Kathy Reichs: First Bones

[bibliogramma]

Kathy Reich's novella First Bones is the story of Temperance Brennan's first case as a forensic anthropologist, told within the framing story of her vigil at the deathbed of a colleague she's known and worked with for her entire career.

It's a tight, fast-paced story. The narrative of the central section effectively captures her initial reluctance to get involved in something she has no direct training for, and her increasing interest in the process of solving the mysteries brought about by violent deaths. And the framing narrative is a strong and moving account of response to the sudden, random death of a close friend.

There's nothing here of the unnecessary 'protagonist goes senselessly into personal danger' trope or the massive infodumping habit that tends to detract from the pure investigative process and (in my opinion) weaken her later novels. One of her better works.