The Bone Code

Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan and her long-suffering cat Birdie take refuge with a friend when a storm cuts off her electricity and damages her home. Her life is further complicated when she receives a request to examine a medical waste container washed up on the shore. Inside, two bodies bound with wire and wrapped in a plastic sheet are crammed tightly together.  

The case is hauntingly familiar. Tempe encountered something like this 15 years ago in Quebec– a case she failed to solve, a case that has haunted her ever since. The parallels are too strong for Tempe to ignore: a woman and child killed with gunshots to the head, their fingers cut off and their teeth removed to make identification harder. Despite strenuous efforts, Tempe and Andrew Ryan, then a police detective, failed to solve the mystery. The parallels are compelling and Tempe wants her boss to authorise a new investigation.

While Tempe is wrapped up in her attempt to solve crimes both old and new, Charleston is suffering from an outbreak of a nasty bacterium carried by dogs, potentially lethal for humans. People fear for their pets, amidst calls for them all taken off the streets – and worse – as the panic spreads.

Ryan, Tempe’s on-off boyfriend of long standing, now working as a private investigator, is able to call in some favours to enable him to look into the cold case that bears such a striking similarity to Tempe’s latest mystery. Together the pair set out to find justice for the dead and lay the ghosts of the past to rest.

The Bone Code is the latest in a long line of Tempe Brennan books and the series isn’t showing any signs of running out of steam. Kathy Reichs has an enviable talent for making even complex info dumps intriguing and readable, even when she’d delving deep into the intricacies of genetic mutations and vaccine production – something that is certainly still very topical. She also has a deft touch with the incidental characters that people her stories. In this case, Tempe must work with the abrasive Detective Vislosky of the Charleston PD, a woman who leaves any charm and tact at home when she sets out for work in the morning. The two develop a spiky relationship built on the strong foundations of instant mutual dislike, providing some entertaining passages of arms.

As ever, there are some fascinating side plots and despite the often grim and macabre subject matter, The Bone Code is both immersive and intriguing. Many of the story fines finally come together in wholly unexpected ways and although there’s a hefty dose of coincidence involved to set the ball rolling, I found it surprisingly easy to suspend the necessary disbelief. I was also glad to see that the redoubtable Birdie is still going strong, for once managing to avoid too much peril.