1987; 210 pages. Book 4 (out of 18) in the “Gideon Oliver Mysteries” series. New Author? : No. Genres : International Mystery & Crime; France;
Whodunit; Forensic Anthropology. Overall
Rating : 8½*/10.
Talk about a dream business trip, Gideon
Oliver is on one!
He’s in France lecturing at a
symposium on forensic anthropology, and wouldn’t you know it, a partial skeleton
is unearthed at a nearby chateau. The
local authorities call on Gideon for his expertise in assisting them to determine the victim’s gender and age, how long it’s been entombed, and
whether foul play was a factor in its demise.
Oh yeah, it should be
mentioned that one of the local gentry also has just perished in an accidental
drowning in the area’s local tidal pool.
But it’s hard to see that as anything more than a coincidence.
Yeah, right.
What’s To Like...
Old Bones
is the third book I’ve read in Aaron Elkins’ Gideon
Oliver series. The settings in
these three tales have been delightfully varied: Egypt; Dorset, England; and
now the Brittany region of France. Aaron
Elkins is an American author, and must do considerable research, since each of
these settings has felt remarkably “real” to me.
It’s fun getting to know
Gideon. He’s a nerd and a scientist, but so am I. He specializes in carefully analyzing the
subject matter (old bones), and
drawing objective conclusions therefrom.
Most of his deductions contain a degree of uncertainty (like a weather forecast), and occasionally
he’s wrong.
The murder-mystery angle is developed quite well. The lists of
suspects and motives are intriguingly long, and the number of opportunities for
skullduggery frustratingly short.
Happily, that’s where plot twists come in.
The story’s setting means that
the reader is treated to lots of French phrases, many of which are
food-related. There’s also a smattering
of German vocabulary, most notably “obersturmbannfuhrer”,
(yeah, try saying that ten times real fast), since the Nazi occupation
of France in World War 2 has a significant impact on the plotline here.
I enjoyed learning how to properly eat a delicacy called “tiny gray shrimp”.
Being a language freak, I chuckled at Gideon’s musing as to how
“Bugs Bunny” would be translated into French.
Which would it be: “lapin fou”
or “insect le lapin”? Some of the titles of Gideon’s lectures were cleverly amusing, such as “Phylogenetic relationships between the Middle
Pleistocene hominids and the western Neanderthals”, and “Larval
Invasions of Calliphoridae in Unburied Corpses from Two to Four Weeks”. And we won’t even mention how a “polydactylous pig” impacts the investigation.
The ending is suitably
exciting and twisty. Some basic
assumptions turn out to be false, our heroes come dangerously close to be/coming victims themselves, and my guesses as to who the perpetrators were completely
wrong. Which is exactly the way I like
it.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 1,265
ratings and 139 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.01*/5,
based on 2,310 ratings and 188 reviews.
Excerpts...
“There are apparently some hand bones. I assume there wouldn’t be any other animals
with anything like human hands—aside from the apes, of course.”
“As
a matter of fact, there are. The
skeleton of a bear’s paw isn’t hard to confuse with a human hand or foot. Even the flipper of a small whale.”
“Ah,” said Joly.
John, who had been quick to accept the
inspector’s invitation to see the French criminal justice system in action,
spoke up from the back seat. “Hey,
great, we’re really narrowing things down.
It’s either a person, a bear or a whale.
The case is practically solved.” (pg. 47)
“You all settled down for the night?”
“Uh-huh.
I’m in bed.”
“Good,” he said, his voice softening. “What are you wearing? That silky tan thing, I hope; the one that
accentuates that lovely, long, marvelous, intra-sacrospinalis sulcus that you
have.”
“Ah,” she said with a sigh, “that’s more
like it.” (pg. 143)
Kindle Details…
Old
Bones is discounted to $1.99 right now at Amazon, but
that’s a temporary situation. The other
books in the series cost anywhere from $1.99 to $9.99,
with the prices generally higher for the books in the latter half of the
series.
“Oh-oh. (…) Looks
like another case of cleidacranial whatsamatosis.” (pg. 149)
There are eleven instances of profanity in the first 10% of the book, but no f-bombs. No adult situations arose, nor do I recall any being alluded to. I only spotted one typo: “Iout/I out”.
That’s all I can find to
grouse about in Old Bones. The three Gideon Oliver books I’ve read so
far have all been captivating: engaging storylines, lots of plot twists, exotic
settings, and well-structured murder mysteries.
I think this series is a winner.
8½ Stars. One last tidbit. The most useful of all the French phrases given in Old Bones is this one: “Fermez la bouche.” Google it.
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