeds. The acts are shocking and hard to read. The killer’s actions are measured and meticulous in their execution and performed with the perpetrator’s knowledge that he will never have to answer for what he has done, adding to the difficulty of the three investigators’ job.

I recommend FINAL EXAM to readers of grittier mysteries and suspense and fans of the previous novel who want to know more about the main character’s backstory.

View all my reviews