Death Du Jour

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In Quebec, winters can be particularly slow for a forensic anthropologist. With temperatures rarely rising above freezing, rivers and lakes freeze, the ground hardens, and snow covers everything. As a result, corpses do not decompose outdoors, and many remain undiscovered until spring. Readers familiar with Kathy Reichs's debut forensic thriller will recognize the ironic voice of Tempe Brennan, a North Carolina-born scientist working at the Laboratoire de Médicine Légale in Montreal. Tempe grapples with the conservative attitudes of her Canadian colleagues while her workload quickly intensifies. She investigates the tampering of bones belonging to a long-dead nun up for sainthood, a deadly house fire that turns out to be arson, and the mysterious disappearance of a university teaching assistant who joined a cult. Tempe's quest leads her back to North Carolina and to an unusual colony on an offshore island. Unlike other writers in forensic pathology, Reichs avoids sensationalism, using the science of death to illuminate rather than shock, making for a more palatable read—especially at mealtimes.