The Bone Collection: Four Novellas/ Kathy Reichs/ 388 pages

The Bone Collection is a group of four short works by Kathy Reichs.  Each deals with a different story of Temperance Brennan's work as a forensic anthropologist.  Bones in Her Pocket is tale of a water logged body and raptor rescue.  Swamp Bones takes the reader to the Florida Everglades and introduces the world of Python roundup.  Bones on Ice explores the conquest of Everest and what can go wrong.  First Bones tells the reader how Tempe moved from academia to police work.  Each is an interesting read in the hands on style of Reichs previous books.  These books will appeal to the reader who likes the puzzle solving aspect of a murder mystery.

Written in My Own Heart's Blood / Diana Gabaldon / 825 pages

The 8th novel in Gabaldon's Outlander series continues the improbable troubles of the Frasers and friends.  It is beautifully written, as were the rest of the novels - often humorous - often giving far more information than you would ask of even your best friends.  In an interesting turn of events Clair marries John Grey, best friend of her husband and former fiance' of her daughter.  William learns of his true parentage and reacts a bit violently.  This novel ended on a bit of a cliffhanger and I can't wait for the next in the series.