Whenever the Montreal police has to deal with a body that can’t be identified by normal means they call in Dr. Temperance Brennan. The forensic anthropologist examines the bones and often can help the homicide detectives identify a body and come up with a cause of death.

When a mutilated and badly decomposed body is found on church grounds Tempe’s alarm goes off. She compares this find to others and soon is convinced that a serial killer is on the loose. But homicide detective Luc Claudel doesn’t believe her. Tempe tries to prove her theories on her own. And she has another problem. Her old friend Gabby starts to behave even stranger than she usually does. Then she vanishes and Tempe puts herself in danger looking for her, because Gabby, an anthropologist herself, was conducting a study in the town’s red light district. When Tempe finally manages to get the police to take her serial killer theory seriously, it becomes obvious that the killer is pursuing her as ardently as she pursued him.

Aside from amateur sleuths from all walks of life, police officers and private investigators are no longer the only ones to chase killers. More and more often we see experts coming out of their labs, the people who used to be nothing more than extras on TV cop shows. Just think of Particia Cornwell’s medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. Tempe Brennan follows her footsteps, but not quite as successfully.

Kathy Reichs’ debut has some dire stretches. Reichs, a forensic anthropologist who divides her time between North Carolina and Montreal, is at her best when she describes her work full of grisly details, and she does it in terms a layman can easily understand. I also enjoyed the local color and the fact that she didn’t forget the non-French-speaking readers. However, she can still learn a lot from Cornwell’s earlier books as far as plot and characters are concerned. Brennans sometimes reckless solitary actions aren’t very believable. The sub-plot about her friend Gabby was irritating and did nothing to help the fuzzy main plot.