Bare Bones (2003)

Temperance Brennan is the kind of woman that you'd want to go drinking with, if only she weren't sober: a smart, wry forensic anthropologist with a charming mix of worldliness and world-weariness. Unfortunately, the cases she's assigned in her sixth novelistic appearance are numbingly dull. Suffice it to say that the play on words of the title -- the plot involves bear poaching -- is as uninspired as the investigations. Still, Reichs, herself a forensic anthropologist, has created such a winning character that we're willing to pass this off as a bad day at work.