Make No Bones

Make No Bones Aaron Elkins Date: 1991   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery

At a conference of forensic anthropologists in Bend, Oregon, one would not usually suspect murder. Yet Gideon Oliver stumbles over a shallow grave in a bulldozed shed, and the timing puts the murder at the first conference ten years ago. Worse yet, there's the possibility that the body is that of an FBI agent, long thought to be dead in the same firey crash that killed Albert Jasper, the anthropologist whose retirement party was the impetus for the conference.

Which means that when strange events start happening at the current conference, the likely murder suspect is one of the original six founding members. And, as always, Gideon Oliver is the target.

As with all mystery series that go on for any length of time, it seems strange that one person would be at the center of it all. Elkins has done better than most in creating a character born to get into trouble: Gideon is stubborn, always willing to help, and unlikely to let anything slide no matter who is going to get harmed. So it's all too likely that if there is danger, he's going to be in the thick of it, often giving as good as he gets. And as he likes to work with "dry" bones, there's usually no question of him being suspected himself.