Bones is very well crafted story. There are no clues as to why dead bodies were discovered in a marsh or even who these people were. Yet through questions, research and DNA searches the police were able to figure out who was dead. Scenarios were made, the reader had thoughts as to who murdered the people, yet not until the conclusion of the story, were the murders solved. Excellent story and worthy of the five stars that were awarded to it in this review. How Jonathan Kellerman consistently creates such good sleuth stories is a mystery. ( )

Mystery decent but main characters are stagnant ( )

I read the Alex Delaware-Milo Sturgis novels from time to time. At times Delaware’s personal life is as much of the story as is the mystery. Other times it takes a decided back seat. This one is of the latter type. We get to check in with Robin, Delaware’s gf, from time to time, but it’s peripheral. The emphasis is on Alex’s involvement in a multiple-murder case.

The case starts with an anonymous phone call saying there is a body in the marsh. Eventually that body is found and dogs find additional bodies, all women. All with their right hands cut off and all facing east. They had been dead different lengths of time, dating back about 15 months at the longest.

Investigation brings them close to a wealthy man, who had hired the first dead woman to teach piano to his talented young son, and eventually to his hired hand, Huck. Huck has some sort of nerve damage, causing his mouth to sag on one side and to cause some nervous tics. He also seems to have some kind of limited brain damage, as he doesn’t express himself entirely normally.

Suspicion centers on Huck early, in part because the brother of one of the investigators was hired by an anonymous party to look into Huck, and when he finds a juvenile justice history, he feels obligated to tell the lead investigator about it.

However, people who know Huck don’t believe he was capable of murder. They may not know him well, of course. Delaware, a psychologist, keeps a low profile in this respect, not either supporting the suspicion or speaking against it.

Other characters come into the picture, including a rabid environmentalist who sees protection of the marsh as his purpose in life. And an obnoxious teen-age boy who worked for him to work off some misdeeds of his own. Not to mention an ex-wife and a family of a baby once rescued by Huck.

The story is absorbing enough, good escape reading. I was irritated by a statement one of the characters said: “Hitler was a vegetarian”. He wasn’t. That myth needs to die. I was also bothered, as I always am, by the many meals eaten by the characters, meals full of animal parts. Sensitive caring people who clearly never heard of factory farming or about the sensitivities of other animals. I realize I am outside the mainstream in this, can only hope that this attitude shifts over time. ( )

Alex Delaware #23 ( )

The story moves along at a good clip and kept me wanting to see how it all tied together. A good thriller. ( )