Still recovering from the traumatic events in Flesh and Bone, Body Farm creator and forensic anthropologist Dr Bill Brockton has a fresh challenge. The charred body of a middle-aged woman has been found in a burned out car on an isolated farm; the prime suspect is her husband, but he was in Vegas when the flames from the car were seen by a passing motorist – could he have killed his wife, and if so how?
Just as he’s getting underway, Brockton’s contacted by his former lawyer, Burt DeVreiss – now it’s his turn for help. DeVreiss’s beloved aunt was recently cremated, but though the family specifically asked for her titanium knee replacements to be returned along with the ashes, all they received was a light bag of grainy powder and what look like small rocks and detritus. Can Brockton help reassure his family that Aunt Jean was taken care of appropriately?
As if this were not enough, Brockton’s nemesis, the man who framed him for murder in Flesh and Bone, has escaped and will stop at nothing to wreak harm and revenge on the venerated scientist.
Inspired by the real events in Noble, Georgia, The Devil’s Bones combines real anthropological detail with three mysteries - what happened to Aunt Jean? How did Stuart Latham burn his wife to death when he was in another state? And when will the psychotic killer strike at Brockton?
I found The Devil’s Bone more melodramatic and less tight that its predecessors, with pointless meanderings (like a whole page on the superior quality of Hardee hot biscuits – which I believe are scone-like – over those at Cracker Barrel, institutions I imagine are chain restaurants). The pathology detail, which focused primarily on the differences between burns to bone freshly dead and fleshed versus defleshed and dried, were more compelling than this summation makes it sound, and I found the detail about cremation processes very interesting.
It was, however, still streets ahead of many other novels in the genre, including the later works of Patricia Cornwell. I’ll be interested in reading the next instalment when it comes out, in hopes that the writing team of anthropologist Bill Bass and writer/journalist Jon Jefferson continues to deliver. - Alex
The Bill Brockton series:
Carved in Bone
Flesh and Bone
The Devil’s Bones
Bones of Betrayal
The Bone Yard
The Bone Thief
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