Gideon Oliver earns his moniker “The Skeleton Detective” in this riveting entry to the Edgar Award-winning mystery series “that never disappoints” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Deep in the primeval rainforest of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, the skeletal remains of a murdered man are discovered. And a strange, unsettling tale begins to unfold, for forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver … anthropologist Gideon Oliver determines that the murder weapon was a primitive bone spear of a type not seen for the last ten thousand years. And whoever–or whatever–hurled it did so with seemingly superhuman force. Bigfoot “sightings” immediately crop up, but Gideon is not buying them.
But something is continuing to kill people, and Gideon, helped by forest ranger Julie Tendler and FBI special agent John Lau, plunges into the dark heart of an unexplored wilderness to uncover the bizarre, astonishing explanation.
Fans of authors Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen and television shows like Bones will be fascinated by Aaron Elkins’s award-winning landmark forensic detective series.
The Dark Place is the 2nd book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
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I binge-read this whole series. Excellent characters, and they progress! The stories are gripping, and there is a nice progression of the main character. Despite the fact that there are large number of books in this series, the author finds a way to introduce the characters anew each time.
Like Louise Penny, Rita Mae Brown and Dick Francis, I …
This entire series is great fun
I love this series. The characters feel true, there’s humor along with some accessible science, and a satisfying conclusion.
A smart read you can actually learn something by reading this mystery
I like Gideon Oliver. He is a straight forward kind of guy. He’ll tell you what he thinks, knows, believes and if you don’t agree or like his opinion, he really doesn’t care! He is vulnerable in some areas which are interesting to find out. I like the development of his encounters and ensuing “relationship” with Julie Tendler who surprises him …
I have enjoyed all books by Aaron Elkins very much.
Suspense w romance
I love all of Elkins’ books, especially the Gideon Oliver series.
another fantastic read from A.E.
Wonderful writer, fun and quick!
Love the characters.! Hookedsince my first read of this series. Learn a lot while enjoying the story. Particularly liked the humane ending.
I enjoy this series and find the characters enjoyable.
mystery, myths-legends, anthropologist, romance
I still like this one even after a number of years. I’d forgotten the romance novel stuff, but I was more than happy to reread all of the anthro. It was nice hearing about University of Wisconsin and Gideon’s friends in anthropology and the FBI. The mystery was solid with good writing and problem …
I do love a good murder mystery. Gideon Oliver delivers. What’s fun about this one is that an anthropologist wrote it – and it shows! His main character is a paleoanthropologist (bone doctor) and it shines through the mysteries. When the police have a skeleton on their hands, they call the Bone Doctor, and he never fails to deliver. I’ve read this …
The Gideon Oliver books are interesting and fun. I enjoy following the Skeleton Detective and his anthropological exploits – how he deduces what bones tell him. . .the Sherlock Holmes of bone-reading.
I enjoyed this book very much. There were twists that I didn’t see coming and it was sad at times. Very entertaining! I just discovered Aaron Elkins’ novels with Gideon Oliver as the anthropology professor helping to solve mysteries and they are really great.
Still reading not done yet
The end was unexpected until you put all of the clues together!
A different take on murder with a good deal of information on old and new bones. A novel way to write a mystery.
Will certainly read the rest of this series!