Monday mourning is the seventh novel featuring Temperance Brennan, a Forensic Anthropologist who works for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciares et de Medecine Legale for the province of Quebec, Canada. If you haven’t read any of the previous novels featuring the character, please do not dismiss ... Read review
In Monday Mourning Tempe Brennan finds the bones of three dead adolescents in a basement ... more
and she has to convince her police colleagues that they are recent enough that the case should be investigated. The book has all the technical know-how, crisply e...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
InMonday MourningTempe Brennan finds the bones of three dead adolescents in a basement and ... more
she has to convince her police colleagues that they are recent enough that the case should be investigated. The book has all the technical know-how, crisply exp...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Three skeletons are found in the basement of a pizza parlour. But Forensic Anthropologist ... more
Dr Temperance Brennan has her doubts. Digging up more bones was not on her agenda. And to make matters worse, her sometime-lover Detective Andrew Ryan disappears just as Tempe is beginning to trust him.
Tempe Brennan has come to Montreal from Charlotte in early December to testify as an ... more
expert witness at a trial. As Forensic Anthropologist for the province of Quebec, that's part of her job. She should be going over her notes, but she's freezing her behind off instead, digging in the basement of a pizza parlour. Not fun.
Tempe Brennan has come to Montreal from Charlotte in early December to testify as an ... more
expert witness at a trial. As Forensic Anthropologist for the province of Quebec, that's part of her job. She should be going over her notes, but she's freezing her behind off instead, digging in the basement of a pizza parlour. Not fun.
Advantages: Enjoyable read that taxes the brain cells Disadvantages: May be a bit too much jargon
Monday mourning is the seventh novel featuring Temperance Brennan, a Forensic Anthropologist who works for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciares et de Medecine Legale for the province of Quebec, Canada. If you haven’t read any of the previous novels featuring the character, please do not dismiss this book solely for that reason.
I started my fixation on Reich’s character on the sixth book in the series – Bare Bones, and waited in ... ...book will also appeal to you.
Monday Mourning is available to buy on Amazon for £10.79 hardback.
Published in 2004.
I have also added some pictures of other books Reichs has written.
Monday mourning is the seventh novel featuring Temperance Brennan, a Forensic Anthropologist who works for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciares et de Medecine Legale for the province of Quebec, Canada. If you haven’t read any of the previous novels featuring the character, please do not dismiss this book solely for that reason.
I started my fixation on Reich’s character on the sixth book in the series – Bare Bones, and waited in anticipation for this book. I am now eagerly devouring the other five novels which I have missed.
Temperance Brennan is a forty something Forensic Anthropologist who divides her time between Charlotte in North Carolina and Montreal in Canada. She works for the state in identifying skeletons, which are causing difficulties for the ‘regular’ forensic pathologists. Her speciality lies in identifying bones and determining their age, sex and race.
Tempe lives alone in a small apartment with her beloved cat, Birdie and has an on/off relationship with Andrew Ryan, a detective from Montreal. If you are a fan of the Kay Scarpetta novels written by Patricia Cornwall, you may begin to see some similarities between the two characters:
Live alone? CHECK Work takes over their lives? CHECK On/off relationship with another law enforcement officer? CHECK Have a female relation that they are close to? CHECK Both have ex husbands and skeletons in their closets? CHECK Both get involved in the case to a personal degree that threatens their own safety? CHECK
So, you see a pattern emerging here? Despite these similarities Kathy Reich’s heroine is a likeable character who is a brilliant role model for professional women. She experiences the stresses and strains of relationships like ‘real’ women and shows flaws in her character.
The story begins with Tempe sorting through some bones in the basement of a pizza parlour. The bones belong to three separate women, and it is Tempe’s job to ascertain age, sex, height and time of death. This is a mammoth task which involves indifference and hostility from the lead detective on the case, Luc Claudel, who seems to have some sort of personal vendetta against Tempe.
As Tempe discovers some of the identifying features of the women, her personal life and budding relationship with Ryan takes a nosedive. She discovers another woman in his life which threatens to destroy their relationship. She has to find answers to many questions in both her professional and personal life.
The book is written in the first person, which guides the reader along with the character on a fast paced ride. However, this sometimes makes the storyline seem unreal and contrived, as we follow Tempe to various crime scenes and police stakeouts which would not happen in the real world. Realistically she would be at home curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine, rather than riding to crime scenes with the detectives.
Reich’s herself is also a forensic anthropologist for North Carolina and Quebec, and to say that she knows her stuff is an understatement. She launches into very detailed and indecipherable jargon which hurts your head. She talks of gracile muscle attachments, rounded occiputs and sphenoid bones which are totally lost on me and don’t even feature on my spell check! I read the words and they float aimlessly over my head. However, this does not ruin the overall story, just confuses the reader for a short time.
At times Tempe’s stupidity in some of her actions and choices frustrated me. Here we have a highly intelligent woman with BA’s, MA’s and PhD’s left, right and centre, but she still manages to garner an illicit groan from the reader, as she trots off to another escapade which will undoubtedly leave her fighting for her life in one way or another. It is highly predictable in parts and hugely frustrating, as you know that when faced with that particular situation, most people would run a mile.
Tempe’s relationship with Andrew Ryan is also baffling. Her intelligence is not prevalent in the opposite sex either and she comes across as an infatuated schoolgirl with her first crush. The thread of this storyline takes second fiddle to the pizza parlour bones, and it sometimes feels that Reich’s added it just to annoy the reader, as Tempe’s refusal to embark on a proper and meaningful conversation would solve a whole truckload of angst.
A subplot involving Tempe’s best friend Anne is sometimes irrelevant and you become frustrated with this aspect, willing the action to continue in relation to the crime and the discovery of the women’s identities. However, the end result does tie up loose ends, but also leaves you screaming in incredulity.
Reich’s writes with an added humour which is portrayed through her characters. In particular Tempe’s character shows a huge amount of humour and irony which at times brings a smile to your face, especially her relationship with Claudel which is highly amusing, as she slates him at every available opportunity.
Despite these criticisms the story is hugely enjoyable and leaves the reader wanting more. Each chapter is left on a cliff-hanger, which ensures the reader will continue on to find out what happened. At just 300 pages the book is easily digestible without having heartburn, and I raced through the book in a couple of days.
As previously stated, it is not a disadvantage if you haven’t read any of her earlier novels. This book is easy to get into and Reich’s cleverly introduces you to each character in turn, which is beneficial to new fans and hardly an irritation to dedicated fans.
I would definitely recommend this book to you if you enjoy crime and thriller novels. If you like the work of Patricia Cornwall and Jeffery Deaver, then this book will also appeal to you.
Monday Mourning is available to buy on Amazon for £10.79 hardback.
Published in 2004.
I have also added some pictures of other books Reichs has written.
Advantages: Good story line, good writing style, good characters Disadvantages: too much detail on forensic anthropology for the novice
Temperance Brennan, lovingly known as Tempe, is a Forensic Anthropologist who splits her time between cold Montreal and warm Charlotte, North Carolina. In early December, she is called to Montreal to testify as an expert in a trial. When she is casually asked to a freezing pizza parlour basement to have a quick look at some human remains, she has little idea that this assignment will take over her life and mind for quite some time. As she discovers ... ...faced with the mystery of whom they belong to. But life is not made easy for Tempe. Working in a male world, she has to face up to detective Claudel's difficult personality who simply dismisses the bones as ancient remains and finds more important cases to deal with. Can Tempe win his attention and succeed for Claudel to take her more seriously when she suggest that the remains may only be a decade or two old?
And life is even made harder for Tempe, ...
Delicate_Orchid 02.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Monday Mourning - Kathy Reichs
...a pathology laboratory.
In Monday Mourning the skeletons of three young girls are found in the basement of an old building that is currently a pizza parlour. Yet a mysterious 'phone call from an old lady soon tells Tempe Brennan (the forensic anthropologist heroine of Kathy Reich's novels) that the building was not always a pizza parlour. Some years ago it was a very different type of a parlour. With a rather unsavoury reputation.
Detective Luc ... ...interest to the police. But Tempe, using some interesting techniques, is able to prove that Claudel is wrong. Dead wrong about that. For the case is a live one. Dangerously alive for all those concerned.
Something is troubling both Claudel and Tempe's lover, detective Andrew Ryan. There's something big happening. A major case that they cannot talk about. Tempe's friend Anne has left her husband, the unlikely named Tom Turnip. She visits Tempe and ...
Martinscholes 01.07.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Monday Mourning - Kathy Reichs
Advantages: Gripping Disadvantages: though not as gripping as her other books
...does the usual and gets herself on the killers 'hitlist' suffering the predictable scratches and scrapes - but none the less appears at the end to start the nesxt episode in this saga.
this is a memorable book, well worth a read to clear those monday morning blues. ...
dawnie1981 06.12.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Monday Mourning - Kathy Reichs
Advantages: draws the reader into intricate detail Disadvantages: Hard to remeber all the differing french terms
If you like forensic anthropology you will love Kathy Reichs, purely because her knowledge comes from past experience, of actually being an anthropologist. This book like all the previous has it's own story so you can pick this up and not feel left out if you have not read any of the others. Temperance still has her own traumas and the elusive police inspector is still conducting a frosty yet professional relationship with Temperance, her love life ... ...the action within this book is enough to keep any female romatic happy, without being too sloppy or girly. Highly recommend this to anyone like myself that likes procedural novels that draw the reader in, as sometimes you do feel like your in the cold weather helping preserve clues and skeletons ...
andied 21.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Monday Mourning - Kathy Reichs
Advantages: gripping storyline Disadvantages: found medical terms hard to understand
Kathy Reichs as done it again ! A hugely absorbing story, Clever storyline cant wait to read what happened next just one of those books you cant put down , I have read most of Kathy`s books & look forward always to her next release
Her caracters are very strong & you really feel you know them personally, I was sorry to finish the book ,Fascinating story filled with danger & Kathy`s great sense of humour which shines through the whole of the book, ...
webflyer 15.08.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Monday Mourning - Kathy Reichs
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