Fatal Voyage

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was a little different from the usual Temperance Brennan in that she started out being totally involved in the wreckage of an airplane and then after finding a foot that doesn's seem to belong to any of the passengers, she is taken off the crash team. Not only is she not involved, but her reputation as a profession is brought into serious question.

I didn't like having to wait for other characters to provide information any better than Brennan did. At first it seemed as if she was getting side tracked with mysterious problems with her car and strange mountain folk, but it all came together in the end, making this one of her better books.
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Break No Bones

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was more complex than the other of her books that I have read. There were so many sub plots. When bones turn up at a picnic in North Carolina, Temperance Brennan goes to investigate, she thinks she is only looking at historical bones. Unfurtunately, that is not the case. Soon more and more bones turn up.

From there on, this book is similar to her other books, but immensely interesting, never the less. I did like some of the history of North Carolina which this book included.

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The Ballad of Frankie Silver

The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Frankie Silver was a real mountain woman convicted and hanged for the murder of her teen-aged husband in 1823. The fact that she killed him and dismembered him and burned him in the fireplace makes the community rise up against the brutality and she is quickly convicted of the crime and sentenced to be the first woman to ever be hanged in the state.

As time goes on and more facts surface, the townspeople begin to conclude there was much more to the murder and sympathy develops for the quiet, docile 18 year old. Frankie's husband was a drunk who abused Frankie and possibly their baby daughter.

The plot switches between the 1823 and the local sheriff in the present. The sheriff, recovering from being shot, receives a summons to attend the execution of a man he arrested 20 years ago. He has always been fascinated with the story of Frankie Silver and the probability that she was hanged unjustly and he feels that the present murderer may be in the same situation.

There are some weaknesses in the plot, especially with a present day investigation the Sheriff's deputies try to keep from him and the present day execution, but the story is very compelling despite the problems. I enjoyed the book and will read more in this series.

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