Fire and Bones

Kathy Reichs 

THE heat is on for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan when she is called to Washington D.C. to analyse the victims of a mysterious arson attack at an illegal Airbnb in the city suburbs.

The experienced ‘bone’ doctor had misgivings about the job as working at fire scenes is never easy, and those doubts are soon justified when she finds that the site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighbourhood with a colourful history... a history that poses deadly danger in the present.

Fire and Bones – a classy, clever, edge-of-the-seat thriller – is the amazing twenty-third high-stakes murder mystery in US author Kathy Reichs’ brilliantly authentic and addictive Temperance Brennan series which began with Déjà Dead in 1997 and, straight out of the blocks, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and became an international bestseller. Since then Reichs (pictured below) – herself a forensic anthropologist – has used her own experiences to bring her viscerally real thrillers to life and was a producer of Fox Television’s long-running, hit TV series, Bones, which is based on her work and her novels.

And her mastery of this superb medical science series retains its powerful appeal as we join Temperance (Tempe) leaving her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and abandoning – at short notice –  a romantic getaway with her long-term partner Andrew Ryan who is working as a private detective in Montreal.

Tempe, who has spent her career at death scenes and in autopsy rooms, is soon examining the fire site and the remains of the victims, and as the pieces start falling into place, the property’s ownership becomes more and more suspicious.

Sensing that there is a story behind the devastating fire, Tempe agrees to team up with her new ally, the charismatic and forceful television journalist Ivy Doyle. Delving into the past, the two women learn 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.

Although interesting, this fact seems irrelevant... until the son of one of the gang members is shot dead at his farm in Virginia. When another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim, what might have been coincidence starts to look more like targeted attacks.

And as she and Ivy dig deeper, Tempe’s instincts point towards the obvious... somehow, her

every move since coming to Washington has been anticipated in advance, and every step forward brings with it a lethal threat.

Reichs is at the top of her game in this heart-stopping, action-packed tale of murder and intrigue as Tempe tackles a complex and dangerous case which will involve putting her own life and safety on the line in one of the most important cities in the USA.

As always, the fascinating and macabre world of forensic anthropology plays a leading role in an addictive and all-round entertaining drama which takes us into the murky depths of postmortems and those whose job it is to handle and examine ‘decomposed, burned, mummified, mutilated, dismembered, and skeletal remains.’ And at the forefront of all the action stands the commanding figure of Tempe… dependable, super-intelligent, acutely observant, wonderfully witty, and as determined (excuse the pun) as a dog with a bone.

Written with Reichs’ famously no-nonsense prose, eye-watering forensic detail, and a richly portrayed cast of characters – including some that have become as familiar to readers as they are to Tempe – Fire and Bones will hook you in from the graphic opener to an ending which packs an unexpected emotional punch.
(Simon & Schuster, hardback, £20)