Bones to Ashes (2007)

This latest thriller featuring Kathy Reichs' headstrong forensic anthropologist heroine, Temperance Brennan, is best not read after lunch. Tempe's case is packed with corpses knocked off in all sorts of gruesome ways: They've been shot, burned, and drowned. The central mystery involves a set of missing girls, a pornography ring, and Tempe's long-lost childhood friend. Reichs, a real-life forensic anthropologist whose work inspired Fox's series Bones, nails the scientific mumbo jumbo. She also infuses Bones to Ashes with disturbing descriptions (fingers are ''lumpy and waxy-white, like oatmeal congealed on the bottom of a pot'') that chill to the bone. B+