Alan Graham is an archaeologist who often contracts for the Corps of Engineers. In this book, there is a grave for a man named Louis buried on the Desiree Plantation which is in the vicinity of his latest assignment. The plantation's caretaker turns up dead. Old diaries, old documents, buried secrets . . . could this be the body of noted explorer Meriwether Lewis. While most of the action is in Louisiana, there is a trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway to Hohenwald, Tennessee near the Park Service Monument.

Our family owns a membership in a camping resort very near Hohenwald so I've been to that part of the Trace a lot. I had, however, never been exposed to the legend that Lewis had survived the bullet wound until I read this book. I think this is a case where one of history's mysteries has led to a very interesting modern day mystery. I enjoyed this mystery and hope to read more of Shuman's archaeological mysteries in the future. ( )