Unnatural Selection
By Aaron Elkins
Reviewed by Jackie Houchin

Unnatural Selection, the thirteenth installment in Aaron Elkins’ Skeleton Detective mystery series, is a wonderfully entertaining book for those who like their forensics a bit less gory.  Elkins is extremely accurate and detailed in his analysis of evidence gathered from remains, but…you can eat lunch while you read his books. 

His settings are colorful and exotic; his characters fleshed-out and fascinating.  And of course, you can’t help but love the scholarly, single-minded sometimes-sleuth, and his ever-patient wife.

In this adventure – which takes place on an island just off England’s Cornwall coast – forensic anthropologist and professor Gideon Oliver is simply “going along for the ride” while his wildfire expert wife attends a six-day consortium on conservation.  Julie is to present her research paper on wildfire management in hopes of receiving the $50,000 stipend for the National Parks Service. However, the research projects of the other half-dozen environmentalists are somewhat “unorthodox” and Julie fears that Gideon will “make a scene” if he hears them.  She encourages him to explore the island instead.

Happily he takes her advice, but after examining an unusual bone fragment in a museum’s collection, he finds himself knee deep in a homicide investigation.  With the help of a skilled cadaver search dog on a lonely beach, a partial skeleton is found, and soon Gideon is in his element, testing, touching and talking to the bones.  However, before he can officially announce the name of the victim, a second murder occurs. Are they connected?

Unnatural Selection is the perfect page-turner for fans of puzzle mysteries and forensic procedurals. Pick up a copy and see if you can solve the mystery of the bones and discover the identity of the cold blooded murderer…before the Professor.

Jackie Houchin is a freelance reporter for The Foothills Paper in San Fernando Valley, California.  She belongs to Sisters In Crime and Mystery Writers of America and the California Writers Club.  Jackie reviews for Mystery Scene Magazine, Crime Spree Magazine and The Strand magazine.  She is a regular contributor to Valleynews.com as a book, theater and film reviewer.  Jackie  contributes to The Valley Scribe and have a few things in the CWC 2005-2006 anthology.  She is a photographer, and have "shot" countless plays and musicals in community theaters for 18 years.