Those looking for a mystery in this so-so sequel to Bones of Betrayal
, the fifth forensic thriller from bestseller Bass (the pseudonym of Bill Blass and Jon Jefferson), may be disappointed to find the solving of an embalmer’s murder relegated to a subplot. Bill Brockton, the chair of the University of Tennessee’s anthropology department and head of the human decomposition research facility known as the Body Farm, is still preoccupied with the fallout of the previous book’s events, which left his emotions in turmoil and a close friend maimed. The woman Brockton had fallen for, who turned out to be the killer he was seeking, escaped after Brockton confronted her. The present book largely focuses on Brockton’s efforts at undercover work after the Feds involve him in a case against an unscrupulous tissue bank. No less than two deus ex machinas at the end undercut the realism. (Mar.)
