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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Book Details
Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs
Paperback, 416 pages
2005, Pocket Star
ISBN: 0743453018
Series: Book 7 of Temperance Brennan

Synopsis
Forensic scientist Tempe Brennan isn't happy: it's freezing in Montreal, her detective boyfriend is giving her the cold shoulder and her macho colleagues won't take her seriously. When Reichs's heroine is called in to examine three skeletons discovered in the basement of a pizza parlor at the start of the seventh installment in this popular series, her instincts tell her a crime was recently committed. Chauvinistic homicide detective Luc Claudel doesn't agree, but Tempe forges ahead and soon discovers that the victims are young women, probably teenagers killed sometime in the 1980s. Already feeling vulnerable because she's left her beloved daughter, Katy, back home in North Carolina, Tempe is further troubled by the indifference of formerly avid lover Andrew Ryan (another Montreal detective). Meanwhile, new developments lead Tempe and her reluctant colleagues to suspect a creepy former pawn store owner of serial kidnappings, torture and grisly murder.

Review
I always enjoy the Temperance Brennan novels, but I tend to favor the ones set outside of Canada. Monday Mourning ended up being the exception. I loved the mystery and the back and forth during the investigation between Tempe and Claudel. Kathy Reichs has a way of "dumbing down" the science so readers can firmly grasp the concepts presented and that was highly effective in this novel. The only thing I didn't enjoy was Tempe's reactions to her issues with Ryan. She's strong and straight-forward in all aspects of her life, including romantic relationships, but when she suspects something is wrong with her situation with Ryan she actively avoids confrontation and deals completely immaturely. She seems to be reacting against character emotionally and I found that both distracting and annoying. A killer Temperance Brennan novel as long as you just ignore the romance.

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3 comments:

  1. Kathy Reichs is one of my favorite authors. Love all her books and of course I'm a Bones freak, LOL!

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  2. Sure I've mentioned this before, but I think Kathy Reichs is such a great author - haven't read this title though, so might check it out!

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