The Inquisitor's Key - Jefferson Bass

[Luanne Ollivier]

I've been a fan of Jefferson Bass's series from book one. The Body Farm novels are actaully written by two authors - Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass. Bass is the founder of the Body Farm- a ground breaking forensic anthropology site. The crime novels from this pair have always had the ring of truth and excellent detail behind them.

In the seventh and latest offering, The Inquisitor's Key, protagonist Dr. Bill Brockton (who is a forensic anthropologist, of course) heads to Avignon, France. His young assitant Miranda Lovelady has been working on a dig that has uncovered bones that may be of unimaginable importance and they need his expertise.

I really like this series, but have to honestly say that this book fell flat for me. The plot is nothing new and brings to mind a Dan Brown or Steve Berry novel. The history presented was interesting and well researched, though. But it just stretched the imagination a little too far - the Vatican is after the bones as well as American zealots bent on using the bones' DNA to bring about The Second Coming. I just found it a stretch that a prof from Tennessee would be involved in something like this.

The authors have always tried to insert a love interest for Dr. Bill. (They don't seem to last long) Dr. Bill has now turned his attention to his assistant Miranda. Insert ick factor here - this just doesn't work for me.

The audio version of the book is read by Tom Stechschulte, who has a wonderful voice. It's very rich and expressive and does bring to mind the mental image I've created of Dr. Bill.  But, his French accent wasn't the best and by the end was really quite annoying.

Really, all I want or expect from Dr. Bill is a good ole down home who dunnit. This one was just too far removed from the roots. But, see what you think - read an exerpt of The Inquisitor's Key. or try out the audio - listen to an excerpt of The Inquisitor's Key.