Sunday, May 9, 2010

Fiction for Skelephiles: Aaron Elkins

I happened across one of those donation racks of books in the mall the other day: suggested donation = $1 per book, proceeds to go to the hospital. And among all the battered romance novels and thrillers of dubious quality I found two novels by Aaron Elkins.

Elkins is one of the few mystery writers whose books I regularly look for every time I go to a used book store, and I'd given up finding any new ones. I had begun to think he'd stopped writing any in the Gideon Oliver series sometime in the late 90s. The two I found were from the 2004 and 2005, so obviously I was mistaken.

Elkins' Gideon Oliver books are about a forensic anthropologist who, in helping the FBI in a few cases, became known as "The Skeleton Detective." Most of the books are fairly short, and very readable. Though I've only read one Kathy Reichs "Temperance Brennan" novels (the first one), so I can't really judge, I find Elkins' characters and writing style much more engaging. And there's lots of great bone science in them, but presented in a generally seamless manner.

So here's the complete list of Gideon Oliver novels, in order. I've included Amazon links in case you feel like book shopping--any money I make from Amazon affiliate sales will, I solemnly swear, go into buying more bone books to review.

I'm reading Good Blood right now. So far I'm finding it a little slower to get into than previous Gideon Oliver books, but it's been a while since I read any. I expect things will pick up once some bones are found.

Fellowship of Fear (Book One of the Gideon Oliver Series) The Dark Place (Book Two in the Gideon Oliver Series)Murder in the Queen's Armes (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)Old Bones (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)Curses!Icy ClutchesMake No BonesDead Men's HeartsTwenty Blue Devils (Gideon Oliver Mysteries)Skeleton Dance (Gideon Oliver Mysteries)Good Blood (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)Where There's a Will (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)Unnatural Selection (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)Little Tiny Teeth (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)Uneasy Relations (Berkley Prime Crime Mysteries)Skull Duggery (Berkley Prime Crime Mysteries)

1 comment:

  1. It didn't migrate over with the posts, alas, but when this blog was on WordPress, Aaron Elikns left me this really nice comment on the About page (http://osteosophy.wordpress.com/about/):

    Hello, Niko,

    Came across this today and just wanted to say thank you for the generous write-up. I must say, you are the very reader I’m writing for!…just wish there were more of you.

    I hope Uneasy Relations wound up engaging you. If not, and you still haven’t finished, let me know. I can tell you how it ends.

    Best,
    Aaron

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