Detective Fiction, Cozy Mysteries & Amateur Sleuths, Crimes - Fiction, Police Stories

Dry Bones

Name: Dry Bones
Author: Peter May
ISBN: 9781455166923

by Peter May

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Overview

Jacques Gaillard, brilliant teacher of France's future VIPs, vanished years ago. The mystery inspires a bet that Enzo Macleod, forensic scientist and biologist, can find out what happened to Gaillard by applying new science to a cold case.

Synopsis

[Read by Simon Vance]

What happened to Jacques Gaillard? The brilliant teacher at the École Nationale d'Administration, who trained some of France's best and brightest as future prime ministers and presidents, vanished ten years ago, presumably from Paris. This ten-year-old mystery inspires a bet -- one that Enzo Macleod, a biologist teaching in Toulouse, France, instead of pursuing a brilliant career in forensics back home in Scotland, can ill afford to lose. The wager is that Enzo can find out what happened to Jacques Gaillard by applying new science to a cold case.

Enzo goes to Paris to meet journalist Roger Raffin, the author of a book on seven celebrated unsolved murders, the assumption being that Gaillard is dead. He needs Raffin's notes, and armed with these, he begins his quest. It quickly has him touring landmarks such as the Paris catacombs and a château in Champagne, digging up relics and bones. Then Enzo finds the actual head of Jacques Gaillard. The artifacts buried with the skull set him to interpreting the clues they provide and following in someone's footsteps -- maybe more than one someone -- seeking the rest of Gaillard's remains and reviewing some ancient and recent history. As with any quest, it's as much discovery as detection, and Enzo, despite all his missteps, proves to be an ace investigator, scientific and intuitive, who definitely meets his goals.

About the Author, Peter May

Peter May won the Scottish Young Journalist of the Year Award at the age of 21, and had his first novel published at 26. He then left journalism and became one of Scotland's most successful and prolific television dramatists. Returning now to novels, his outstanding China Thrillers series of books are winning critical acclaim. To research the series, Peter May makes annual trips to China. As a mark of their respect for his work, The Chinese Crime Writers' Association made him an honorary member of their Beijing Chapter. He is the only Westerner to receive such an honour. Peter May is married to writer Janice Hally and lives in France.