Holland, scientific director of the Defense Department's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (CILHI), is the latest forensics expert to attempt to translate an intriguing day job into engaging fiction, but unlike Carved in Bone
from Bone Farm founder Bill Bass, his debut falls short. Kel McKelvey, who like Holland, is director of the CILHI facility, has just returned from a grueling assignment in Southeast Asia when he's dispatched to Arkansas to assist Michael Levine, a disgraced FBI agent. Levine is probing unsolved 1960s civil rights murders that occurred in McKelvey's hometown and may be linked to a death in Vietnam of a local hero. The mismatched pair encounter hostility from those who prefer to forget the past, including the sheriff and members of one victim's family. Holland writes decently, but the plot is too predictable and coincidence-laden to sustain interest. In addition, McKelvey needs more rounding if he's to carry an ongoing series. (May)
