DEVIL BONES

Charlotte, North Carolina. One of the town's oldest neighbourhoods. Anunderground chamber is exposed in a seedy, dilapidated house with saggingtrim and peeling paint... Called to the scene is forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan.Fighting her claustrophobia, and the unmistakeable sweet, fetid odour ofrotting flesh, Tempe descends the precariously steep, makeshift woodensteps. What awaits her below is a ritualistic display: slain chickens and a goat- and a skull, ghostly pale, rests on a pedestal, the lower jaw missing,the empty orbits staring back at her. Two cauldrons stand nearby, beadsand antlers suspended overhead. Age, race and sex indicators confirm the skull as that of a young, blackfemale - but how did she die, and when? Then, just as Tempe is working todetermine the post-mortem interval, another body is uncovered. The corpseis headless, the torso is carved with Satanic symbols. Led by apreacher-turned-politician, citizen vigilantes blame Devil-worshippers andbegin a witch-hunt, intent on revenge. As Tempe struggles to keep her emotions and imagination from running awaywith her, she makes another chilling discovery. Even she couldn't havepredicted where this case would lead, or the shocking secrets it wouldeventually uncover. And the more Tempe learns, the more she seems to beputting herself in danger...