Book Review Thursday - 3/7

I have finishes! Multiple books read! I'm so happy!!

The Bone Bed is the 20th novel in the Kay Scarpetta novel by Patricia Cornwell. I reviewed the last book in the series here and I was not too thrilled with it. I think that this book was a return for Cornwell to the old Scarpetta who was autopsying bodies in the Virginia Medical Examiner's office. Maybe not a full return, but she is getting there.

Kay gets an email with a video of woman who was somewhere in Canada working at an archeological dig and has been missing for a couple of months. There is also a picture of a severed ear, but she can not conclude that the ear is from the woman. The next day, she has to help retrieve a body from the bay (or river) that has gotten tangled up with a leatherback turtle.

As usual, it's a little shocking how two or 3 seemingly unrelated missing persons and murders can all relate to each other, but mystery authors always make that happen, right? And in the midst of all of this, Kay questions her relationship with Benton, Marino's motives, and what Lucy is hiding from her.

I think that this novel was so much better than the last one and I am hopeful that the next one continues in the same direction.

I finally finished A Fatal Winter! I really enjoyed the first novel in the Max Tudor series by G. M. Malliet (Wicked Autumn) so I was anxious to start this one. I just looked back and realized that I have been reading this book since the beginning of January!! For me to take so long reading a book that is roughly 350 pages is unheard of. This is an author that I will be better off listening to the audio versions of her books. The book is wonderfully written, but it seemed to drag a lot until the last 100 pages and I would try and read at night and only be able to keep my eyes open for 4 or 5 pages. Lesson learned for me. :)

Father Max Tudor is a vicar in a small town set in England. There has been a murder and a subsequent death at a local castle. The recently deceased had requested services be held at Max's church so DCI Cotton (the inspector on the murder) asked Max to help with the investigation and spend a few nights in the castle with the remaining family members.

As I said above, this book is very well written, but it did seem to drag in places. Overall, I was happy with the story, but disappointed in myself that it took me 2 full months to finish it.

As with my review of the last novel in the series, the author is very witty with descriptions and I made note of a couple of sentences to share....

Page 9 - "Mrs. Hooser, the woman who "did" for him with an incompetence bordering on domestic sabotage"

Page 149 - "She gave him the Well, duh look patented by teen cave dwellers at approximately the start of recorded history."