The Devil's Bones by Jefferson Bass

I believe this is the 3rd in the series, but not positive.

Dr. Bill Brockton is caught up in 3 different cases in this novel. The first are the charred remains of Mary Latham. She was found in her car, in the middle of the farm. The car had been burnt and so was she. The cops believe the husband did it but he was in Las Vegas at the time, so they ask Brockton to look at the bones and see if he can help nail the husband.

Another of the cases -this one going through the entire book - is that Garland Hamilton, who tried to kill Bill, has escaped from prison and is on the loose. Everyone is trying to find Garland before he goes after Bill again.

The third case has to deal with the remains of Aunt Jean. The lawyer who has helped Bill in the past asks him to look at the remains of his Aunt Jean because he doesn't believe things are as they should. Brockton finds that the remains aren't really remains, especially not of Aunt Jean. He investigates the place who cremated her and finds things aren't as they should be.

Even though this isn't the first in the series, it is the first that I have read by the author. They definitely refer to things that happened in the other books, but even so I was able to follow along. Usually a mystery series will focus on one theme or case but this one has three. Even so, I enjoyed it and don't think it took away from the story. There were times when Brockton and another character would seem to get sidetracked on something, such as the difference in biscuits at The Cracker Barrel and Hardee's. However, it didn't bother me. To me that was just Brockton's character and it fit well. Half way through the book I was thinking that this book reminds me of the Kathy Reichs series, but with less info about the bones and more humor. That being said, it's not really like that series, just reminds me of it.

Overall, I thought it was a good read and will be adding this series to my never ending list of series I want to read. I suppose I should start with the first though. haha! If I'm lucky, I'll read those before the 4th comes out, but who am I kidding. lol!

new author/mystery/309pgs