Bones in Her Pocket

Temperance Brennan #15.5

by Kathy Reichs

Dr Temperance Brennan is in unfamiliar territory as she races to learn the truth from the bones - before it's too late. A new, exclusive straight-to-digital short story from Kathy Reichs, world leading forensic anthropologist and No.1 bestselling author of Deja Dead, Bones Are Forever and Bones of the Lost.

Dr. Tempe Brennan has seen it all. Human bones. Animal bones. Old bones. Young bones. Male bones. Female bones. What she hasn't seen is all of them mixed together in the same case.

Until now.

The foothills of North Carolina aren't the only unfamiliar territory Tempe faces as she races to learn the meaning of the Bones in Her Pocket.

Multi-million copy, international bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs is an expert in forensic science, giving her fiction an authenticity other crime writers would kill for.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Short Stories, Audiobook

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best First Novel (1998): Deja Dead

Reviews

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that Kathy Reichs work on the TV series, Bones, has given her some insight into writing novellas. Usually, I feel cheated, but in this short book, Tempe Brennan is called to a remote area near Charlotte where she finds a dead body in a canvas bag. Using her forensic skills, she is able to identify sex, race, and approximate age and by searching missing persons, determine the identity of the victim. Reichs manages to create some likely suspects, and her persistence uncovers the perpetrator. There is a social message included too.

[Amelia Strydom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read many novellas, they are just too damn short and I enjoy getting lost in a novel. Bones in her Pocket was a fabulous read, though, packing an amazing punch for such a short story. Tempe is a great character: witty, compassionate, and able to impart complicated information in a warm and down to earth way. The side characters - suspects, mainly - were well-developed too; Reichs managed to sculpt unique and lifelike characters with a few choice details. The mystery itself is compelling. I'm really looking forward to reading more novellas by the author!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of the Reichs series starring Tempe Brennan will love this short story as a teaser before the next major literary release. Reichs offers up a teaser of the upcoming novel Bones of the Lost (which I left untouched) to lure her most ardent fans into devouring this quick read. When few bones turn up in a lake, Brennan must use all her forensic anthropological skills to solve this whodunit. What looks to be a simple case of ‘identify those bones’ turns into a much larger mystery, which is more multi-faceted than it appears. The chase is on and another set of forensic clues leads to a second case, with an end that no one sees coming. Reichs is able to boil down her full-length novels into a short story, yet does not lose any of its excitement.

Reichs has proven her ability to present an equally exciting story without the character development and personal drama. Still filled with her poison-tongue writing style, peppered with humour as well, Reichs tells a gruesome story and uses her famed character’s abilities to crack the case wide open. When things veer away from simple bone identification, Brennan turns into a super sleuth and puts her own life in danger to tie up all the loose ends. A wonderful appetizer as fans wait for the next instalment of the Brennan saga, well worth the annual wait.

Kudos Madam Reichs for this treat, though I do always enjoy a little drama with my mystery. Tempe Brennan knows just how to spice things up.

[Nicole Alycia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was almost like reading an episode of Bones! It was quick, action packed, and exciting! I definitely need to start reading more short stories!

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting story. You have environmental activists, a bird sanctuary, an ecoterrorist, a grad student who loves raptors and owls, and a puppy mill. There is a lot of possible suspects as the story progresses. And the culprit was a complete surprise. It was interesting watching Temperance piece together the clues and make some mistakes along the way. But get the bad guy in the end.

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Kathy Reichs. Note this story in my region is now only available in the compilation The Bone Collection: Four Novellas, along side 2 other previously published stories and 1 new novella.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really a fan of audiobooks, but since this short was available on Scribd, I decided to give it a go. I was intrigued by the story at the start, but I kinda lost interest as we went along. It did have a nice message though, about the horrors of puppy mills, and asking people to do their research and adopt, don't shop.

Narration: Not the best, but the pacing was fine.

[SamLevi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe these books are better when they’re shorter…..

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good little short story that fits well into the Brennan universe. Although, it's amazing how Tempe manages to get into danger even in a short story🤔

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title - Bones In Her Pocket

Author - Kathy Reichs

Summary -

A canvas bag floats to the top of Mountain Island Lake in North Carolina and forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is called in to investigate. Inside is the decomposed body of a young adult female that fits the profile of missing graduate student Edith Blankenship.

What startles Temperance even more is the small cache of bones that are located in Edith's hip and groin area. As if someone had shoved an animal inside of her. Or as Tempe deduces, she had carried the small animal in her pocket and when the clothes and body decomposed, the bones slid amongst Edith remains.

"...Why'd she surface?"
"As a corpse decomposes the body cavity fills with methane gas produced by bacteria in the gut. The bloating, helped the flooding, likely floated the bag."
"You're always so full of sunshine, doc."
"An experienced killer would puncture the gut and intestines, then weight the container so it stays down. Blankenship was amateur hour..."

But why would Edith be carrying a small animal in her pocket and how had they ended up in the Lake, in a canvas bag?

Together with Detective Skinny Slidell, Brennan must unravel the secrets that led to the death of this young woman.

Review -

Temperance (Tempe) Brennan is the fictional character that inspired the TV character Bones and in the literary form, she is a lot more engaging. You will not find a socially inept, though her love life might not always be working just fine, robotic uber intelligent fairly one dimension character like she is portrayed on television.

Something I never understood about American Television, if you are an intelligent woman, you can't have a personality?

No, in the books, Tempe is very human with very human problems and triumphs. A divorced woman whose private life is often out of control but whose ability in the professional world is where she shines the best. She feels. She is passionate about her work and the bodies that end up under her care. The bones that tell her the final story of the lives that led them to this end, and if the end is unjust, Tempe will fight to bring them justice. And you don't need a GQ FBI agent to do your heavy lifting for you. Just cops, on the American and Canadian side. Good old blue collar cops. The result is a far more personable and relatable character.

In this short story, Bones in Her Pocket, Brennan ties the body of Edith Blankenship to a radical environmental group and a liaison with an older professor. Was she killed to protect the illegal acts of the militant environmentalists? Or was she killed to keep a married professor's affair secret? Or was she killed over the small bones in her pocket? Bones that would lead Tempe into one of the most darkest and heinous rooms of her career.

A good short read. Reichs does a masterful job of keeping the detail and pace of the forensic investigation in such a small package. Another winner.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her Saturday off, ruined by an early morning call to investigate a bag, odorous and bulging and discovered at Mountain Island Lake in the foothills of North Carolina, meant Dr Temperance Brennan was now on her way with a silent local policeman, plus the owner of the property, to pick up said bag. A few weeks prior, unidentifiable human bones had been found in the same area, and Tempe needed to see if there was a connection.

But when she began her investigation on the contents at her lab, she was shocked to see that she had been wrong in her assumption. The original find showed older bones which proved to be male; the current find was definitely not what she thought it would be. With a missing student, Edith Blakenship, a crazy eco-lover by the name of Herman Blount, a raptor centre, the Hell’s Angels bikers, plus the police all in a tangled mix, Tempe was up to her neck in this one!

What a great short story by Kathy Reichs! Even though only around 60 pages, the plot doesn’t feel rushed or cut short at all, with the same furious pace and gripping nature as a full length book. There is a taster for her next book, due out in August Bones of the Lost at the end of this one as well.

Once again, I have no hesitation in recommending this book.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy to read and review.

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was Ms. Reich's first foray into the e-reader short story world. I wasn't sure what this story was about, since it is very new, but I love Ms. Reich's genre, so I figured it would be about forensic science. This story had a little bit of that, but I think Ms. Reichs was trying to write a story with a message, but her message came at the end of the story, and really had absolutely nothing to do with the beginning part. Her message was about Puppy Mills and how horrible they are. The focus on this story was finding the body of a missing grad student who worked with injured birds at the Raptor Center. The dead girl was studying migratory patterns of Owls and in her spare time, helped to aid injured birds. So where, does one come up with "Puppy Mills are Bad" as the main theme for this story?
This story had a lot of plot holes, that were big enough to fit in more bodies for Dr. Temperence Brennan to sift through and identify. Too bad that isn't how this story turned out. I am very disappointed in this story, and I'm hoping that the next Tempe Brennan story that will be coming out next month will be so much better than this short piece of shit.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre forensic details, vivid setting, deft use of dialogue, powerful social commentary. Bones in Her Pocket packs as much literary power as any of Kathy Reichs' full-length novels. Reichs fans who need their fix before the next volume in the series should be satisfied.

I have just one little quibble, however: This e-story ends at the 74% mark, the rest being reserved for a two-chapter preview of the author's next novel. It's understood that Kindle "shorts" by major authors often function as ads for a forth-coming book--but 26%?

With fiction authors whose books I generally read anyway, I make a practice of not reading "teasers" published ahead of time to generate interest. I find that it rather spoils the effect of settling into the finished novel when it finally comes out. Granted, I didn't pay much for the privilege of reading this ebook; on the other hand, I resent paying for advertizing.

Do I get my 50 cents back for the unsolicited part of this reading experience?

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is no secret that I like the Bones series by Kathy Reichs. This was her first all digital book. It was short and uncomplicated. I think if it had been a printed book, the second set of bones would have yielded another story. As it was, the second set alluded to a story that was not investigated. The murder mystery was pretty uneventful as Bones mysteries go, but it had a couple twists and turns. The message of the book came at the end, which seemed a bit contrived. The message was a good one, but I would have preferred it to be more central to the plot. The one thing that irritated me more than anything was the sentence structure. There were way too many fragments, very careless writing. Maybe she is too busy these days producing the TV series, co-writing with her son, and trying to continue her own writing career. Maybe it is just a digital way of writing, but I did not like it. I like sentences to be like plots, complete.

[James L Pagano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

Very good but not as intense as most of her books in my estimation. I will continue to read her books .

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this novella on audio and it was a nice introduction for me to Temperance "Bones" Brennan, a character in popular author Kathy Reichs' books and the television show Bones. I have never read the series or watched the show, but this appealing short story might lead me to start at the beginning of the series and read more about her adventures.

In this story Temperance is investigating some bones that washed up on a NC lake, but when a body is discovered in a bag in the same lake, she needs to see if they are connected. Paired with a salty cop, clues lead them to a nearby bird sanctuary and they interview an eco-terrorist as a possible suspect in the murder. The story reads as if it could be an episode of the television series, and a poignant message about the cruelty of puppy mills ties into the narrative.

[die_lesende_Nachteule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auch das Buch schlummerte schon etwas länger auf meinem Ebook SuB, es wurde also Zeit das Buch zu befreien. Das Buch ist mit 78 Seitenrecht kurz, allerdings hin und wieder lese ich solche Storys sehr gerne. Der Schreibstil ist angenhem und lässt sich flüssig hintereinander weg lesen. Der Fall ist spannend und es wurde ein wichtiges Thema angesprochen.

Die Protagonisten treffe ich zum ersten Mal, denn es ist das erste Buch von Kathy Reichs was ich je gelesen habe.

Allerdings macht die Novelle Lust auf mehr von der Autorin und das erste Buch der Reihe, wartet bereits darauf von mir gelesen zu werden.

Zusammenfassend ist dies eine angenehme Story für zwischendurch. Es gibt 4 von 5 Sterne

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

eponymous-ey sentence:
p52: Finding a pellet and slipping it into her pocket.

cement:
p7: Kahn tipped his head toward the block of cement riding shotgun.

ocr:
p44: A note taped to the doorbell read: :Broken...."

This is the first short story featuring Tempe and wow, I didn't think that much action can be realized in less than 100 pages.

[Sarah277 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good mystery, I really didn’t see that ending coming.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spannend und aufgrund der geringen Seitenzahl perfekt für einen Nachmittag/Abend. Hinterlässt auch nach "nur" gut 60 Seiten das Gefühl, ein gutes Buch gelesen zu haben.

[Dotti Elrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short story about our favorite forensic anthropologist. Temperance Brennan.

Even though it was short, it still kept up the usual pace and drama of a full length novel. I liked it.

Tempe is called out to an artist colony to recover what she thinks are the rest of the bones of an old skeleton. What she finds instead are the remains of a body stuffed into a bag and thrown into the lake.

The remains are that of a missing college student, Edith Blankenship.

Their main subject is a known environmentalist, Herman Blount, who likes to target the local power plant adjacent to the artist colony. He is found hiding out in a bunker on the colony property.

It's soon discovered that Edith spends many hours volunteering at a local raptor center. She loves the owls. Blount has also spent time with Edith at the center.

I liked the story, it was a very quick read. Exciting and fast paced. I finished it in about an hour.
As with many of Kathy Reichs books, there is a "teaching point" at the end of the book. I don't always care for these, but sometimes the point needs to be made. This one did.

[Tanja · Rating 2 out of 5]

>>Diese Rezension und viele mehr findet ihr auch hier: http://wort-welten.blogspot.de/

Nicht zu vergleichen mit den "richtigen" Büchern. Netter Zeitvertreib, aber einfach nicht wirklich spektakulär. Zudem eine Geschichte, die sich entwickelt, ohne dass man recht folgen kann, ohne dass man selbst miträtseln kann. Und einfach zu kurz, um wirklich gut zu sein, um es einmal auf den Punkt zu bringen. Von daher auch meine Bewertung ...

[BibliofiendLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella falls between Bones are Forever and Bones of the Lost. Dr. Tempreance Brennan is called in to identify remains found in the foothills of North Carolina. While the identity of the victim is easily discovered, the circumstances surrounding the death and additional surprising evidence lead the case in an unexpected direction.

Full review here: http://tinyurl.com/pxxf2on

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a joy it was to find a novella featuring my favorite heroine Temperance Brennan. "Bones in her Pocket was as good as any of Reich's full-length novels. Tempe does what she does best, lets the bones speak to her, and finds herself, yet again, in a life or death situation.

[John Yelverton · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a short, mystery novel whose ending I just truly found to be unbelievable, as in improbable. Furthermore, it's really just an excuse to write an anti-puppy mill story, rather than a Temperance Brennan story.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story - some twists and turns and a "I didn't see that coming".

Well written, and a good lead up to her next novel being released in August. Two thumbs up and 5 stars!

[Carine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Kathy Reichs short story is better than no Kathy Reichs at all! I really enjoyed it and now can't wait to receive her new book!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent for a Kindle Single, despite the weak ending. "Bones" fans will enjoy it, but I doubt the book will do much to enlarge Reichs' readership.

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story set between books which are a little snack to help keep you sane whilst miss Reichs keeps you waiting for the next book.

[Helen Tomlinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

I could not put the book down. Her books are all good. She know how to keep you enthralled in her books.

[Sue Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Short Story To Engage You

If you are a fan this will help fill the gap until the next novel.An interesting read but finished all too quickly