Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs (2007, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

What's not to love about an enthralling forensic mystery with an eBay reference? Announcing the discovery of yet another dead body, the heroine's on-again, off-again boyfriend and detective, Andrew Ryan, tells her, "Guy's out fishing, thought he hooked the big one and reeled in a body instead. He's probably got his bass boat on eBay right now."

The eBay reference came early on, but this taut storyline stayed engaging all the way through. I sometimes find real-life forensic scientist Kathy Reichs' books rather dry, but this time we really get to know a more emotionally interesting side of Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic bones specialist and star of this bestselling series.

Old bones have been found in Acadia and brought to Tempe's attention by detective from the cold-case squad Could they belong to Tempe's childhood friend, Evangéline, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances at the age of 14? Meanwhile, young girls are going missing at an alarming rate, and bodies are being discovered almost as quickly. Could there be a serial killer at work?

What made this book especially fun to hear were the developments in the currently not-so-blooming romance between Tempe and Ryan along with the latest development in her relationship with her ex-husband. Also, vivid sister Harry comes to visit and plays a pivotal role in the fast-paced and fascinating plot. And as always, Reichs creates a vibrant sense of place in her descriptions of Montréal, Québec, New Brunswick and the Canadian territory in between.

Without giving away too much of the storyline, suffice it to say that this forensic whodunit will keep you absorbed from cover to cover. You will enjoy learning much about the anachronistic and obscure Acadian culture of Canada. Meanwhile, you'll be on the edge of your seat as Reichs keeps the multiple plotlines unfolding in past and present, weaving them together into a complex tapestry that really gives you a sense of the intricate juggling act that forensics specialists and law enforcement personnel must perform every day as they handle multiple cases.

If this is the first book you've listened to by Reichs, you will still enjoy it, but then you owe it to yourself to go back and find Reichs' previous books to make the fullest sense of the character arcs and situations that evolve over the life of the series.

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If Reichs wanted to see Acadie and Acadians as they are, she couldn't have picked a better guide. As Leger recounts Reichs' adventures in the province, her hands stay busy cutting up strawberries in the kitchen of her century-old farmhouse. 'Basically we shared our life with her as we live it -- no fuss, no muss,Leger has never been star struck around Reichs. By the time she figured out that she was famous, the two were fast friends. When Reichs arrived to do a week of research in the province last June, Leger put her up in a friend's quiet but very basic camp, filled her up on lobster and wine and sent her off with pickles and jam. She and her sister accompanied Reichs on a whirlwind tour of Acadie -- from Shediac to Caraquet, with stops at the giant lobster, the Acadian Village, and the Musee historique de Tracadie, operated by the two last nuns who cared for those suffering from leprosy. Leger says the woman who made the National Film Board documentary about her brother is from Caraquet, so Raoul's story is well known on the Acadian Peninsula, which meant she and her sister often got more of a celebrity welcome than Reichs. 'We went to the museum and the nuns said, 'Oh! Les soeurs de Raoul Leger!'' she says. 'And we said, 'And this is Kathy Reichs,' and they said, 'Oh, hello,' and then (came right back to us).' When they stayed at a local bed and breakfast, it was the Legers who got the suite, while a laughing Reichs had to content herself with occupying a simple bedroom. Leger says Reichs asked a constant stream of questions but barely took any notes. When she sat down to read an advance copy of the book, she marvelled at how many little things Reichs had retained from her visit. Even names picked up along the way appear in the book. There is a Kevin after a police officer they chatted with, an Obline after a story Leger told about meeting a woman from Texas who was looking for her Acadian grandmother of the same name, and an Estelle who in the novel is a woman of ill repute, but in real life is Leger's mortified daughter. Despite their friendship, Leger had never read a single one of Reichs' novels until Bones to Ashes. 'I sat and read it all the way through. I didn't get off the couch,' she says. 'And when I got done, I started crying.' Leger says Reichs has wonderfully captured Acadian culture and history in the book. 'She came to learn who we were and she listened to who we were,' she says. 'Not only did she get it, she has the ability to transfer it into words.' Leger expects the novel to have a huge impact on Acadians and on New Brunswick. 'We're being introduced to the world,' she says, pointing out that Reichs' novels are translated into 39 languages and sold all over the world. 'I've seen what her other books do,' she says. Fans of the novels often travel to see some of the landmarks featured in the books. But this novel is particularly special because it also revives a lost country. 'Ever since the deportation, we have no country to call our own. We have our customs and our flag,' Leger says. 'You can't go to Acadia. It doesn't exist.' But while it may no longer be on any map, the knowledge that it did once exist will now be conveyed to millions of readers. And this leads back to Raoul and the kind of person he was. 'My brother was so proud of his heritage, even in the '70s,' Leger explains. 'Never in a million years did I think that him loving his heritage would be explained in this way to this calibre.'

My expectations of this book was distorted by the TV program "Bones" which is based (loosely, I imagine) on Kathy Reichs. I was mostly unimpressed with the work as a whole. The book has a lot of technical information which is interesting. The scenario is gripping and intriguing. Character development is shallow and incomplete. What is missing is the sense of relationship between the characters and between the characters and the action. You are told of the relationships (Temperance and Harry, Temperance and Ryan), but the feel for that relationship is missing. It seems that a lot of that is assumed, which makes it difficult to accept at face value. Also missing is the tenseness found in excellent mysteries. The storyline is good, but it is missing some key elements to make it a gripper. There were spots where you get that gripping tenseness, but mostly it is missing.

It was ok, not what I expected. Not my type of read. I found that it drifted too much for me and did not really follow the Brennen story line all that well. This is an ongoing problem when books are adapted to TV. There are holes in the story line and usually the books and the TV show do not run in tandum. All in all the book was entertaining but I will probably not read any more.