Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
I love the TV series, Bones, starring Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz (Angel of Buffy fame), so I thought I would try the book series that the show is based upon. The books are a bit different. Dr. Temperance Brennan is still a forensic anthropologist, but she works both in Quebec and North Carolina for two different forensic laboratories. There is no Seeley Booth (Boreanaz’s character).
The books are well written and Cross Bones, the first one I tried, seems to be quite good. A picture of a mystery skeleton shows up in the course of the investigation of a suicide, soon discovered to be murder. This skeleton is thought to be one of the discoveries found at an ancient dig in the fortress at Masada in Israel, and for some unknown reason, the skeleton’s existance has been kept a very dark secret. This secrecy might just be the motive behind the suicide/murder with which the book begins.
Dr. Brennan’s police side-kick in the books is Andrew Ryan, an SQ detective. They are totally involved with each other (unlike Booth and Brennan in the TV series – who just flirt on the edges of involvement). Together Brennan and Ryan try to puzzle out the reason for the secrecy and the reason for the murder.
The characters are well drawn; the dialogue often clever; and the forensic details as prominent and relevant as in the TV series. If you enjoy a bit of science and detail with your mysteries – give this series a try. Deja Dead, written in 1997, is the first title in the series. Cross Bones is number 8. Reichs has written 11 Temperance Brennan mysteries in all, the most recent being Devil Bones (2008). Meg
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