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The Bone Collection
by
Kathy Reichs
It is part of the Temperance Brennan series and is a forensic mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Bantam Books on November 1, 2016 and has 402 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Flash and Bones, Bones are Forever, Bones Never Lie, Speaking in Bones, Bones of the Lost, A Conspiracy of Bones
A novella collection of four stories in the Temperance Brennan forensic mystery series and revolving around a forensic anthropologist, who investigates human remains at crime scenes where the flesh is too degraded for a coroner to obtain evidence.
The Series
Bones in Her Pocket, #15.5
Swamp Bones, #16.5
Bones on Ice, #17.5
First Bones, #0.5
The Stories
Dr Temperance “Tempe” Brennan works for the brand-new Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner (MCME) and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in North Carolina. In Québéc, she works for the Bureau du coroner. Birdie is Tempe’s demanding white cat. Katy is Tempe and Pete’s daughter and currently deployed in Afghanistan. Boyd is the chow who belongs to Pete, Tempe’s ex-husband. Tempe’s mother has cancer; Harry is Tempe’s sister.
Dr Tim Larabee is the head pathologist at the MCME and Tempe’s boss. Mrs Flowers is the receptionist at MCME. Joe Hawkins is their best death investigator.
Detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell is a Homicide investigator with the Charlotte Mecklenburg PD. Andrew Ryan is a detective in Québéc, whom Tempe had been dating.
Three of the stories are written with the focus on aiding an organization. Reichs uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Tempe’s perspective, so we know her thoughts, feelings, and the events at which she’s present.
“Bones in Her Pocket”
This was an interesting picture of an environmentalist who preferred owls.
The Characters
Anne Turnip is one of Tempe’s best friends. Frank is a tech at MCME.
Edith Blankenship, a grad student at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, is a missing person. Her grandmother is Ada Wilkins. The cowardly Professor Jack Olsen was one of Edith’s teachers . . . and her lover. Mr Tibia Fibula. Herman Blount, a graduate of Dartmouth, is an ecoterrorist who owns a Rottweiler. Impact Watch is an environmental organization.
Emmet Kahn, an art cowboy and dealer who runs Carolitaly, is Tempe’s driver. Detective Skip, a cop with Gaston County, is the caretaker. Doris Kramer, a perfect example of a The Far Side character, works the shop. The Duke Energy company’s Riverbend Steam Station shares a boundary with Carolitaly. Dr Chou is a dentist.
“Swamp Bones”
A fascinating look at bird strikes on airplanes and how people are working to prevent them, although the primary focus is on the dangers of Burmese pythons released into the Everglades. Yeah, the whole bird thing is a side note that doesn’t feel important. I do have to say that that python autopsy was interesting. Ick.
A story full of unexpected twists and confusing name-dropping.
The Characters
The Daniel Beard Research Center is where Dr Lisa Robbin, the head of the Smithsonian Feather Identification Lab and a pioneer in forensic ornithology, works. Dr Aaron Lundberg is a wildlife biologist.
The Python Challenge is an annual contest run by the state Fish and Wildlife. Dusty Jordan is one of the hunters and used to partner up with Kiley James, another python wrangler. Buck, Deuce, and Ernie Cypress are brothers and part of the Miccosukee tribe. Rooster is their dog. Esther, Eun, Edie, and Evette Eugene (actually Yoo-Jin) are sisters who have a fashion label.
Scott Pierce is with the Everglades National Park Law Enforcement for the Department of the Interior. Sheriff Tom Yellen is with the Miami-Dade Hammocks office. Elvis is a death investigator at the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department. Jane Barconi is a staff pathologist. Phil Evans is a forensic anthropologist.
A snarge is a smear from a bird on an aircraft exterior. Homestead is a town which had been a hub of breeders and importers.
“Bones on Ice”
Another tale with macabre twists that started on Mount Everest. A fascinating look at how the cold and lack of oxygen affects the human body. It also discusses the lack of oversight on climbers’ qualifications. But the worst was body retrieval from Everest. God. Do read the Author’s Note at the end. It’ll creep you out! My mind boggled at the cost of the trip — and that was the bargain rate!
This tale irritated me. I don’t know if it was the shortness of the tale, but it felt as if “Tempe” was so condescending toward the reader. Oy.
And Tempe is fleeing from Andrew Ryan’s Proposal!
The Characters
J Ortiz is a tech at MCME.
The wealthy Blythe Hallis is a friend of the mayor in Charlotte, with the police chief, the governor, etc. Brighton Hallis was her adventuring daughter who loved climbing. Raleigh is Blythe’s butler. Sterling is Blythe’s deceased husband.
Brighton’s climbing team included the sneaky Dara Steele; Cash Reynolds; Elon Gass, a cryptozoologist who’s more interested in Yeti; and, Damon James who is Bright’s business partner in Brighton Ascents. In America, James works at Inner Peaks Climbing Center (Amy works there too) and the US National Whitewater Center.
Viviana Fuentes was a solo climber on Everest. Her father, Guillermo Fuentes, had taught Viviana to climb. Viviana’s mother has advanced dementia. International Mortuary Shipping is accustomed to repatriating bodies’ to their country of origin. There’s a girl who is peeved at Weed. Constable Raj in Lukla, Nepal, which is the nearest real town to base camp. Carla is a waitress at Mattie’s Diner in Charlotte. The Sure Foot Society funds Elon’s Yeti research. Chitra Adhikari is in the Mount Everest permit and statistics office for the Nepal Ministry of Tourism. Paola Rossi is with the Centro de Visitantes del Parque Provincial Aconcagua in Argentina. Dr Ignacio Silva is with the Cuerpo Médico Forense, Morgue Judicial. AFIS is the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
Ick. Terminal burrowing, a.k.a. hide-and-die syndrome, is when victims seek small, enclosed spaces. Previous victims preserved in ice include Iceman Ötzi, Beck Weathers, George Mallory, and David Sharp. The Heights is a reality show about mountaineering. SheClimbs Charlotte is a women’s climbing group. Seven Summits is a goal to climb the highest points on each of the seven continents, one of which is Aconcagua. Eight-thousanders are the fourteen peaks in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges with summits in the death zone. Yeah, that’s exactly what you think. HAPE is high-altitude pulmonary edema; HACE is high-altitude cerebral edema.
“First Bones”
This is a story split in time, starting with today and slipping back through Tempe’s memories to how she evolved from bioarchaeologist to forensic anthropologist — that personal touch that pulls Tempe in, something missing in her current occupation. It is fascinating to learn how much Tempe loves to explore human evolution. Reichs explores the truth about killing with a gun, and damn, if she isn’t a tease as she writes of Tempe’s fears.
The Characters
The 1980s
Tempe is a bioarchaeologist in this, her employment at the UNCC hinging on her having a PhD. She’s married to Pete, a lawyer, and they’re living in a low-rent apartment in Elizabeth. Yep, it’s a combination of prequel and sequel to the series.
Dr Becknell is the current forensic anthropologist at the old MCME. “Cardigan“, a.k.a. Mrs Flowers, is the receptionist. Dr Tim Larabee is the medical examiner and has a sister. Joe Hawkins is the death investigator. And computers are a new introduction.
Detectives the arrogant (and pushy) Erskine “Skinny” Slidell (with a shiny new badge) and Eddie Rinaldi are with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD. George is with the Documents Section.
Dr Keith Millikin runs a street clinic for indigents and the homeless. Louis Grimm is a worried patient of his. Dr Steiner, Dr Alison Martin, and Dr Russell Ingram are all dentists. Mark Wong, an acupuncturist, crashed his car. Derek Hull is Wong’s roommate. Nero “Nehi” Height is a third party. Terry Flynn is a banker.
Today
V Sule is a nurse in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit. Detective Andrew Ryan shows. Garret Hearst is a street kid.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of blues. It begins with an x-ray of a rib cage with a pale blue border at the bottom. Below it is an x-ray of the profile of a skull. At the very top is a testimonial in white. Below that is an info blurb in a very pale blue. Immediately below that is the author’s name in white with a black outline. Starting at the top of the skull is the title in white and outlined in black. Below that is a pale coral band that serves as the background for the book info of the book’s contents in a navy blue. Below that, in white, are the titles of the four novellas.
The title is all about the various novellas in The Bone Collection.
