Twenty Blue Devils (The Gideon Oliver Mysteries) - Softcover

Elkins, Aaron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1497643309 ISBN 13: 9781497643307

Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller, 2014

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review

Brew up a pot of your favorite gourmet java and enjoy the latest adventure of forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver, who this time around exercises his wits on a coffee plantation in Tahiti. Aaron Elkins has a sharp, cool eye for detail; his descriptions of a flawed tropical paradise going through some serious business changes ring true. And the family that runs the coffee plantation has enough diversity to keep everyone guessing about the death of one of its members until the last drop. To bone up on Gideon Oliver in paperback, try: The Dark Place, Dead Men's Hearts, Fellowship of Fear, Icy Clutches, Make No Bones, Murder in the Queen's Armes, and Old Bones.

About the Author

Aaron Elkins is a former anthropologist and professor who has been writing mysteries and thrillers since 1982. His major continuing series features forensic anthropologist-detective Gideon Oliver, “the Skeleton Detective.” There are fifteen published titles to date in the series. The Gideon Oliver books have been (roughly) translated into a major ABC-TV series and have been selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild, and the Readers Digest Condensed Mystery Series. His work has been published in a dozen languages.
 Mr. Elkins won the 1988 Edgar Award for best mystery of the year for Old Bones, the fourth book in the Gideon Oliver Series. He and his cowriter and wife, Charlotte, also won an Agatha Award, and he has also won a Nero Wolfe Award. Mr. Elkins lives on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula with Charlotte.

About this edition

• Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1497643309
• ISBN 13: 9781497643307
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 230