Ratings1
Average rating3
When Gideon Oliver's wife Julie attends a conservation forum on the emerald Isles of Scilly, Gideon tags along, expecting a holiday. To amuse himself, he explores the Neolithic sites there. But instead of ancient ruins, he finds evidence of a very recent murder.
Series
11 primary booksGideon Oliver is a 11-book series with 11 primary works first released in 1982 with contributions by Aaron Elkins, Robert Sheckley, and Jesus Pastor.
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So Gideon and Julie are off to the Scilly Isles in the UK for Julie to attend an ecology conference. While she's busy talking about ways to save the world, Gideon plans on some sightseeing, hanging out in a museum doing some volunteer work, enjoying life.
But, no surprise here, Gideon stumbles onto a bone that doesn't belong there. And we're off to the races with the Skeleton Detective.
Elkins doesn't come up with an excuse for Mr. and Mrs. Lau to come along to Julie's conference, but thankfully, there are a couple of British policemen to fill his skeptical-then-fawning shoes. Which is not a knock on everyone's favorite FBI Agent, it's his role in the books, I get that. I enjoy him, even when the role gets tired. Anyway, the local constabulary are a fun pair.
Elkins clearly did some research on cadaver (et cetera) dogs, and he was eager to share it. Yeah, it was info-dumpy, which generally turns me off. But, Elkins made his dog expert pretty entertaining – and hey, it was about dogs. Ended up enjoying those bits.
Amusing characters, interesting puzzle, a new location, and Elkins' writing is always enjoyable – put that all together for a thoroughly entertaining book. This wasn't the greatest mystery I've read, or even the best of this series, but it was fun. That's good enough.