From Booklist
Returning from a conference, archaeologist Lindsay Chamberlain is captured on a lonely stretch of highway and buried alive. She escapes, recovers from amnesia, and joins a dig at a pioneer settlement in the Smoky Mountains. Everything is fine until it appears that there is a haunted house on the settlement, and its ghosts are after Lindsay. Plot and pace are even tighter here than in Connor's last Chamberlain novel, Skeleton Crew [BKL S 15 99]. All of the regular characters show continued growth as they tangle with two of the meanest killers imaginable. The mystery itself proves difficult to solve, and it is nicely incorporated with poignant profiles of mountain people, an appealing ghost story, and some fascinating reflections on amnesia. As always, the archaeological details--whether the trappings of a traditional dig or the lowdown on the latest space-age tools--are both integral to the action and fascinating in themselves. Another winner in a consistently strong series. John Rowen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Oklahoma Family Magazine, August 2000
Connor's books are a smart blend of Patricia Cornwell, Aaron Elkins, and Elizabeth Peters, with some good, deep-South atmosphere to make it authentic.


Midwest Book Review, Dec. 2000
Connor has written a wonderful, fresh and exciting mystery that will garner her new readers seeking previous Chamberlain novels.


Book Description
AIRTIGHT CASE is the fifth book in this unique mystery series centering around Lindsay Chamberlain, a forensic anthropologist living in Georgia. Connor writes with a style much like Patricia Cornwell and has Lindsay solve ancient crimes while fighting trauma in her own life. This series includes, "Skeleton Crew," "Rumor of Bones," "Dressed to Die," and "Questionable Remains."


From the Publisher
Mrs. Connor never fails to unveil a compelling mystery accompanied with intricate details and complicated characters. Her knowledge in the field of archaeology allows the reader to learn something new while trying to uncover those responsible for the crime. AIRTIGHT CASE is the best volume in this series!


From the Inside Flap
In a seemingly random event, forensic anthropolgist Lindsay Chamberlain is attacked and left for dead. Buried in a shallow grave in the woods, she manages to escape, although she suffers from amnesia as a result of the ordeal. When Lindsay's memory returns, it is incomplete. She tries to ignore the trauma and leave the matter to the authorities, but their investigation quickly comes to a dead end. The assault looms over her peace of mind like a dark cloud when Lindsay joins an excavation at an 1830s farm site on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Unlike previous digs where she has worked, this site is not a happy one. Crew members are on edge and argumentative, and the site director exhibits an instant dislike toward Lindsay. Complicating matters even more, the principal investigator is under suspicion of murdering a local resident and stealing valuable papers from her. Meanwhile, lodging for the crew is in a haunted house, and even though Lindsay is the only one who doesn't believe in ghosts, she is the only one who sees them. When very old sealed lead coffins dating from the 1700s are discovered, Lindsay focuses so intently on the discovery that she is distracted momentarily from her own troubles. Her excitement, however, is short-lived, for inside one of the caskets are the disturbing remains of a woman who has something frighteningly in common with Lindsay. When one of the crew disappears no one seems to worry or care. If she fails to figure out what's happening around her, she might lose her sanity, or worse, her life.


About the Author
Beverly Connor weaves her professional experience as an archaeologist and her knowledge of Southern culture into interlinked stories of the past and the present in this mystery series. Originally from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Connor nows lives in Georgia with her husband and her pets.


Excerpted from Airtight Case : A Lindsay Chamberlain Novel by Beverly Connor. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
She didn't know how it happened, but suddenly it was pitch dark and she was lying in something lumpy. She couldn't breathe. She strained to take a breath, and jerked with a spasm of coughing. Something grainy was in her mouth... Dirt? Was it dirt? She tried to spit it out, but couldn't. It was harder to breathe, and her head ached. She could die from the pain. She wanted to hold her head in her hands, but her arms were pinned. Some heavy thickness covered her entire body. She felt paralyzed, unable to move. She panicked, tried to cry, but choked on whatever was in her mouth. She was blind, or in the dark, or her eyes were closed. "Open your eyes."
Darkness.
"Open them!" Glittering shafts of light danced for a moment, then were gone, then were back and gone again. There was a small hollow of space around her head, a small place that wasn't covered by the heavy thickness, but the space was disappearing. Every struggle to move made the space smaller. "You have to move. You have to move." She lifted and pushed her right arm with all her strength...until she felt...a breeze. Something fell on her face. She felt panic. "Move. Move. Hurry. Struggle harder."
She rose from her grave. Lindsay jerked awake grappling with the sheet covering her head, gasping for breath. Her heart beat so fast and hard her hand went to her chest to hold it. She stayed in that position, frozen with nauseating fear. "Oh, God, don't let me relive this every night." Her breaths were as ragged as if she were still...still there. She gathered the strength to get out of bed and slip on her shoes. Shaking from head to foot, she grabbed her robe and slipped it on as she stumbled through her curtains and down the hall. The bathroom door was closed and she saw a thin strip of light coming from under it. Someone was there. "Damn. What time is it? Why don't people stay in bed?," she thought irritably as she started downstairs to the bathroom on th first floor. The stairs were dark. Why hadn't she thought to bring a flashlight? She walked slowly, keeping a hand on the wall. Except for the creaking, the dark confined space reminded her of the cave she'd been lost in. The stairway was like the long cave of tunnels she had wanted to lead upward, but invariably led down. "It's a staircase," she told herself over and over. "A staircase. You know where it leads." The tiny bathroom at the bottom of the stairs, thankfully, was unoccupied. She fumbled with the light switch and made a mental note not to drink anything before she went to bed at night. She wished she had brought some aspirin with her. Her head was splitting. Lindsay crossed over to the sink and turned on the faucet. She glanced into the mirror over the sink and jumped back. She would have screamed if she had any breath in her. It wasn't her face staring back at her. It was the face of a girl with flaming red hair, freckles, deep green eyes, and features contorted in terror.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Forensic archaeologist and an-thropologist Dr. Lindsay Chamberlain disappears after attending a conference, her friends and family immediately raise the alarm. Their prayers are answered when she is found by the side of the road, dirty, disheveled and confused. At first Lindsay can￯﾿ﾽt remember who she is; however, shortly thereafter the horrible memories return and Lindsay realizes that someone tried to bury her alive.

Unfortunately, Lindsay never saw her kidnappers, so they remain at large. Lindsay￯﾿ﾽs boss, Francisco Lewis thinks sending Lindsay on a "vacation" dig will do her good. The dig at Helget Pond should be straightforward and simple enough, but a local family has accused the dig￯﾿ﾽs leader of being responsible for a wrongful death.

Initially the claim of wrongful death looks ludicrous, but as Lindsay starts digging￯﾿ﾽboth figuratively and literally￯﾿ﾽcertain elements don￯﾿ﾽt add up. When menacing messages arrive, Lindsay fears that her kidnappers intend to complete their work.

FROM THE CRITICS

Jill M. Smith - Romantic Times