The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White

The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White

First Paragraph(s):

A steady rain falls as Benjamin and Raphael Duvalier work their excavator alongside a dark lake on the misted flanks of Hemlock Mountain.  The brothers are digging up the concrete foundation of an old and tiny wooden A-frame chapel.  The chapel is located at the Hemlock Ski Resort area base and is being moved higher into the alpine to make way for an expansion.  It's barely dawn, and the temperature hovers around freezing.  Behind them the forest creeps down the mountain and wraiths of mist finger between the trees.  Empty lift chairs hang motionless on cables that disappear into the low clouds.  

My Thoughts:

The Unquiet Bones is the first book I've read by Loreth Anne White.  I have been aware of her books, but just never sampled one.  I got a nudge to try this one from the review that Lesa Holstine published on her blog here.  By the way, if you've not checked out Lesa's blog, Lesa's Book Critiques, I highly recommend it.  She's a now-retired librarian and she write a bunch of reviews for various places, including Library Journal.

This is the story of the discovery of bones buried beneath a structure in the woods and they have been there for a long time.  The investigator, Jane Munro, is at a complicated place in life.  She's recently been assigned to a cold case squad because of difficulties personally.  What was supposed to be a more 'quiet' job very quickly ramps up because of this case.  Two missing teens from long ago, families that have never had answers, and a group of friends that were also teens at the time and who are now well-known older adults complicate the investigation.  The author tells things from various points of view and I followed along guessing all the way.  Was I correct in my guesses?  Partly, but not completely.  I did enjoy this one and will plan to try others by this author.  Have you read any of her books?   

Blurb:

When human bones are found beneath an old chapel in the woods, evidence suggests the remains could be linked to the decades-old case of missing teen Annalise Jansen.

Homicide detective Jane Munro—pregnant and acutely attuned to the preciousness of life—hopes the grim discovery will finally bring closure to the girl’s family. But for a group of Annalise’s old friends, once dubbed the Shoreview Six by the media, it threatens to expose a terrible pledge made on an autumn night forty-seven years ago.

The friends are now highly respected, affluent members of their communities, and none of them ever expected the dark chapter in their past to resurface. But as Jane and forensic anthropologist Dr. Ella Quinn peel back the layers of secrets, the group begins to fracture. Will one cave? Will they turn on each other?

The investigation takes a sharp turn when Jane discovers a second body—that of the boy long blamed for Annalise’s disappearance. As the bones tell their story, the group learns just how far each will go to guard their own truth.