(Note:  Although this review will not contain spoilers for Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from earlier books in the Temperance Brennan series.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is used to dealing with grisly crime scenes.  It's part of her job.  But, when she finds three dead infants hidden in the walls of a rundown apartment in Montreal, she can hardly stand it.  Tempe's shocked, horrified and filled with an anger so hot she can barely see straight.  What kind of monster kills babies?  Was it the children's mother?  If so, why?  What could possibly have driven her to do such a horrific thing and not once, but thrice?  Tempe cannot even begin to imagine the answers, so she does what she does best:  she reads the bones.

Based on evidence Tempe discovers, police track the mother to Yellowknife, an isolated diamond-mining community deep in the Northwest Territories.  Tempe's invited along for the manhunt.  The last thing on Earth she wants to find is more tiny corpses, but she's determined to bring the babies' killer to justice. Tempe needs to focus on the case, but travelling with two former lovers makes concentration a bit difficult.  The situation is awkward enough:  Tempe's working with Detective Andrew Ryan, her sexy on-again-off-again (currently off) boyfriend and Ollie Hasty, a sergeant with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with whom Tempe had a long-ago dalliance.  The men's constant bickering only adds to the tension—sexual and otherwise—already crackling between the three.

As the case gets even more complicated, Tempe finds herself embroiled in a mess that involves not just dead babies, but also prostitutes, drug dealers, the lucrative diamond business and, of course, a cold-blooded killer.  The closer she gets to the truth behind the infants' deaths, the closer she comes to unmasking the murderer.  And becoming his/her next victim.

It's no secret that I'm a huge Kathy Reichs fan.  Ever since reading Deja Dead, the first novel in her popular Temperance Brennan series (which inspired the hit tv series Bones, by the way, although you really don't want to get me started on that ...), I've been hooked.  Tempe's a smart, funny heroine with an admirable passion for her work.  I love her character as well as the way Reichs makes forensic anthropology accessible for those of us whose only background in the science is the hundreds of hours we've logged watching CSI.

As much as I love the series, though, I have to admit it has—at times—lagged a little.  Well, no more!  Bones Are Forever (available August 28, 2012), the 15th Temperance Brennan book, just may be the very best.  With a unique locale, an intriguing mystery and a whole lot of sparks zinging between one of my favorite literary couples, the novel kept me thoroughly engrossed and wholly entertained.  Bones Are Forever injects new life into one of my favorite series, reminding me just how much I adore Kathy Reichs.  I seriously cannot wait to see where she takes Tempe next.

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Temperance Brennan series, including Deja Dead; Death du Jour; Deadly Decisions; Fatal Voyage; Grave Secrets; Bare Bones; Monday Mourning; Cross Bones; Break No Bones; Bones to Ashes; Devil Bones; 206 Bones; Spider Bones; and Flash and Bones)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  R for strong language, sexual innuendo, violence and adult situations

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of Bones Are Forever from the generous folks at Scribner (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) via Edelweiss.  Thank you!   

Spring has arrived in Quebec, sweeping in with all its glory. The scent of apple blossoms floats in the air, baby leaves shimmer in the breeze, the whole place sparkles as if studded with diamonds. But as the world thaws, forcing the earth to give up all the secrets it's been concealing beneath snow and ice, bodies began to appear. And forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan gets very, very busy.

When Tempe's called to examine a body found bobbing in a Hemmingford, Quebec, pond, she's a little surprised - the man's sporting pink lingerie and a homemade breathing apparatus. Unfortunate fashion choice. Unfortunate, but accidental, death. Even though foul play seems unlikely, something strange (well, stranger) turns up: According to fingerprint analysis, the corpse belongs to John Charles Lowery of Lumberton, North Carolina. The same John Charles Lowery who died in a 1968 helicopter crash in the jungles of Vietnam. Was there an error in the lab's testing? Or did Lowery survive the war, letting his family mourn while he lived out the rest of his life in Canada?

The investigation takes Tempe to North Carolina, where John's father insists his son died a hero's death. Not about to disclose the unsavory details of the floater's death without absolute proof of his identity, Tempe keeps digging. Her research takes her back to her old stomping grounds - the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL), a facility in Hawaii where teams work to recover the bodies of American soldiers missing on foreign soil. While she teases information from the Quebec bones as well as those of another soldier who could be Lowery, Tempe's summoned by Honolulu's flamboyant M.E., who requests help with a shark-ravaged skeleton. As the cases all come together, Tempe makes some shocking discoveries, not the least of which is that a very dangerous someone wants to put a stop to her investigation. And, quite possibly, her life.

With bodies piling up around her, Tempe's not exactly feeling the aloha spirit. It doesn't help that she's brought along her grieving daughter, Katy, who can't seem to snap back after the death of a friend. The presence of sexy, smart aleck Detective Ryan doesn't help much either (especially with her hormones, which don't seem to understand the meaning of the words strictly professional). Ryan's daughter, Lily, who's trying to put her life back together after destroying it with drugs, is also in attendance. Tempe's idea to let the girls help each other mend while she and Ryan work on their case, isn't going quite as planned. So much for her working vacation. She'll be lucky to get out of Hawaii with her life, let alone her sanity.

I've loved Temperance Brennan from the moment I "met" her back in Deja Dead, but my enjoyment of this popular series by Kathy Reichs has been derailed a little bit by the last few books. Although Spider Bones isn't my favorite of the forensic anthropologist's adventures, I feel like it gets the series back on track with an intriguing plot, an exotic locale, plenty of action, and a heavy dose of the Brennan-Ryan banter I love so much. As in all her novels, Reichs, who is herself a forensic anthropologist, explains the science of her profession in language that is clear and never condescending. Her smart, snappy heroine is always appealing, as is Tempe's on-again-off-again love interest, Andrew Ryan. I enjoyed all of that, as well as Reichs' descriptions of the real-life Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) which performs incredibly important work (read more here). Naturally, I found a few things about the book irksome: I learned more about autoeroticism than I ever wanted to know (um, eeewwww); I'm getting tired of Brennan and Ryan dancing around each other (just get together already, you two!), and I wasn't wild about the inclusion of the partners' daughters in the story (Can you say selfish whiners?). All in all, though, Spider Bones reminds me of all the things I love about this series - it's fresh, fun, and fascinating. And, given this latest entry, it appears to finally be picking up some speed. I'm gladly fastening my seatbelt ...

(Readalikes: The rest of the books in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs)

Grade: B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for strong language, sexual content, violence and gore

To the FTC, with love: I bought Spider Bones from Amazon using some of the millions I make from my lucrative book blogging career. Ha ha.

I may have mentioned (just a million times or so) that I'm a big fan of Kathy Reichs and her

heroine, Temperance Brennan. So, naturally, I was pretty excited when Reichs' newest hit the shelves. Devil Bones is the 11th book in a series which is consistently fresh and exciting. Even the installments that aren't quite as good stand out because the characters are so beguiling. I mean, you've got the city cops - smart-mouthed Slidell and his partner, the impeccable Rinaldi; then you've got Detective Ryan, the sexy Canadian who makes hearts flutter all over the globe; and finally, Tempe herself. She's a smart, dedicated forensic anthropologist who uses all her skills to identify murder victims and their killers. A recovering alcoholic living on Diet Coke and takeout, Tempe's at once sympathetic, admirable and relatable. Her snappy dialogue - both inside her head and out - makes her narrations fun and witty. Have I mentioned how much I love this character?

Yes, I do realize that I haven't even started talking about the book's finer points, but I have to make a quick aside. When I heard that Fox planned to air a TV series based on the Temperance Brennan books, I couldn't wait to check it out. Then I saw the first episode of Bones. And almost didn't watch the second. It's not that the show is terrible (in fact, it's kind of growing on me), it's just that it doesn't mirror the books very well. Plus, the acting is pretty bad. Most of all, though, the Tempe Brennan I know and love from the books is nothing like the stiff, whiny character portrayed by Emily Deschanel on Bones. So, I watch the show and I read the books, but it's like apples and oranges. The real Tempe (that is, the one in the books) will pull you in with her smarts, her wit, and her compassion. Kathy Reichs says she sees the t.v. Tempe as a younger version of the book Tempe (in an interview at the back of the book), but I see no correlation.

Okay, rant over. Back to Devil Bones. The book begins with a grisly site - Tempe is summoned to a vacant home where a plumber has discovered "Satan himself" (15). What he has actually found is the site of some sort of macabre ritual involving a human skull. The voodoo elements lead Tempe on a search of fringe religions like Wicca, Satanism and Santeria. Slidell and Rinaldi, Tempe's cop sidekicks, are investigating other possibilities when a second body turns up bearing disturbing symbols. Tempe's theory seems correct, but further investigation only creates tougher questions. To whom does the skull belong? Was the victim murdered by a bloodthirsty cult? What of a self-proclaimed witch with human remains in his possession? And what, if anything, does a fanatic preacher have to do with the whole thing? Before Tempe finds all the answers, several innocents will be dead, including a friend.

As if Tempe doesn't have her hands full with corpses, she's also got some personal issues. First of all, there's Pete, her ex-husband. Although they're definitely better off as friends, Tempe's not quite sure how she feels about him re-marrying. Well, okay, it sucks. Especially since his intended is "overblond, with breasts the size of beach balls, and far too little blouse to accomodate them" (174). Then, there is her own confusing love life. Andrew Ryan is back with his ex, trying to reconcile in an effort to save his daughter from her downward spiral into drugs. A new man (actually, a disarming blast from her past) is ready to move in on Ryan's territory, but Tempe's not sure she can handle a new complication. She's got enough of those already - her grief over a friend's death awakes her sleeping dragon and her alcohol-soaked mind can't recall the events of the past two days. Did she really leak information about her case to a nosy reporter? Her weakness could get her fired or worse ... killed.

Although I found the investigation process in this book more interesting than its resolution, Devil Bones still kept me turning pages. As always, I enjoyed Tempe's take on things, from her analyses of the cold, hard facts to her struggle to remain objective. Passages like this highlight what I love about this character:

Staring into the empty orbits, I tried to visualize who this young woman had been. Felt sad at the loss. My mind could conjure up rough images of her appearance based on the black girls I saw around me. Katy's friends. My students. The kids who hung out in the park across College Street. I could envision dark hair and eyes, chocolate skin. But what had she felt? Thought? What expression had molded her features as she fell asleep each night, woke each morning?

Fourteen to seventeen. Half woman, half child. Had she liked to read? Ride a bike? A Harley? Hang out at the mall? Did she have a steady boyfriend? Who was missing her? ...

Do what you do, Brennan. Learn who she was. What happened to her.

Setting sentimental musing aside, I refocused on the science.

I love that she's practical, but compassionate, too. Tempe's wry and hilarious observations give the book light and funny patches, which offset the gory nature of her work. The other characters in the book are well-drawn; even the most minor of them receive enough detailing to make them nice and round. The plot grows predictable, but it's still taut, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested. With the addition of some fascinating forensic information (which Reichs explains well, without talking down to the reader) and the drama of Tempe's personal life, Devil Bones is downright unputdownable. True, I didn't love the ending, but still ... this series continues to win my devotion. Did I mention how much I like Tempe Brennan?

Grade: B+

Is it just me or have you had sequels coming out your ears, too? Or more accurately, sequels overflowing your bookshelf. I love series fiction for many reasons, but mostly because the characters feel like old friends, and I've always been better at maintaining old friendships than building new ones. At any rate, my newest sequel read was Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs. Her Temperance Brennan series is one of my favorites.

Bones to Ashes seems more personal than Reichs' previous books, mostly because it discusses Tempe's background in more depth than before. Specifically, it examines the disappearance of her childhood friend, Evangeline Landry. Well, that and a boatload of other cases - as a forensic anthropologist working in both the U.S. and Canada, Tempe always has her hands full. While she works overtime on the Landry cold case, she has a slew of bones from more recent deaths to examine. Several of the murders seem to be linked, possibly the work of a serial killer. As if that wasn't enough, Tempe also has to deal with an extended visit from her impulsive sister, Harry, as well as her more-complicated-than-ever love life. Her estranged husband, Pete, announces his engagement to a woman 20 years his junior, while her on-again-off-again boyfriend, cop Andrew Ryan, decides to heal a relationship with his ex for the sake of their daughter. Between the rejection from two men, a missing old friend and onimous telephone and email threats, Tempe's dealing with more than she can seemingly handle. Still, she can't let the disappearances go, not the cold ones or the active ones, despite the very dangerous turns they seem to be taking.

Fast-paced and exciting, this is a page-turner of the highest order. I did think the bad guys were a little bit generic, and the ending is kind of predictable. Still, it's always fascinating to "watch" Tempe solve a case. Reichs is a master at explaining forensic science simply and understandably, without coming across as condescending. Her writing style engages with warmth and wit. The character of Tempe Brennan shines, as always. As for minor characters, Harry wins the title of Most Entertaining, as Ryan and Pete don't clock much time in this one. I love Ryan, so I'm anxious to see what happens to him and Tempe. Alas, another sequel I'll have to read...

Okay, so Kathy Reichs' newest, Break No Bones, isn't as original as some of her other books, but it is just as compelling. The novel stars one of my favorite characters in crime fiction: Temperance Brennan. "Tempe" is a forenisc anthropologist who works cases in both The United States and Canada. In this story, she is digging with a group of students in South Carolina when some grisly remains are discovered. As a favor to her coroner friend, Tempe studies the body, finding strange marks on the bones. Since her friend is battling her own issues, Tempe agrees to take on the case, which will change "[her] dig, [her] summer, and [her] views on human nature."

To complicate matters further, Tempe's estranged husband has taken up temporary residence in the same beach house where Tempe is staying. This situation doesn't go over well with her boyfriend, Detective Andrew Ryan. When both men end up at the beach house to help with Tempe's case, things get very complicated. Her personal life is always just as interesting as her current case!

Reichs is a talented writer, who also happens to be an expert in forensic anthropology, a field in which she has worked for many years. She has been accused of using too much jargon in her stories, but I believe she uses just enough to be interesting without being overwhelming. Her plots are always taut and exciting; her characters (even down to Tempe's pet dog and cat) believable and rich in personality; and her cases fascinating. If you love CSI, Reichs is for you.