Acclaimed for a mischievous wit and his intriguing mixture of forensic anthropology and real skull-duggery, Aaron Elkins is one of the best in the business and getting better all the time. Now, the author of Good Blood returns, and so does Gideon Oliver, professor of forensics, who uncovers a deadly family plot of greed and murder in the northern uplands of Hawaii.
Where There's a Will (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)
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From Publishers Weekly
In Edgar-winner Elkins's solid 12th whodunit to feature forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver (after 2004's acclaimed Good Blood), Oliver's Hawaiian vacation turns into a busman's holiday, as he and close friend John Lau, an FBI agent who's also enjoying some downtime, get involved in a decade-old mystery surrounding the deaths of two elderly Swedish brothers who owned a huge cattle ranch. One night in 1994, hit men acting for an unknown client murdered Torkel Torkelsson, then attempted to conceal the corpse with an act of arson; that same night, Magnus Torklesson and a pilot took off in a small plane, never to be heard from again. Now divers have discovered the wreckage of the long-lost plane in a lagoon, with some skeletal remains. Soon learning that none of the original police investigation's conclusions may be valid, Oliver and Lau find themselves intrigued and frustrated by the lies and evasions pitched rapidly at them by the Torkelssons' heirs, all of whom have different motives for obscuring the truth. Oliver's deductions will remind classic mystery readers of archetypal scientific sleuth Dr. Thorndyke, and his three-dimensional personality and humor will continue to attract first-timers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Elkins' writing skills are superb, his research impeccable, and his plots intriguing. We get two out of three in this new entry in his series featuring forensic detective Gideon Oliver, as Elkins provides well-crafted, tantalizing descriptions of lesser-known parts of Hawaii. After a conference in Honolulu, Gideon and his FBI agent friend John Lau travel to the Big Island^B to stay on the Torkelsson family cattle ranch. Old friends of John, the Torkelssons quickly warm to Gideon and ask for his help in identifying bones found in a sunken plane. Could it be the long-missing Uncle Magnus? Unfortunately, this story is missing the compelling plot that is usually a hallmark of Elkins' works. Gideon plays a very peripheral role in identifying the body, and readers don't have much reason to care who it is. That said, Gideon is a likable protagonist, and spending time in his company is always pleasant. Elkins has established himself as a master craftsman both in the Oliver series and in his stand-alone thrillers. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Hardcover
Anyone who has visited the Big Island in Hawaii has probably wondered what it's like to live on the cattle ranches that sprawl across the uplands. Where There's a Will gives a Dallas-type look at one dysfunctional family's relationships with the land and each other.
The story's other charm is in its forensic sleight-of-hand as detective Gideon Oliver finds himself on a busman's honeymoon when unexpected remains are found in an unlikely location. Where many of the earliest Gideon Oliver books only dwell in the land of bones, this one intelligently introduces other complications that make the story more interesting and sophisticated.
The book opens with a powerful sequence as an inexperienced pilot and a scared passenger find themselves lost . . . and running short of fuel. That's pretty much it for the action in the book, but it's a strong beginning.
There's actually a five-star mystery inside this book. It just cannot be found because the writing is too loose. With 60 pages removed, this would have been an outstanding book. As it is, it's a pleasant one that will more than satisfy Gideon Oliver fans and create a few more.
The story's other charm is in its forensic sleight-of-hand as detective Gideon Oliver finds himself on a busman's honeymoon when unexpected remains are found in an unlikely location. Where many of the earliest Gideon Oliver books only dwell in the land of bones, this one intelligently introduces other complications that make the story more interesting and sophisticated.
The book opens with a powerful sequence as an inexperienced pilot and a scared passenger find themselves lost . . . and running short of fuel. That's pretty much it for the action in the book, but it's a strong beginning.
There's actually a five-star mystery inside this book. It just cannot be found because the writing is too loose. With 60 pages removed, this would have been an outstanding book. As it is, it's a pleasant one that will more than satisfy Gideon Oliver fans and create a few more.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars
20 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still a few new twists left in this series!
Feb 8 2006
By R. Kelly Wagner
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It's always fun to have another Gideon Oliver novel to read, and this one is no exception. While it's not a great book, it's a good book: a fun read, with the snappy dialogue one expects from Elkins. I personally like the Gideon Oliver series better than Elkins' other series.
Since much of the plot has been discussed in other reviews, I'll just point out a few things I particularly liked about this volume:
*the details of the family ranching business in Hawaii - including the reference to using Japanese quarter horses. (I'll let you discover that breed :D)
*the resemblance of the family of Swedish sailors-turned-ranchers to the "Norwegian bachelor farmers" that Garrison Keillor talks about on his radio show
*the running jokes about the terrible coffee one gets in police stations
One of the things that people look for, in mystery series, is whether there is continuity in the background lives of the characters. This is one of the series where there is such continuity; however, it's not real-time. Our protagonist and his family and friends have aged about a decade, in the nearly 25 years that the series has been running. This is a reasonable pace, that allows us to follow their lives. Even though this is a series, though, this particular book could be read and enjoyed without having read other books in the series - there are no points here where a reader would be bewildered because they didn't have some background knowledge. It's more fun, though, if you do read the whole series, so you can get more enjoyment out of the exchanges between Oliver and Lau, and you know more about Oliver's wife, and so on. So go ahead and get this one and read it, but get a couple of the older books, too - I promise you'll enjoy them. Probably "Old Bones" and "Twenty Blue Devils" would be the two that would provide you with the most background for the buck, especially since "Twenty" takes place in Tahiti, thus giving the reader some additional background for the South Pacific setting of "Where There's a Will."
Family reading alert: this is a great series for kids who are reading at adult levels but don't need to be exposed to too much in the way of adult themes - there's no explicit sex, very little that anyone would consider bad language, and no excessive gore or violence. I was reading books from the grown-up area of the library by the time I was 12 (which was considerably before this series started) so I know it can be difficult for the parents of gifted kids to find stuff that is safe yet not childishly boring. Elkins' books fit the bill.
Since much of the plot has been discussed in other reviews, I'll just point out a few things I particularly liked about this volume:
*the details of the family ranching business in Hawaii - including the reference to using Japanese quarter horses. (I'll let you discover that breed :D)
*the resemblance of the family of Swedish sailors-turned-ranchers to the "Norwegian bachelor farmers" that Garrison Keillor talks about on his radio show
*the running jokes about the terrible coffee one gets in police stations
One of the things that people look for, in mystery series, is whether there is continuity in the background lives of the characters. This is one of the series where there is such continuity; however, it's not real-time. Our protagonist and his family and friends have aged about a decade, in the nearly 25 years that the series has been running. This is a reasonable pace, that allows us to follow their lives. Even though this is a series, though, this particular book could be read and enjoyed without having read other books in the series - there are no points here where a reader would be bewildered because they didn't have some background knowledge. It's more fun, though, if you do read the whole series, so you can get more enjoyment out of the exchanges between Oliver and Lau, and you know more about Oliver's wife, and so on. So go ahead and get this one and read it, but get a couple of the older books, too - I promise you'll enjoy them. Probably "Old Bones" and "Twenty Blue Devils" would be the two that would provide you with the most background for the buck, especially since "Twenty" takes place in Tahiti, thus giving the reader some additional background for the South Pacific setting of "Where There's a Will."
Family reading alert: this is a great series for kids who are reading at adult levels but don't need to be exposed to too much in the way of adult themes - there's no explicit sex, very little that anyone would consider bad language, and no excessive gore or violence. I was reading books from the grown-up area of the library by the time I was 12 (which was considerably before this series started) so I know it can be difficult for the parents of gifted kids to find stuff that is safe yet not childishly boring. Elkins' books fit the bill.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, traditional mystery
Mar 15 2006
By L. J. Roberts
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
One of the things I like best about Elkins, is the things I learn from his books and this was no exception. The Torkelsson family dynamics added richness to the story but there was very little dimension to the other characters and some were stereotypical. Beyond that, I found this an enjoyable story, with plenty of twists and turns. It is definitely a traditional mystery that is interesting, light reading but not a "wow" book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not the best of the series, but still a pleasant read
Feb 3 2006
By Maryland Reader
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I thought Aaron Elkins kind of dialed this one in. There just wasn't the depth of character or plot development that characterized earlier books in the Gideon Oliver series. In fact, the scenario regarding how Gideon Oliver got involved with the case (bones found in the remains of a plane crash--can he confirm they are the missing family members from ten years before) was remarkably like the device used in a previous book.
Nevertheless, it was a diverting and pleasant read. Just not particularly riveting, and not up to the early novels in the series.
Nevertheless, it was a diverting and pleasant read. Just not particularly riveting, and not up to the early novels in the series.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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