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Dead Man's Bones
Susan Wittig Albert Book Review

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Plot Summary of Dead Man's Bones
"

Berkley, April 2005, 23.95, 336 pp.
ISBN 0425200175

With revenues down at China Bayle's Thyme and Season Herb Shop, Ruby Wilcox's Crystal Cave New Age Store and their joint venture, The Thyme for Tea restaurant, both women are taking on additional jobs. Ruby has started the Party Thyme Catering Service and China is doing more customized garden planning to make ends meet. China also has to balance her personal life which includes a husband, her stepson Brian and assorted pets.

In a cave Brian finds the skulls of two humans, who lived there over ten thousand years ago; the university sponsoring the dig is ecstatic. They are not so happy when Brian finds the body of a man who was murdered in the same location about a quarter of a century ago. The cold case heats up when the town's leading citizen Jane Oberman kills Hank Dixon in self-defense. Hank's father worked for the family for years. The sister says he broke into their home with a knife in his hand. China believes that killing and the discovery of the twenty-five year old skeleton are linked and plans to find what the two cases have in common.

"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Dead Man's Bones
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 80%
Misc. Murder Plotlets - solving long-past murder
Kind of investigator - amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - feelings towards family/friends
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - small businessman
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - none
Ethnicity/Race - Swiss
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 60's-90's
Profession/status: - wealthy
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Texas

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 2
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
Most similar books to Dead Man's Bones
The Girl Next Door by Patricia MacDonald
Chamomile Mourning by Laura Childs
Murder of the Month by Elizabeth C. Main
Bead on Trouble by Barbara Burnett Smith
And A Puzzle To Die On by Parnell Hall


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