The Bone Man

July 9, 2007
Grief counselor Tally Whyte is back, this time taking some well-deserved time off to deal with her own grief, having lost her mother (who’s also her boss) in her last adventure, The Grief Shop
. When Tally returns to work for a visit, though, she finds herself unable to keep away from a highly unusual case: an ancient Anasazi clay pot with a contemporary human skull trapped inside—a skull Tally suspects belongs to her friend. When another friend of hers really does get murdered, and the pot and skull are stolen, Tally swings into action. Despite boyfriend (and cop) Hank Cunningham’s attempts to stop her, Tally sets out for the southwestern site of the pot’s discovery, determined to unravel the mystery. Unfortunately, tedium takes over early; besides the predictable everything-she-thought-she-knew-was-wrong plot twist, the narrative is short on conflict. Even as the body count grows, Stiefel roots Tally in place for much of the story, endlessly bickering with men trying to stop whatever course of action she’s decided on; the resolution, when it comes, is entirely contrived to thwart reader’s attempts to follow the clues, which will leave mystery readers frustrated.