Bones Never Lie

In bestseller Reichs’s exciting, if overly complex, 17th novel featuring Temperance Brennan (after 2013’s Bones of the Lost), the forensic anthropologist attends a meeting at the Law Enforcement Center in Charlotte, N.C., at which Vermont detective Umparo Rodas presents DNA evidence linking the unsolved murder of an 11-year-old Charlotte girl to Canadian serial killer Anique Pomerleau, who managed to elude Brennan and her superior, lead detective Andrew Ryan, in 2004’s Monday Mourning. Brennan first has to find Ryan, who has withdrawn from the world, and persuade him to return to find Pomerleau. Tie-ins with other old cases, signs that the killer is targeting Brennan’s own neighborhood, and Brennan’s skill at interpreting confusing, potentially misleading forensic evidence build the suspense. Brennan’s strained relations with Ryan, the antics of crass detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, and the uncanny aid provided by Brennan’s mother, Daisy, provide grist for series fans when Brennan finally unmasks a surprising killer. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, William Morris Endeavor. (Sept.)