Tempe's professional past seems to be catching up with her as a series of copycat crimes mimics some of her past investigations. Fast moving with complex analyses required, it is a compelling tale with up close and dangerous implications for Tempe and her daughter. ( )

The title refers to the fact that this book is set during the winter. But, let's face it, winter in North Carolina isn't like winter in Canada. Online sources show that the low in January in Charlotte is 1 deg. C. and the high is 11. Here in Winnipeg we'd consider that a nice spring day. However, I realize it's all what you're used to and for most of the folks in Charlotte that's pretty tough to take. One benefit of the colder temperatures is that crime is down and Tempe Brennan has less work on her hands.

Her daughter, Katy, is now back in town having finished up her stint in the Army and Tempe is looking forward to spending more time with her. In fact, Katy is at her house when Tempe opens a box left on her step to find a human eyeball staring up at her. And it is Katy who notices something etched on the exterior of the eyeball. This turns out to be GPS coordinates which leads Temperance and her sidekick, former police officer and present PI, Skinny Slidell to a former monastery where a body is found. Each discovery leads to another and its soon clear that someone is copying cases Tempe was involved in in previous years. On top of this, Katy has stopped answering her mother's phone calls and no one has seen her for days. The police department have been consulted about the copycat cases and about Katy's disappearance. A relatively new officer (at least according to Slidell she's a rookie) is assigned to the cases but she may not have the background necessary. Can Brennan and Slidell solve the cases and find Katy on their own?

Tempe is still involved with Andrew Ryan, the police officer from Montreal, but he's mostly absent from this book. He and Slidell are partners in a private detective agency and Ryan is away in the Caribbean on a case. I really like the chemistry between Brennan and Ryan so I hope he has a more prominent role in a future book. ( )

3.5 ( )

Excellent book that is written in a way that makes it very difficult to try and predict the ending ( )

I've read all of the Temperance Brennan books, and this was not one of my favorites. I found the plot distractingly improbable even by thriller standards, as well as distractingly complex. And I HATE it when Tempe responds to a maybe real, maybe fake phone call by driving off in the night into a threatening situation alone without telling anyone. "Don't go there" is what you tell the trembling young heroine of early 20th century fiction, not a forensic anthropologist of many years and much experience. But I'll read the next ------ ( )