The Bone Riddle

April 1, 2023
Forensic odontologist Alexa Glock, already transplanted from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Auckland, continues to reach beyond her professional credentials in her fourth case. Tony Cobb, the caretaker at Black Reef estate, has found a body in its survivalist bunker whose face has been rendered unidentifiable by maggots. It can't be that of Harlan Quinn, the Silicon Valley billionaire who owns the New Zealand estate, because his wife, Audrey, reports from California that he's in Germany. So the first mystery to solve is the identity of the corpse, and that's why Alexa's boyfriend and sometime collaborator, DI Bruce Horne, who just happens to be passing through, calls her in. Even after Alexa conclusively identifies the dead man as Harlan Quinn, his wife continues to maintain that he's in Germany, and a new mystery quickly sprouts: How did he die? The fact that Alexa's formidable forensic skills don't throw any light on this second riddle doesn't prevent her from inserting herself into the investigation, with the full approval of Bruce and DI Micala Steele, who's officially in charge of the case. Once the police, with unexpected assistance from Alexa, establish the cause of death, they can finally get down to the question of who killed the billionaire, whose obsession with maintaining his privacy seems to have rubbed off on everyone who served him, including the mistress he cheated on Audrey with and the other lover he cheated on the mistress with. Though Quinn's seigneurial indifference to people he's not trying to bed makes the riddle of whodunit the least interesting of the three mysteries, there's much to enjoy, especially in the first half of this tale, and readers who check out early won't have to worry about what they're missing. Bonus: those New Zealand landscapes the victim seemed determined to destroy.

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April 17, 2023
Johnson’s transporting fourth entry featuring Alexa Glock (after 2022’s The Bone Track) finds the New Zealand forensics expert in a burgeoning relationship with Auckland Det. Insp. Bruce Horne. Alexa’s hopes for a deeper connection with him and his daughters are thwarted, though, when a high-profile case demands her attention: a decaying corpse is found inside a doomsday bunker on the estate of American billionaire Harlan Quinn. While the general appearance of the cadaver matches descriptions of Harlan, his wife, Audrey insists that Harlan is alive and well and in Germany, and refuses to release any medical records. Alexa, though, identifies the body as Harlan’s through dental records, and further investigation suggests he was strangled, leading Alexa to launch a murder investigation that casts suspicion on a number of people. Johnson expertly balances her lead’s personal and professional lives and maintains nerve-shredding suspense throughout. This gives every indication that Alexa can sustain a long-running series. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary.