And
Consider This
For Those Who Like
Mysteries…
Two recommendations
to while away a few lazy summer hours:
First, Kathy
Reichs' newest, "Fatal Voyage," goes on sale July
17. In the meantime, you can fill in the time by reading her first
novel, "Déjà Dead." Kathy Reichs inherits
the mantle from Patricia Cornwall, whose talents seem to have
played out of late. Like her protagonist Temperance Brennan, Reichs
herself serves as forensic anthropologist for the Chief Medical
Examiner of North Carolina and also for the province of Quebec,
as well as teaching at the University of North Carolina.
In "Déjà
Dead," (Paperback: Pocket Books, 1998) while working in
Montreal, Tempe Brennan tries to keep track of her friend, a graduate
student in cultural anthropology, who is studying the downtown prostitute
population. Her friend gets information that may relate to a series
of brutal murders but is reluctant to betray the confidence of her
edgy subjects. When her friend disappears, Tempe is drawn in to
one of the more harrowing investigations ever described. This novel
is impossible to put down.
In "Fatal Voyage,"
(Simon & Schuster; $25) set in the mountains of rural North
Carolina, Tempe is assigned to assist in identifying the remains
of sixty passengers in a fatal air crash. The veil of secrecy
surrounding those notorious long FAA investigations is pulled
aside for us (and it appears the Feds are actually quite competent).
But while walking in the woods, Tempe discovers a foot being gnawed
on by wolves. When she is able to retrieve it for examination,
it turns out not to belong to anyone on the passenger roster.
Then, every effort is made to deter her from further inquiry about
her find. An underground chamber, Egyptology, and even 18th century
Sir Francis Dashwood figure in the outcome. The novel is a little
slow to get under way but altogether exciting and absorbing.
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