Cold, Cold Bones – Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan #21)

It’s been a stressful day for Tempe Brennan and her daughter Katy, as they work to move Katy into her new apartment in Charlotte, NC. Finally discharged from the Army, Katy is trying to settle back into civilian life and Tempe is delighted she chose to be close, but she senses changes in her daughter, concerning for PTSD.
As the duo finish up for the day and head to the Annex, Tempe’s home, for a shower and dinner, Katy finds a box addressed to her mother on the front porch. As Tempe opens the box, she’s astonished to find a single eyeball, impaled on a pin, staring back at her. As they await the local police, Tempe inspects the gift, determining that it is human, and appears fresh. A nudge from Bird, Tempe’s cat, sends the eye rolling, and that’s when Katy notices some odd markings – which appear to be GPS coordinates.

As Tempe briefs Slidell, former Charlotte Detective, now turned PI and partnered w/ Ryan, Tempe’s beau, he is astonished. Even more so when a location of the coordinates reveals another macabre surprise – and a tug on Tempe’s memory – but why? Intrigued, he enlists the assistance of the police as well, with new Detective Donna Henry joining the investigation. Fresh from the West Coast and seemingly eager to prove herself, Tempe still finds her a bit rough around the edges.

As other bodies, seemingly random, begin to pile up, Tempe starts to notice a pattern – these deaths are eerily similar to cases she’s consulted on before, years ago, while working in Canada. But who would know of her past investigations? Why are they being duplicated? What is the endgame? Meanwhile Katy has been incommunicado, after a mention of a stalker and Tempe doesn’t know where to turn…

Another stunner from one of my most favorite authors!! )I feel like I say that a lot, but I have more than a few!) Reichs just gets better and better! I you love forensics, mystery and intrigue all wrapped up in a warp speed story – this novel – this whole series – is for you!!

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley & Scribner in exchange for an objective review. Do you love to read?? Visit netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!

As always, Kathy Reichs delivers. Every new Tempe Brennan novel is like meeting up with an old friend. The writing is perfect, the plot is gripping and just creepy enough to keep you hooked, and the ending is satisfying.

Another brilliant easy read from Kathy Reichs. I loved how it brought full circle sone of past books. I will say I guessed the culprit pretty early on this time maybe it's just being such a fan.

I haven’t read ALL of the books in Kathy Reichs’s series featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance (“Tempe” Brennan, but I have most, and always enjoyed them. So I was happy to receive a copy of Cold, Cold Bones (#21 in the series) from Scribner and NetGalley in exchange for this review. Tempe divides her time between North Carolina and Canada, and in this one, it is Winter in North Carolina and, wiwork schedule, Tempe Brennan is content tth a cold weather reprieve on her workload, Tempe plans to spend lots of time with her daughter Katy, recently returned from serving in the Army. Returning home one night, they find a box on the back porch and, when they open it, they find an eyeball (EEWW).Human!

There are GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball (double EEWW) and Tempe follows them to a Benedictine monastery, then things take off. There is a mummified corpse, then subsequent murders. Tempe starts suffering from anxiety as she begins to unravel the mystery. .

Retired detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell has retired but is still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit. His classic dark humor is on full display and we also get more or Andrew Ryan, Tempe’s Montreal-based lover, who is now a private detective. Then Katy disappears and things get even more interesting. Lots of scary stuff, some humor, revenge, romance, details on the forensic anthropology aspects of her work – this one has it all. I am glad to rejoin Tempe’s world, at least for a while. And in print. Five stars.

It has been several years since I read part of this Kathy Reichs series and Cold, Cold Bones was like reuniting with an old friend. Tempe is faced with challenges personally and professionally. Someone close to her is copying past murder cases and time is running out. My only irritation with the book is Tempe's habit of going alone into a dangerous situation, ignoring the support available to her. But that is part of the plot development. I understand but nonetheless, I cringe as she proceeds to add to the chaos.

Cold, Cold Bones
by Kathy Reichs
Pub Date: July 5, 2022
Scribner
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
#1 New York Times bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-first novel of suspense featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, after receiving a box containing a human eyeball, uncovers a series of gruesome killings eerily reenacting the most shocking of her prior cases.
I did not enjoy this book as I have many of the others. The profanity was unnecessary and did not add to the quality of the story.
3 stars

This is the 21st book in the series, of which I've read many (but not all) of the books. I struggles to get and stay engaged with this. Far more (unnecessary) profanity than I found in prior books. Lots of repetition. Characters felt quite one dimensional. Sadly, the ending wasn't a surprise.

Kathy Reichs' books are predictably fascinating and always a quick read for me. Her latest, Cold Cold Bones, is no exception. Tempe gets a gruesome delivery of an eyeball, impaled like a butterfly. Soon more bodies and body parts start piling up, and she has to figure out who the killer is and why they are targeting her.

I really like how Reichs also tackles PTSD, homelessness, mental illness and how all of these things affect veterans at a higher rate than other people in this book. It is an important topic, and one that is often swept under the rug.

However, the motive of the "bad guy" in this book didn't really ring true to me. Maybe more explanation would have helped. But it still was very enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for the advance copy of this great book!

It has been too long since I got the chance to enter Tempe's world! It was worth the wait. Someone is copying Tempe's past cases. It starts with an eyeball being placed on her porch. It escalates to her daughter being missing. So many past crimes, I remembered. The preparer section was interesting. Did I guess who? Eventually, but a few red herrings popped up.
The dialogue was quite funny at times and I added a few new vocabulary words. The books are Kathy Reich at her best. I devoured it in a day. Thanks NetGalley for a wonderful book to teview.

Engaging from the beginning, Kathy Reichs once again provides a thrilling read. Would definitely recommend this to my friends and patrons.

This is title # 21 in an obviously well-established, much-loved series, and it’s my first title by this author. Generally, I’ve found that with multi-titled series like this, while you can and really should read from the beginning, for the most part, you can start wherever, and read through the title of your choosing without feeling overly lost.

Despite this being my first novel in the series, regarding characters and relationships, and that I sensed that I was certainly missing out on past interactions and experiences, I enjoyed this one enough to look forward to going to book number one in this series and reading from there.

Also, I need to add that the main character’s oft-used nickname continuously made me think of tempeh, which is, thankfully, a favorite. 😆



eARC kindly provided by Scribner and NetGalley. Opinions shared are my own.

My thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Cold, Cold Bones.

3.5 Stars

Welcome to North Carolina during a blizzard! In Cold, Cold Bones, Tempe becomes involved with a series of murders - each one mimicking a homicide that a younger Tempe had been called in to analyze. Who or what is targeting her, and WHY??

It's been a while since I've read a book from the Temperance Brennan series and I still love Tempe's sarcasm. I also thought it hilarious that Slidell would just hang up on Tempe when he'd had his fill of her going on and on about something! For the rest of us, though, it's always interesting following Tempe's thought processes. The start of the book was a bit slow, although it didn't take long for the pace to speed up. I believe most readers will identify the culprit fairly easily but the why will remain a mystery until the end of the book.

I've read many of the books in this series, although I think my last one was in 2017. There were things I didn't remember, like how I sometimes felt as though I was being talked down to with all of the meticulous medical details. Plus the cliffhanger chapter endings annoyed me.

A couple of newer complaints in this book: I disliked how Tempe's daughter spoke as though she were still in the military. (Maybe people do that when their term of service first ends and I'm just unaware of it?) Also, a new detective, who was from California, spoke using mostly abbreviations and acronyms. It was odd. Many things can be blamed on being from California, but not that one!

Bottom line: I found Cold, Cold Bones to be filled with many interesting twists and turns and I liked revisiting some of Tempe's cold cases. I feel this book can be read as a stand-alone and I recommend it to people who have enjoyed the Body Farm Series by Jefferson Bass.

#ColdColdBones #NetGalley

Tempe Brennan is helping her daughter Katy move into her new home in Charlotte. They go back to Tempe's home for dinner, and there is a box on the front porch. When they open it, they find a human eye. Katy notices that it has GPS coordinates scratched onto the two sides. Katie enters the coordinates into Google Earth, and Tempe and policeman Slidell go to the site on the Belmont Abbey College campus. It turns out to be a privy in the woods, and inside the privy they find a head missing one eye which is pretty gross. Later, they find a petrified man hanging from a tree, and later still a friend of Tempe is found dead in his car in his garage. Tempe is really freaked when she gets a call with lots of static which appears to come from her daughter asking her to go to Steel Works. When she gets there she sees another car with two people. A young woman gets out and runs toward her, but the other car runs the girl over, backs up over the body and takes off. When Tempe gets out of her car to look, someone knocks her out. When she wakes, the body is gone and there is no sign the body was ever there.

As she begins to investigate, she gradually realizes that someone is copying cases that she had several years before. The copied cases began about three years previously. Suddenly, her daughter has gone out of contact and doesn't answer her phone, and Tempe really begins to worry. However, her time is taken up with trying to figure out who is doing copycat murders. She works with Slidell, who volunteers with the cold case unit, and Ryan finally gets back from his case in the Caribbean to help them. There is also a young woman policewoman who came from California and been in Charlotte three years. She is always very well dressed, and for some reason, Tempe doesn't like her.

Although one of her neighbors appears to hate her (because his son doesn't like her yard statues), and they have found a "survivor" with buried buses near the site of the petrified body, there are no valid suspects. All the copycat cases have left no evidence of who was the perpetrator. Things finally come to head when someone throws her garden turtle through the window of Tempe's door. Now Tempe is in real danger, and things get very exciting!

Another slam out of the park for Kathy Reichs in Cold, Cold Bones. This book involves Tempe trying to find out who is using some of her old cases to personally target her and her daughter. As always, Reichs' knowledge of forensic medicine reliably informs Temperance Brennan's actions in solving the case. I always look forward to reading a new Tempe Brennan mystery - by now, her characters are old friend and always tell an interesting story.

I’ve seen Kathy Reich a few different places - on reviews, bookstores, etc. but I could never get into her books. I tried to enjoy Cold Cold Bones, but it ended up being a DNF for me. That being said, I think my strategy may need to be that I go back to the very beginning of her novels and start at Square one. I think maybe if I had more background, anchors etc, I would have enjoyed Cold Bones more.

Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs is the 21st novel of the Temperance Brennan series. It can be read as a standalone novel.

Tempe’s daughter, Katy has just returned from a second tour of duty in Afghanistan and Tempe is helping her move into her new home. They return to Tempe’s place to find a box on the porch that contains a human eyeball. GPS coordinates on it lead to a grizzly discovery. More and more gruesome murders start turning up. Tempe suspects they are related somehow. Then she starts to realize they are copycats of previous murders Tempe solved in the past. Suddenly Katy disappears. Is it the work of the killer, or has she just gone off to be alone for awhile? Tempe must solve the crimes to find her daughter. This twisted killer is out for revenge. Although a bit slow in the beginning it made up for it as the tension builds and builds throughout the book to the exciting conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner Publishing for an ARC of Cold, Cold Bones.
#ColdColdBones #NetGalley #Scribner

I enjoyed reading Cold, Cold Bones written by Kathy Reichs. I had never read a book from the Temperance Brennan series, but I didn’t feel like I was missing any background information. I found it interesting to read from the view point of a forensic anthropologist. Even though I had an inkling of who the perpetrator was pretty early into the book, I still enjoyed the build up before the reveal.

Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ecopy of this title. Tempe Brennan is back again. This long -running series never gets old and stale. Tempe finds a lone eyeball that is weirdly inscribed with GPS coordinates in a box on her porch. This begins a series of crimes that seem to be copycats of her old cases. Her daughter, Katy, has recently moved in near Tempe, but is struggling with PTSD from her military service. Ryan makes a brief appearance, but Skinny Slidell, although retired, proves to be invaluable in assisting Tempe with her quest to get to the bottom of the new crimes that are designed to gaslight her. There is a new detective in town; a woman named Donna Henry. How does detective Henry fit into these strange events?

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the preview book. As always Kathy writes many small details explaining to the reader about what a forensic anthropologist does blended in with Temperance Brendan’s job. Lots of interesting characters with her daughter Katy returning. A box with a human eyeball is left on her porch. What continues is a crazy set of turns and when her daughter goes missing. Her whole world explodes. Great read!

We aren’t in Montreal anymore and yet it’s still snowing in North Carolina. Its winter and crime is down. Not too many folks looking to be out in a storm. It also means a lighter caseload for Brennan. She would be happy to spend time with her daughter Katy, finally home after her stint in the army. But she brought some demons home with her so Tempe is treading carefully with her.

When they both arrive at Tempe’s home to find a wrapped package with an eyeball in it, things are weird. The eye seems pretty fresh, but where is the rest of the body? Finding GPS coordinates on the eyeball leads them to a Benedictine monastery. There another very strange sight awaits.

When she is asked to examine a mummified corpse found in a state park, even she is a bit jumpy.

These crimes are beginning to look a lot like crimes she solved years ago. Is someone angry at her?

And then her daughter disappears. And things get weirder. Revenge, it seems has no expiration date.

There has always been a coldness about Tempe. It was more evident in this book. I understood who the bad people were early on. It just did not hold my interest.

NetGalley/ July 5, 2022, Scribner