Fire and Bones

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs
Series: Temperance Brennan #23
Published by Scribner on August 6, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
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#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, surprise-packed thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself at the center of an arson investigation, a deepening mystery, and a stunning culmination of violence and deception.

It’s never easy working fire scenes, Tempe thinks. Called to Washington, DC to analyze the victims of a building set ablaze amid mysterious circumstances, she sees all of her misgivings justified. The building site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and the residence’s ownership becomes even more suspicious when Tempe delves into the building's past.

The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the thirties and forties the property belonged to a member a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his farm in Fairfax County, Virginia. Coincidence? Targeted attacks? So many questions.

As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim. Slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin raising flags. Have too many of her moves while in Washington been anticipated in advance?

Long after that first fire is extinguished its flames of consequence spread outward, and eventually Tempe finds herself fighting for her life.

This was great! I have been a fan of this series for a long time so it was great to pick up this newest installment. While this book is part of a long-running series, I think that it would work perfectly well as a stand-alone since the mystery is fully contained in this novel. I had a great time watching Tempe try to solve this case and love that it kept me guessing until the end.

Tempe forgoes a trip with Ryan to help out with the victims of an arson case in Washington, DC. While they are going through the building they find a body in an old burlap sac that has probably been there for a very long time. While in DC, Tempe is also looking for a place to stay and accepts an offer from her daughter’s friend and journalist, Ivy Doyle. They soon discover that something bigger might be going on when there is another fire and a man is gunned down.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of this mystery. I was eager to learn how the past might be connected to these present-day crimes. I always enjoy watching her work as a forensic anthropologist and there was some of that in this book but I felt like she spent more time in this case filling the detective’s role, which the actual detectives were quick to point out. The pacing of the story was very well done and I found this book rather hard to set aside.

I would recommend this book to others. This book was very well-written which is one of the reasons that I keep coming back to this series. I looking forward to reading more of Tempe’s adventures very soon.

I received a review copy of this book from Scribner Books.

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