[Paperback]

Kathy Reich's, the author is also a forensic anthropologist and works for the US and Canada. She knows of what she speaks, and she has a marvelous eye for detail and an explicit imagination.

Tempe Brennan is reading her notes for the trial when she is called by, Luc Claudel, Chief of Montreal Detectives in Homicide to a murder scene in a basement of a pizza parlor. Luc Claudel, I believe is very attracted to Tempe, and to hide his rude and crude behavior towards her tends to turn her off and get her blood boiling! At the scene Tempe ropes off the area, digs patiently and after many hours finds the skeletons of what she believes are young woman- three in fact. Because an old button found at the scene Luc Claudel believes that this is a murder scene from the early 1900's. Tempe is certain that this murder scene is from the 1980's So, begins the battle for what is correct and true. Tempe is drawn into this murder scene, her life is threatened, and she must work diligently for what she believes is right.

Tempe has had an off and on romance with Andy Ryan, a Montreal detective in the Homicide Division. She and Andy became closer when he visited her in the Carolinas, but since she has arrived in Montreal something is off. He has distanced himself and is called away frequently without any explanation. Tempe is concerned and hurt. How will this romance survive, if they cannot discuss what is going on?

Kathy Reich's book "Mourning" is a page turner. She is able to introduce the human element so well that we care about her characters. We want them to be happy, to win their cases, to battle for justice and above all for truth and love. Tempe Brennan fulfills the role of a modern, professional woman- brilliant in her job and warm and caring as a woman in love. She will outwit Luc Claudel in the coming series, I predict, and she will win him over. After all, she is my kind of woman! prisrob

Tempe is in Montreal to testify in a murder case (what else). While she is there, she is called to investigate three skeletons discovered in the basement of a small pizza parlor. Upon first impressions there is some thought that the bodies are "historical", and this is supported when 19th century evidence is discovered near the remains. However, Tempe isn't convinced. She carbon dates the remains and discovers that they day to the 1980's confirming her fears.

As background we discover that Tempe's love life isn't going well. Her significant other isn't giving her the attention she needs. Further, her male co-workers continue to take her and her contributions to police work lightly.

Suffice it to say that the reader is in store for another wonderful ride through fictional police work. A tight story with great characters, Monday Mourning is sure to make you a Reichs fan if you're not already there.

Initially forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan, thought that the only big thing she would have to do this trip back to Montreal would be to testify at the trial of a murderer. But that was before she got involved with the grizzly finds in the basement of a pizza parlour. The skeletal remains of three young girls have been found, and the questions are: how old are these remains, and how did they end up in the cellar? The detective in charge of the investigation, Luc Claudel, believes that because the building is quite old, that the remains are probably from the early part of the twentieth century, and as such a problem for archaeologists and historians. But Tempe disagrees: instinct (plus a feeling of antipathy for Claudel and his quick rush to judgement, together with the deep belief that proper examinations on the skeletons should be carried out before any quick decisions are made) tells her that the remains are not all that old. And then she receives a mysterious 'phone call from an old woman who claims to know something about the skeletons. Unfortunately, a bad connection prevents Tempe from learning anything concrete from this mysterious caller. Was the call a prank, or did the woman really have valueable information? Frustrated by the lack of police interest, and prodded on by her visiting friend, Anne, Tempe begins to do some investigating of her own and finds herself face to face with evil that she's never quite experienced before...

The story was an interesting and riveting one, and I did feel compelled to finish the book in one sitting. Fortunately the prose style was smooth, if a little spartan (and if I found the lecturer-like tones whenever Tempe or another one of the forensic team was explaining some procedure a little grating, that was just me); so that in spite of the fact that I found the whole subplot involving Tempe's friend, Anne, a bit distracting (ditto the entire subplot involving Andrew Ryan), "Monday Mourning" was still an absorbing read. I did however find that some things were tied up a little too neatly and not very credibly for me anyway -- why the murderer moved one set of remains for example, and why Tempe, not the police, was perceived of as an important threat from the very beginning. But perhaps this last "niggle" has more to do with fact that I'm not all that familiar with the series, and perhaps it is a well known fact that Tempe, not the police, is a force to be reckoned with? Whatever the case, if you're looking for a somewhat swiftly paced and interesting read, than "Monday Mourning" will definitely do. It may not be the best Tempe Brennan book, but it is up that with the better installments in the series.