In this, the eleventh Temperance Brennan novel, our favorite forensic anthropologist is back in Charlotte. When a plumber working on a home renovation discovers a sub-cellar where some obscure religious rites appear to have taken place, Tempe is called in. The small space contains cauldrons, statues, beads, bones, candles, a chicken carcass, and a human skull. It’s not long before news of the discovery appears in the Charlotte Observer. When a headless body with ritual markings is found near the Catawba River, an opportunistic preacher-politician takes to the airwaves to warn of Satanism in the Queen City. While the police try to stem an incipient witch hunt, Tempe struggles to learn the identity of the victims and the circumstances of their deaths. There’s a lot going on in Charlotte–voodoo, Santeria, dirty politics, male prostitution. Tempe confronts it all, while dealing with the return of ex-lover Andrew Ryan and some unexpected campus politics.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
