Excerpt from Bone Box

Closer and closer to Christmas! Don’t forget to jump over to the Advent Calendar to see what books are on offer! Free and/or $0.99 books are available every day from Dec 1-24, and some of them are limited-time offers, so don’t wait until the end.

On to my teaser. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

I am currently reading a book in the Decker/Lazarus Novels series by Faye Kellerman. Bone Box is book 25 in the series, just release in March this year. I am about a quarter of the way through, and so far am enjoying the twists and turns of the cold case investigation.

I do have a caveat, however, and that is with respect to the transgender victim. She is constantly misgendered, with the continued suggestion that she should only be called by her correct gender identity if she’d had gender affirmation surgery (referred to as sex change surgery.) Even the LGBT characters fail to refer to her correct name and gender, saying it doesn’t matter which the detectives use. The author could have used a consult on these points.

Her perfect day had turned sour. But she didn’t dare wallow in pity.

Deep in those woods, it had once been an inconceivably hideous day for someone else.

Faye Kellerman, Bone Box

On a bright and crisp September morning, while walking a bucolic woodland trail, Rina Decker stumbles upon human remains once buried deep beneath the forest grounds. Immediately, she calls her husband, Peter, a former detective lieutenant with LAPD, now working for the local Greenbury Police. Within hours, a vista of beauty and tranquility is transformed into a frenetic crime scene. The body has been interred for years and there is scant physical evidence at the gravesite: a youthful skeleton, a skull wound and long dark strands of hair surrounding the bony frame. As Decker and his partner, Tyler McAdams, further investigate, they realize that they’re most likely dealing with a missing student from the nearby Five Colleges of Upstate—a well-known and well-respected consortium of higher learning where Rina works.

And when more human remains are found in the same area, Decker and McAdams know this isn’t just a one-off murder case. Short-staffed and with no convenient entry into the colleges, Decker enlists Rina’s help to act as the eyes and ears of campus gossip. Winding their way through a dangerous labyrinth of steely suspects and untouchable academics, Decker, McAdams, and Rina race to protect their community from a psychopathic killer still in the area—and on the hunt for a fresh victim.

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