Old Bones, Aaron Elkins
Old Bones, Aaron Elkins
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Old Bones

Author: Aaron Elkins

Narrator: Joel Richards

Unabridged: 8 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/02/2019


Synopsis

An Edgar Award–winning mystery featuring the forensic anthropologist hailed as "a likable, down-to-earth, cerebral sleuth"—from the author of Switcheroo (Chicago Tribune).

"With the roar of thunder and the speed of a galloping horse comes the tide to Mont St. Michel," goes the old nursery song. So when the aged patriarch of the du Rocher family falls victim to the perilous tide, even the old man's family accepts the verdict of accidental drowning.

But too quickly, this "accident" is followed by a bizarre discovery in the ancient du Rocher chateau: a human skeleton, wrapped in butcher paper, beneath the old stone flooring. Professor Gideon Oliver, lecturing on forensic anthropology at nearby St. Malo, is asked to examine the bones. He quickly demonstrates why he is known as the "Skeleton Detective," providing the police with forensic details that lead them to conclude that these are the remains of a Nazi officer believed to have been murdered in the area during the Occupation. Or are they? Gideon himself has his doubts. Then, when another of the current du Rochers dies—this time via cyanide poisoning—his doubts solidify into a single certainty: Someone wants old secrets to stay buried . . . and is perfectly willing to eradicate the meddlesome American to make that happen.

Voted one of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century, and featuring "a thrilling final scene," Old Bones will captivate fans of Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen as well as readers of Aaron Elkins's popular Alix London series (Publishers Weekly).

About Aaron Elkins

Aaron Elkins is a former anthropologist who has been writing mysteries and thrillers since 1982. He won an Edgar for Old Bones, as well as a subsequent Agatha with his wife Charlotte, and a Nero Wolfe Award. His major continuing series features forensic anthropologist-detective Gideon Oliver, "the Skeleton Detective."

The Gideon Oliver books have been (roughly) translated into a major ABC-TV series and have been selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild, and the Reader's Digest Condensed Mystery Series. His work has been published in a dozen languages. Elkins and his wife live on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

Although he has been a full-time writer for some time now, he also remains active in real-life forensics by serving as the forensic anthropologist on the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Gary

A top notch mystery which was certainly deserving of its Edgar as best mystery novel in 1998. This is the first Dr. Gideon Oliver mystery I have read. This book was the 4th in the series. It will not be my last.......more

Goodreads review by Kathy

Not my favorite Gideon Oliver book to date, but it had its moments. Mont St-Michel is featured as are events of WWII as they haunt the survivors with buried secrets. Skeletons don't lie and Oliver helps to reveal family history truths at great risk.......more

Goodreads review by Paul

What we have a here is a good old-fashioned mystery. No mundane facts about the main character's daily routine. No subplots about a child that's lashing out because the main character missed her latest piano recital. it sets the scene and doesn't stray. This is not a bad thing, and given that it's l......more

I picked this book for the Takes place in a non-English speaking country square in r/CozyMystery book bingo on Reddit and it was available at my library. When I read the blurb, it had all the things I like - history, World War II tales, forensic anthropology (I'm a sucker for old bones!) and after r......more