Friday, I've got Traveling on My Mind

It's enough to put you off eating pizza, at least for awhile - unearthing the skeletal remains of three bodies buried in the cellar of the local pizza parlor, that is. But that's exactly what Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist extraordinaire, finds on her plate in her latest visit to Montreal. Not only are there three sets of desiccated bones - all belonging to teenaged Caucasian females - but there are also three living people stirring up her ordered life as well. Her ongoing turf war with homicide lieutenant Luc Claudel is even "tetchier" than usual (if that's possible), her sub rosa affair with Andrew Ryan is as... confusing as ever (if not more so), and her best Charlotte bud Anne Turnip has appeared out of nowhere trailing a pile of luggage and the shards of a disintegrating marriage (Turnip? you're kidding, right?). Tempe has her hands full - as usual - and there are only ten shopping days 'til Christmas...

Though Claudel's convinced that the skeletons are too ancient to be of interest, Tempe's having none of that. Using some high-tech experimental radioisotope techniques, she determines that the bones are late twentieth century; and her hunt is on. Eschewing her area of expertise - anthropology, that is - in her usual attempt to one-up the preternaturally irritating Claudel, Tempe interviews witnesses and researches the ownership of the building. When a little old lady who had once lived above the pizza joint turns up dead, we know she's on the right track. But who are the dead girls? And who killed them? Could it have been the Mafioso who owned the building decades ago; or maybe the unsavory pawnbroker who'd rented the ground floor for several years?

Her combined detective and forensic work lead Tempe to the threshold of a bizarre world of psychosexual abuse and murder, and - as usual - Monday Mourning finds Tempe's life endangered by her near total lack of common sense under pressure, and saved by the timely arrival of deus ex machina.


In this, the seventh Temperance Brennan mystery* by Kathy Reichs, the sleuthing anthropologist is wintering in Montreal, where she spends half the year - the cold half. Unlike earlier novels of the series, Reichs resists the temptation to somehow tie the Montreal case to murders in North Carolina, where Tempe spends the warm months. That's a good thing - such coincidences can quickly stretch one's suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. The forty-something and still sexy scientist - she's divorced, with a college-age daughter back in the States - demonstrates absolute control within the laboratory and autopsy suite while exhibiting her usual clumsiness in her personal life (not everyone's as polished as Kay Scarpetta, after all). Tempe's long-in-coming affair with the taciturn Ryan is developing monster moguls in what was already a bumpy road; and the appearance of her bosom buddy, the Amazonian Anne, has thrown her for a bit of a loop.

While one never fails to learn some interesting forensic science from Reichs, the writer also seems to have established an irritating pattern. This time out, the science involves using radioactive carbon in organic matter to age-date recent bones, and strontium isotope concentrations to attempt to establish provenance of the remains - some fascinating stuff, and well presented. On the other hand, after six near-death experiences devolving from her failure to call for backup when she wanders into potentially dangerous situations, one would assume that Tempe would learn, right? Wrong. If the woman's a cat, she has only two lives left...


Whether Tempe's foolishness grates on your nerves or not, you'll enjoy reading the Brennan series, not just to view her antics but also for Reichs's sly sense of humor and her slightly goofy ancillary characters, You can't call 'em flat when they're an eighty year old man who prefers to chase off Jehovah's witnesses by answering his door in the nude, or a three-hundred-pound woman with badly-fitting dentures and a Tammy Faye makeup job. Reichs has a keen eye for detail and an engaging writing style.

But here's a suggestion, Kathy: next book, have Tempe take Ryan (or another cop) along for backup at the final dénouement. Maybe he can fall and break his ankle. Maybe he can get knocked upside the head. Maybe he can get trapped - whatever happens, Tempe stops looking stupid and gets a chance to be a hero instead of a bumbler. Me, I'd like that better than her always getting rescued from herself.


*For other books in the Brennan series, see also
Bare Bones
Deadly Decisions
Fatal Voyage