Bones Never Lie

Bones Never Lie is the seventeenth book featuring the forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. In which she is called to a meeting at the Homicide Cold Case Unit in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is to meet with homicide Detective ‘Umpie’ Rodas from Vermont. The reason is that two child murders, separated by thousands of miles, have one thing in common, the murderer.

A DNA match links them to Anique Pomerlau who was responsible for the kidnap, torture and murders of young girls in Canada. Tempe Brennan and Detective Andrew Ryan were the investigating team. Pomerlau got away and for ten years Temperance Brennan has been haunted by this failure. Has Pomerlau begun to kill again? Did she ever stop and how many more girls have died?

Brennan needs Ryan, who has been missing since his daughter Lily died. Tempe's elderly mother is ill and in a care home but is a ‘silver surfer’ computer geek. She helps Tempe find Ryan and later gives her much needed information. Ryan is not interested in helping Tempe, she of course persuades him.

The disappearance of a local 13 year-old girl leads Tempe to consider that Pomerlau has found where she is living and is taunting her. Tempe and Ryan begin the search for Pomerlau and the missing girl.

Also assigned to the case are, Detective Erskine 'Skinny' Sidell self-opinionated and annoying. Agent Tinker State Bureau of Investigation and Honor Barrow who runs the Cold case Unit.  Can Brennan and Ryan succeed in this second chance to stop a psychopath?

As usual, there is a modicum of scientific and forensic detail but it is not a ‘data dump’ as in some books of this genre. The facts are explanatory and done with a light touch. The characters and their interactions are believable, especially between Tempe and Ryan whose troubled relationship has been a theme through the novels.

The narrative is pacey, the plot believable, together with great characterisation, twists and turns, make this a highly readable book. It cannot be easy to keep up the standard of a long running series like this but Kathy Riechs does it expertly and this book is one of the best.