Invited to Guatemala to examine the remains of rural Mayan villagers executed over 20 years ago, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan doesn't know that her reconstruction of the brutal annihilation of Chupan Ya is only the prelude to a series of escalating horrors. First, Tempe's colleague Molly Carraway and her driver are ambushed on an isolated road; then Tempe is asked to analyze a grisly discovery made in the septic tank belonging to a little hotel in Guatemala City. Four young women, including Chantale Specter, the headstrong daughter of the Canadian ambassador, have gone missing from the capital over the past six months, and the corpse in the tank may provide evidence of a possible serial killer or consolation to the ambassador and his wife. But no sooner is Tempe ordered by her boss back in QuÉbec to undertake an examination than she's stonewalled by the very local authorities who'd asked for her participation. Nor does her brief time with the corpse yield any clues to the murderer's identity; the most remarkable findings, in fact, concern a telltale cat hair. A trip back to her home base in QuÉbec will provide some answers at the expense of raising others, and the range of felons and felonies will broaden with every gruesome discovery. Even Tempe's off-again romance with high-handed cop Andrew Ryan will be shaken by a new pursuer, Guatemala City Sgt. BartolomÉ Galiano, Ryan's old schoolmate. The impossibly busy plot, linking every felony in the Western Hemisphere over a generation, clogs Tempe's fifth (Fatal Voyage, 2001, etc.) as badly as that septic tank. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Fans of the Temperance Brennan series will be pleased by forensic anthropologist Reichs's latest installment (after Fatal Voyage; Deadly Decisions; etc.). Grave Secrets finds Tempe plying her pathology trade in Guatemala, investigating a massacre site as a favor to a Guatemalan anthropology association. However, when her team is ambushed by gunmen, Tempe finds herself ensnared in a mesh of corruption and murder stretching from Guatemala City to Montreal, involving DAs, military thugs and kinky diplomats. Tempe finds herself drawn and trapped between the two cops investigating: her longtime Canadian suitor, Lt. Andrew Ryan, and her would-be Latin lover, agente Bartolom Galiano. That the two men know each other and are friends doesn't help the situation. When a nosy reporter looking into the massacre is gunned down before Tempe's eyes, she realizes she herself is the next likely target. As has been said before, Reichs has much in common with Patricia Cornwell, though her language is more stripped down and there is less melodrama between autopsies. Devotees of medical procedurals will appreciate the detailed descriptions of bone formation and the mechanics of bodily decomposition within a septic tank; others may not. But the author keeps the twists coming, and by the novel's climax, she has skillfully interwoven her many subplots and red herrings into a satisfying puddle of sex, sleaze, greed and gore. (July) Forecast: Reichs traveled to Guatemala herself in 2000 as part of a special forensic team. Her firsthand knowledge of the terrain shines through and should win her a few more devoted readers. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

While in Guatemala to assist in the exhumation of an old mass grave, forensic specialist Temperance Brennan is called upon to determine whether a body found in a septic tank is that of the missing daughter of the Canadian ambassador to Guatemala. The gruesome search, vividly described, leaves even the toughened Tempe aghast. From there, things become even more bizarre, with Tempe coming face-to-face with a gang of foul-mouthed teens, developing a new love interest, and uncovering a bizarre plot to take advantage of a highly specialized medical technology. Reichs has a hard time keeping it all under control; there are loose ends everywhere. Best are the medical details, which spring from Reichs' own forensics background. Both vivid and fascinating, these particulars shore up the sprawling story, which is also greatly helped by the inquisitive, tough-but-still-vulnerable character of Tempe Brennan herself. Not up to the level of some of Reichs' past work, including Death du Jour (1999), but still well worth reading. --Stephanie Zvirin

Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan goes to Guatemala, where the disappear-ance of several girls and the murder of a human rights investigator lead to a decades- old massacre. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.