A gripping and explosive new thriller featuring Temperance Brennan and Detective Andrew Ryan on the trail of a modern murder and an ancient biblical mystery...
Scribner
July 2005
Featuring: Temperance Brennan; Andrew Ryan
368 pages ISBN: 0743233484 Hardcover Add to Wish List
When an Orthodox Jewish man is found shot to death in
Montreal, Temperance Brennan is called in to examine the
body and to figure out the puzzling damage to the corpse.
Unexpectedly, a stranger slips her a photograph of a
skeleton and assures her it is the key to the victim's
death. Before she knows it, Tempe is involved in an
international mystery as old as Jesus, and one that could
lead to the rewriting of two thousand years of religious
history.
As Tempe investigates, she learns that the stranger's
picture shows bones uncovered during an archaeological dig.
She discovers the Montreal shooting victim ran an import
business that just might have been a front for the trading
of black market antiquities. Along with Detective Andrew
Ryan and biblical archaeologist Jake Drum, Tempe travels to
Israel to probe the origins of the skeleton and the ancient
crypt in which it was found. Together they make a startling
discovery that raises radical questions about Christ's
death and places them squarely in the middle of a swirling
controversy. Could one of the tombs really be Christ's last
resting place? Are the bones in the ancient ossuary the
last remnants of James, the brother of Jesus, as the
inscription claims? Or has someone concocted an elaborate
hoax?
Using her skills as a forensic scientist, Tempe plunges
into the most controversial case of her career. The stakes
have never been higher -- the more she learns, the greater
the danger. And though Ryan is sexier and more engaging
than ever, he may not be able to protect Tempe in this
place where there seem to be so many foes.
Cross Bones, with its lightning pace, intricately plotted
story, riveting and state-of-the-art forensic detail, is
Kathy Reichs's most compelling and dramatic novel yet.