Book Review: Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs

 

published August 6, 2024

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It’s never easy working fire scenes, Tempe thinks. Called to Washington, DC, to analyze the victims of a building set ablaze amid mysterious circumstances, she sees all her misgivings justified. The building site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and the property’s ownership becomes even more suspicious when Tempe delves into its past. The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the thirties and forties the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his farm in Fairfax County, Virginia. Coincidence? Targeted attacks? So many questions. As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim. Slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin pointing to the somehow, her moves since coming to Washington have been anticipated in advance, and every path forward seems to bring with it a lethal threat.

MY REVIEW:

Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 23rd book of the series and even though I haven't read quite a few of them I still knew what was going on. The mystery itself can be read as a standalone but if you want to get to know the main characters then it is best to read them in order. The TV show Bones was also based on this series.
Tempe is called to Washington DC for bodies found that were burned and she is needed to find out what happened. But her and her boyfriend were on their way for a vacation. He isn't happy and feels like her work takes priority so he ignores her. So she has a lot going on.
I thank NetGalley and Scribner for the book to review.


View all my reviews

Kathy Reichs

Bornin Chicago, The United States

Website

http://www.kathyreichs.com/

Twitter

KathyReichs

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Nonfiction

Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Book Review: Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs

 

Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Published July 5th 2022 by scribner

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#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-first novel of suspense featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, after receiving a box with a human eyeball in it, uncovers a series of gruesome killings eerily reenacting the most shocking of her prior cases.

Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. For a while, temporarily idle forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night for dinner, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.

GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine Monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.

There seems to be no pattern to these random killings, except that each mimics in some way a killing that a younger Tempe witnessed, analyzed, or barely escaped. Who or what is targeting her, and why?

Helping Tempe discover the answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. As the two penetrate a bizarre survivalist’s lair, even Skinny’s mood darkens.

And then Tempe’s daughter Katy disappears.

At its core, Cold, Cold Bones is a novel of revenge and why revisiting the past may be the only way to rescue the present.

                                                  MY REVIEW:

 

Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 21st book of the series and even though I am behind on reading the series, I still enjoyed it. As I already knew the characters and who they are. The series, Bones on TV , is based loosley on this series.
Temperance Brennan gets an eyeball , in a box, on her back porch. Who would do this and whose eye is it? Upon looking at it more Tempe's daughter, Katy, notices letters and numbers on the eyeball. More things keep happening that looks like there is a copycat killer on the loose.
Then Katy disappears and won't answer her phone. It becomes suspicious when Tempe gets a short message from Katy that she doesn't believe Katy sent it.
Seems like Tempe and a retired detective, Sledell, keep running against brick walls trying to figure out who is doing the copycats and why?
Tempe's concern for her daughter has them wondering what the hell is going on and is she safe or not?
Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner fr the book to review.

View all my reviews

                                                                     Kathy Reichs


Born in Chicago, The United States

Website
http://www.kathyreichs.com/

Twitter
KathyReichs

Genre
Mystery & Thrillers, Nonfiction


Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.