The Bone Garden

A Novel

By: Tess Gerritsen

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil - human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder.

Boston, 1830: In order to pay for his education, medical student Norris Marshall has joined the ranks of local "resurrectionists" � those who plunder graveyards and harvest the dead for sale on the black market. But when a distinguished doctor is found murdered and mutilated on university grounds, Norris finds that trafficking in the illicit cadaver trade has made him a prime suspect.

With unflagging suspense and pitch-perfect period detail, The Bone Garden deftly traces the dark mystery at its heart across time and place to a finale as ingeniously conceived as it is shocking.

Solve another case with medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles.

©2007 Tess Gerritsen (P)2007 Random House, Inc.

Moves slowly

Struggled to finish--love story masquerading as a mystery from the title onward. I usually like this author, but this book has way too much melancholy for me.

Riveting!!

Wonderfully narrated, I could not put this down. Ms. Gerritson keeps you wanting more. Ms. Denaker, excellent narrator.

The Bone Garden

Any additional comments?

The Bone Garden has been in my library since purchased in 2008. Thought I better get to it!! Lovely story. The Bone Garden is a page turning novel. A recently divorced woman purchases an old house and finds the ancient remains of a woman crudely buried in her yard. The local police aren’t particularly interested; the skeletal remains are over 100 years old. However, it would seem this body was the victim of murder. The house once belonged to a woman who saved a myriad of papers that were hauled away to the residence of a distant relative, an old man living alone. Thus is the thrust of The Bone Garden.

The author bounces time from the 1830s to modern day with seamless ease. The story unfolds primarily through letters. Who murdered this woman. Who is she? You’ll have fun figuring it out, and be convinced a few times that you know who it is … but …

The romance element is subtle and cute, and fade-to-black. The characters are all well defined. Narration by Susan Denaker is good, male and female voice alike. You’ll have no trouble discerning who-says-what-to-who.

A fun mystery. Enjoy!!

Interesting setting in 1800s in Boston

Not Rizolli and Isles, which is what I expected as it was mentioned. Once I got past that, this was an interesting historical fiction romance/thriller set in the 1800s in Boston. I enjoyed the depiction of life of early medical students.

Almost DNF but glad I stuck with it

First things first, the gore was over the top and the present-day couple was boring. However, the other pair was so sweet I wanted to cry at the end. Also, the plot had a sluggish start but once it picked up steam I felt like I was riding a bullet.

Not what I was expecting.

Loved this book. It is just what I needed today. Enjoyed the twin timelines and the throw In of factual medical history.

OK but S. L. O. W.

I found this book slow in the extreme. At one point I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish it. I do like something with a little more excitement personally.
The history part was nice but the mushy romance stuff that went with it was almost unbearable.

Gripping

I knew by the end of the first couple of sentences that I was going to enjoy this book. I got pulled right in and was not happy till it was done. Of course now I want more! Its definitely among the best I have read this year.

The only thing I was not crazy about was the overly descriptive segments on what happened on the autopsy table. It reminded me of those flashes they throw in on CSI (I don't like them there either!) not for the squeamish, ewwww .

Finally, the narrator, excellent. All in all a great listen.

Interesting Read

This was an interesting book. However the reader should understand that about 95% of the book takes place in the 1800's. I thought it would switch back and forth between the past and the present but it did not as much as I would have liked. Still the narration was absolutely terrific and the book very much worth reading.

Great (for those who like historical mysteries)

Any additional comments?

I'm not a fan of historical fiction, so this book spent a bit too much time in the past for my tastes. However, the characters were interesting -- especially real historical figures such as Oliver Wendell Holmes -- and the variations in the voices and accents was fabulous! I may not read another Gerritsen, but I'll definitely look for narrator Susan Denaker again!