The Bone Track: An Alexa Glock Forensics Mystery

Johnson’s middling third mystery set in New Zealand and featuring American Alexa Glock (after 2020’s The Bones Remember) finds Alexa, a dental forensics specialist, apprehensive about an upcoming backpacking trip on the South Island’s Milford Track with her grouchy younger brother, Charlie. Alexa hopes to reconnect with Charlie, of whom she’s seen little since they were kids. But soon after Charlie arrives from North Carolina, Alexa decides she must first examine nine skeletons, probably native Maoris, unearthed by a bulldozer during highway construction near Wellington, despite a Maori warning not to disturb human bones. No surprise, Charlie resents Alexa’s dedication to her work. During the trek, after a fellow hiker goes missing and is later found dead, Alexa calls in all-business Bruce Horne, an Auckland detective inspector and potential romantic interest, for backup. The gorgeous scenery makes up only in part for shallow characterizations and motivations and often clumsily inserted red herrings. The real star here is New Zealand’s Milford Track. Armchair travelers will best appreciate this one. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary. (Feb.)