Dry Bones

September 4, 2006
In the first breezy installment of a projected new series from Scottish author May (The Firemaker
), Enzo Macleod, a Scottish forensic biologist who lives in France, bets that he can solve an old case with new science. Lonely and bored with his teaching career, the widowed biologist takes on the unsolved case of Jacques Gaillard, a public intellectual with a controversial political career who disappeared without a trace 10 years earlier. With the help of his adored daughter, Sophie, and new flame, Charlotte, a beautiful psychologist trained in criminal profiling, Enzo traverses France and Germany to follow a series of clues that lead to scattered body parts and Gaillard's dangerous killers. Despite some unlikely coincidences, this travelogue–cum–murder mystery makes for a fun puzzle.

September 1, 2006
Forensic scientist Enzo Macleod, who 20 years ago left his wife, daughter, and career in Scotland for a young Frenchwoman, now lives in Cahors with his French daughter and teaches biology. On a bet, he decides to solve the ten-year-old disappearance of a high-ranking French diplomat. He follows the trail of clues, which have been buried with various pieces of the diplomat who is indeed dead. Along the way, Enzo assembles an unusual team of researchers including his daughter, her boyfriend, and a student from Enzo's biology class. May, known for his award-winning thriller series set in China, has written a thoroughly engaging puzzle mystery that may appeal to patrons who enjoy group crime solving à la Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit ("Ten Second Staircase") or Caleb Carr's "The Alienist". May lives in France. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 7/06.]

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