Bare Bones

Bare Bones is the sixth novel by Kathy Reichs featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. The story unfolds during the summer heat of Charlotte, where Brennan hopes to escape for a few days at the beach with Andrew Ryan, a detective and would-be lover.

Before that trip, Brennan must identify the skeleton of a newborn found in a wood stove. The baby was probably born to the missing daughter of a former colleague. Soon after, a small plane crashes into a rock face, and its occupants are suspected of drug running. A picnic at Cowans Ford with Brennan's daughter Katy turns sour when her estranged husband's dog discovers mixed animal and human bones in a derelict outhouse.

The novel asks whether the headless body found in South Carolina is connected to these events, and who is sending Brennan e-mails urging her to back off. The bear and rare bird bones also suggest a violation of CITES, the treaty regulating trade in protected species, in a market as lucrative as the drug trade. Brennan, helped by Ryan and Detective "Skinny" Slidell, tries to piece together these seemingly random events.