Twenty Blue Devils by Aaron Elkins
The shrewd, witty and self-deprecating forensic anthropologist travels to Tahiti to sniff out crime at a coffee plantation (Publishers Weekly).The dead man is the manager of Tahiti's Paradise Coffee Plantation, producer of the most expensive coffee bean in the world, the winey, luscious Blue Devil. Nothing tangible points to foul play behind his fall from a cliff, but FBI agent John Lau, a relative of the coffee-growing family, has his suspicions. What he needs is evidence, and who better to provide it than his friend, anthropologist Gideon Oliver, the Skeleton Detective? Gideon is willing to help, but surprisingly--and suspiciously--both the police and the other family members refuse to okay an exhumation order. As a result, Gideon, to his surprise and against his better judgment, finds himself sneaking into a graveyard under cover of night with John, a flashlight, and a shovel--not exactly up to the professional standards of the world's most famous forensic anthropologist, but necessary under the circumstances.
Gideon prefers his bones ancient, dry, and dusty, but the body he must examine had lain in the tropical sun for a week before it was found and then buried native-style--shallow, with no casket--so it is not exactly his . . . well, cup of tea. But it is not the state of the remains that bothers him the most, it is the deeper human ugliness that his examination uncovers: subtle clues that do indeed point to foul play, to mistaken identity, and to a murderous conspiracy that may have percolated through the family for decades--and brewed a taste for murder.
Twenty Blue Devils is the 9th book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Elkins, Aaron: - Former forensic anthropology professor and Edgar Award winner Aaron Elkins can't seem to let go of the past--he has written his eighteenth book featuring the globetrotting Skeleton Detective, Gideon Oliver. Often credited with launching the forensic mystery genre in the early 1980s with Fellowship of Fear, Elkins has written nonfiction articles for the New York Times travel magazine, Smithsonian magazine, and Writer's Digest. His books have been made into a major ABC television series and have been published in over a dozen languages. In addition to the Edgar, which he won for Old Bones, his fourth Gideon Oliver book, he has also won a Nero Award and shared an Agatha Award with his wife and coauthor, Charlotte Elkins. Elkins lives in a small town on the Washington coast, where (when he's not writing) he serves as the forensic anthropologist for the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781497643307 |
| ISBN 10 | 1497643309 |
| Title | Twenty Blue Devils |
| Author | Aaron Elkins |
| Series | Gideon Oliver Mysteries Ser |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Open Road Media |
| Year published | 2014-07-08 |
| Number of pages | 230 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |