{"id":46628,"date":"2026-08-17T21:15:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T01:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46628"},"modified":"2026-08-17T21:15:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T01:15:50","slug":"review-of-old-bones-by-aaron-elkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46628","title":{"rendered":"Review of Old Bones, by Aaron Elkins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Old Bones<\/em><\/p>\n

by Aaron Elkins<\/p>\n

Open Road, 1987. 209 pages.
\nReview written June 18, 2026, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
\nStarred Review
\n1988 Edgar Award Winner, Best Mystery Novel<\/p>\n

When I told my friend Paul that I was going to Mont Saint-Michel on vacation and had signed up for a tour of the bay, he told me I needed to read this book. So I bought myself a copy, and since it is paperback, I brought it on my trip, and it\u2019s the first book I read.<\/p>\n

Right at the start, someone dies by drowning when he gets stuck in quicksand in the bay when the tide comes in. That\u2019s not the main mystery of the book, though. His family manor was in the area, and he had ordered his family to come visit, because he had something important to tell them.<\/p>\n

But while the family is gathered, some workmen had come to update the cellar \u2013 and found a skeleton. Good thing Gideon Oliver, the Skeleton Detective of America, was speaking at a law enforcement conference in nearby St. Malo.<\/p>\n

Gideon isn\u2019t actually in law enforcement himself. He\u2019s got a PhD in the study of bones, and, well, he has a habit of getting mixed up in detective cases. The cover informs me this is the fourth novel about him. But since he\u2019s in town, he gets called in to consult on the case, and notices plenty about the bones that escapes the attention of others.<\/p>\n

And the skeleton seems to be from 1942, when some of the family members were in the Resistance, and some\u2026 weren\u2019t. Tensions are still high 45 years later.<\/p>\n

But as Gideon is looking at the bones, there\u2019s a present-day murder, as well as attempted murder, and more people almost die in the bay of Mont Saint-Michel.<\/p>\n

When I went on the tour, we learned how to escape quicksand. I asked the guide if the scenario of getting stuck in quicksand is realistic, and she confirmed that it can happen. I was glad I was with a guide! (It was SO cool!) The tide comes in very quickly, but we got out right after it went from ankle deep to thigh deep – and we were right near the island at that point.<\/p>\n

Besides the amazing setting, this is a cozy mystery with fun characters and an interesting puzzle with historical roots. I may look up more books in this series.<\/p>\n

Oh, one funny thing: The cover says this was the 1998 Edgar Winner, which didn\u2019t match the publication date. So I looked it up, and the cover is wrong, it won in 1988.<\/p>\n

aaronelkins.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Fiction\/old_bones.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Old Bones by Aaron Elkins Open Road, 1987. 209 pages. Review written June 18, 2026, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com Starred Review 1988 Edgar Award Winner, Best Mystery Novel When I told my friend Paul that I was going to Mont Saint-Michel on vacation and had signed up for a tour of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,5,6,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemporary","category-fiction-review","category-mystery","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46628"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46835,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46628\/revisions\/46835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}