Mining for Justice 

by Kathleen Ernst

As a curator for Old World Museum, Chloe Ellefson understands how ‘unstable’ funding is for historical sites.  Her boss reminds her of this every time he sees her. When the opportunity arises to work for a week at the Pendarvis site, she leaps at it.  Unfortunately, the paper runs a story which highlights the lack of funding to keep Pendarvis open spotlighting the major drain of funds as the Old World site.  As the volunteers and some staff realize who she is, Chloe becomes the target for a lot of negative emotions.  She feels it her responsibility to dampen down these emotions while working hard to help put Pendarvis back on stable ground.  When a doctoral candidate, who has been voicing negative comments regarding the running of Pendarvis is found dead at the foot of the stairs in one of the houses, Chloe’s job gets one more item added to her to do list.  Figure out what is really going on at the Pendarvis site.

Once again Ernst lays before us a multi-layered novel enlightening readers with historical details blending them with a contemporary mystery in the middle.  She has a way to bring an unknown thread of the tapestry that makes up our country’s history to the forefront of her story.  The history is thoroughly researched without becoming bogged down in details.  The author’s notes and photos add to the facts she has included in her novel.  Behind the scenes peeks at the trials and woes of museums and working historical sites is solid. The mystery dips its toes into the history storyline but does not overpower it.  Chloe’s ability to ‘sense’ emotions is a nice touch.  Though I don’t believe many teens will be enticed by the basic storylines, I do believe those who enjoy a good historical story mixed in with their mysteries will enjoy them.  Also, fans of Ernst’s younger writings will eagerly pick these up as their reading preference yearns for more meaty storylines.

I wish to thank the publisher and NetGalley for generously providing an Advanced Reader’s copy for my honest review.

ISBN: 9780738753348

Publisher:  Midnight Ink

Pub Date: Oct. 08, 2017