Unnatural Selection PDF
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Forensic sleuth Gideon Oliver accompanies his second wife, Julie, to an unusual gathering of conservation experts in the Scilly Isles in Edgar-winner Elkins's engaging 13th whodunit to feature the man known as the "Bone Detective" (after 2005's Where There's a Will). Frustrated by his passive role and forced to bite his tongue when opinions are voiced that strike him as lacking intellectual rigor, Oliver leaps at a chance to examine some human remains stored at the local museum. His casual look becomes something more when he determines that one humerus bone is a recent relic, leading to his rousing the sleepy local constabulary to a murder probe. When the victim turns out to have belonged to the conservation group, the circle of suspects centers on the surviving members. Elkins excels in making his hero's skills plausible and accessible to a lay audience, though some readers might wish for more depth of characterization. (June)
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A conference on the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall is the picturesque setting for Edgar-winning Elkins' latest forensic caper. His husband-wife team of Julie and Gideon Oliver (Julie, a supervising park ranger at Olympia National Park in Washington; Gideon, a forensic anthropologist) allows Elkins to do several things at once: get the couple invited to different venues; pack in enough local lore to function as a travel guide for readers; and provide two different perspectives on whatever bones Gideon stumbles across. This time, Julie has been invited to attend a biodiversity conference hosted by an eccentric Russian genius. Gideon pokes around the Neolithic sites and, not surprisingly, finds a contemporary tibia. While the local constabulary is denying that this can possibly be the result of foul play, a murder occurs at Star Castle, the site of the conference. Although the writing is precious at times, the forensic accuracy is admirable, and the plotting compelling. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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