A good story. Fascinating information about how dogs are trained to find very specific things with an example of one locating (of course) buried bones. Good plot. ( )

"Green with lush life, the enchanting Isles of Scilly dot the sea like an emerald necklace. Fabled to be the ancient realm of King Arthur, they lie thirty miles off the coast of Cornwall, forming an archipelago forgotten by time.

"Forensics professor and sometime detective Gideon Oliver accompanies his wife to the Isles. A wildfire expert, Julie has been invited here by Russian expatriate Vasily Kozlov, scientist, millionaire, and eccentric. At his home, Star Castle, he regularly hosts a consortium on conservation, inviting guests of differing opinions -- which makes for some very heated arguments.

"While Julie is stuck indoors, Gideon looks forward to puttering around the little-visited Neolithic sites scattered among the islands. But before day one is through, a not-so-Neolithic bone turns up -- this tibia is only a few years old -- and all signs point to murder. And just as Gideon and the local law puzzle over whose bones these might be, another murder happens at Star Castle. Could it just be bad luck, two murders within a couple of years? Or do Kozlov's lively debates have a way of turning deadly?
~~front & back flaps

Another exciting adventure for the Skeleton Detective, along with great description of St, Mary's island, where the consortium and the mystery take place. The reader is introduced to the usual stellar cast of wonderful new characters, among them: Madeleine Goodfellow, director of the Isles of Scilly Museum -- a buxom, amiable woman in her fifties who wore her glasses on a lanyard and several rounds of jangling jewelry on her wrist; Constable Kyle Robb, a smiling, clean-cut, red-haired young man; and Sergeant Clapper, a broad, heavy man of fifty-five or so with a sad, dull-brown slick of hair pulled across his scalp, a heavy red drinker's face, and tired, seen-everything, don't even-think-of-putting-anything-over-on-me eyes. Well plotted as always, and a hair-raising encounter for Gideon. The only thing missing is John Lau, but the reader won't miss him what with all the other excitement and murder. ( )