In classic fashion, the books are much better. The heroine is older, more credible, and the only one who made the leap to TV. In this tenth title in the series, she’s back in fine form. At least her forensic anthropology skills are in fine form – her personal life is another matter.

Tempe has arrived in Montreal. She is assigned to several cases involving skeletons, bones, and a skull. She is supposed to determine whether they are human bones, whether the individual died of natural causes, and identify the individual if possible.

When Tempe was a girl, her mother moved her and her younger sister to Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. There, Tempe made a friend, Evangeline Landry of New Brunswick, Canada, who was visiting her uncle and aunt. For four years the two girls spent time together, reading, exploring. Then Evangeline disappeared and never returned. Her uncle and aunt would only say that Evangeline and her sister were dangerous. Despite putting all of her Nancy Drew skills to work, Tempe still could never learn anything further about Evangeline.

Tempe never forgot her friend. Looking at the skull which appears to be that of an adolescent, Tempe cannot help wondering yet again what became of her.

But life is not only working in the laboratory. Tempe’s sister Harry has gotten another divorce and is house-hunting. Sensing that Tempe is going through some difficulties, Harry arrives unannounced. Tempe’s long-time lover, police detective Andrew Ryan, seems to be pulling away. Her feelings about Pete, her estranged husband, are ambivalent. And the mystery surrounding Evangeline’s fate continues to haunt her.

The various subplots in Bones to Ashes are deftly managed. Just as in real life, death is not always the result of a crime. One of the most intriguing subplots has an historical foundation that leads to an unexpected plot twist.

Mixed in with the whoisit and whodunit plot is a reasonable amount of scientific and technical information, the howtodoit. It’s a measure of the author’s skill that the story doesn’t lose momentum somewhere in the midst of the mitochondrial DNA and the diatoms.

There is one similarity between the television and literary versions of Tempe: is life as a forensic anthropologist really filled with so many death threats and car chases? Nevertheless, the television series really didn’t need to jazz up the original Tempe Brennan. She’s interesting just as she is.

Bones to Ashes is a worthy addition to this popular series, and the series is definitely worth a reader’s time.

--Lesley Dunlap