Relics (Faye Longchamp) - Hardcover

Faye Longchamp, girl archaeologist, is given an opportunity that many fledgling diggers would give their trowels for. She is put in charge offinding the origins of an ethnic group of people in the Alabama hills. But she's puzzled by the lack of work that has been done on site when shearrives with her assistant, Joe. As she looks into the scholarly aspects of the dig, she is distracted by the death of Carmen, the oral historian of thedig. Before she gets very far in investigating Carmen's demise, there's another unexplained death, this of a teenager from the Sujosa community. Andsoon, Faye is fighting for her own life against someone who doesn't want the secrets of the Sujosa revealed. A fascinating look at contemporaryarchaeology but also a twisted story of greed and its effects. -- Laurie Trimble, Dallas Morning News (9.11.2005)

Faye Longchamp investigates the origins of a mysterious ethnic group called the Sujosa who have lived in Alabama's remote hills for centuries. The Sujosa say opening their lives to scientists will be like letting a snake into Eden...but after several deaths, it seems the snake may already be nesting there.