Cold, Cold Bones - Temperance Brennan, vol. 21

4.5★s

Cold, Cold Bones is the twenty-first book in the Temperance Brennan series by American forensic anthropologist and author, Kathy Reichs. Back home after a long day of moving her daughter into a new home, Tempe Brennan is more concerned with Katy's possible PTSD, courtesy two tours serving in Afghanistan, than her cranky neighbour's objection to her garden ornament. But parcel on the doorstep, containing a human eye, certainly grabs their attention.

The eye offers up, in a novel way, the location of its source, and something about the decomposing skull in a disused privy immediately twitches in Tempe's subconscious. Over the next few days and weeks, more unusual corpses, or parts thereof, present on her examination table at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner's office, all notable for that same subconscious twitch, and sometimes also ringing bells in Erskine "Skinny" Slidell's recall, all mimicking earlier cases Tempe has handled.

The retired MCP cop investigates cold cases between PI work with partner Andrew Ryan, and he eventually agrees with Tempe that they have a grisly chain of copycat murders, which seems to have begun several years earlier. Things get even more serious when a friend of Tempe's becomes a victim of this bizarre serial killer; even moreso when Tempe witnesses a murder as it happens.

At the same time, Tempe is trying to balance motherly concern for her returned veteran with allowing the sometimes-moody young woman the space she may need. But her anxiety crescendos when contact lapses for several days and the eventual text message received is, for Katy, uncharacteristically short and lacking in detail.

The latest dose of Tempe Brennan features some quirky (but harmless?) characters who take meals at a men's shelter, a parks ranger with an inflated opinion of his anthropological expertise, and some "preppers", survivalists, one of whom displays an unhealthy interest in serial killers. Reichs does manage to seamlessly pack in lots of interesting tidbits but she also has Tempe annoying the reader a few times, going in by herself when she should know better.

Readers who pick up on the subtle clues will settle on the correct perpetrator well before the reveal, but the how and why of it keeps the pages turning through to the dramatic climax and resolution. The banter between Tempe, Skinny and Ryan is, as always entertaining, and more instalments are eagerly awaited.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia.