The Bone Garden

by Tess Gerritsen
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Julia Hamill's marriage is over and she has bought her very own house. She is determined to grow her own garden and as she is digging up the earth she uncovers a skull. The skeleton is of a woman who most probably died already before 1840.

In the end of year 1830 Rose Connolly is in Boston. She has followed her sister Aurnia here from Ireland. Now Aurnia is having her first baby, but the delivery is not progressing well and both sisters are at the hospital. The same hospital where Norris Marshall, a poor farmer's son, is studying medicine. All around them women are dying of childbed fever and after her daughter is delivered so does Aurnia.

Julia Hamill is contacted by Henry Page, a relative to the former owner of her house. He has found a letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes who studied with Norris Marshall. Henry believes that there can be clues to who the dead woman in Julia's garden was in the boxes left behind by the former owner. He wants Julia to come and help him go through all the material.

She accepts his invitation and together they uncover through the letters from Oliver Wendell Holmes the story of Norris, Rose, Aurnia and her daughter and the string of terrifying murders that started after her birth.

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This book was a very pleasant surprise. The text on the back of the book is brief and mentions Dr Maura Isles, a lead character from several of Gerritsen's other books. But Dr Isles is hardly in this book at all.

The biggest part of this book takes place in 1830 and that part of the book is amazingly well written. The language shifts subtly to a more old-fashioned style; it enforces the changed time setting without being more difficult to understand or stilted. The wording is clever and at times very witty.

But once one has set foot in the house of one’s host, it is the height of rudeness to immediately flee from it, screaming.

The book contains some gore, but mostly in the context of the hospital setting and medical training Norris and Oliver are attending. It also describes a life that for many is desperate, poor and dirty. But above all this is a fascinating story, with a mystery to solve and multi-dimensional characters to care about and root for.

I would recommend this book to anyone.

Tess Gerritsen has written the following novels:

The Surgeon (2001) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
The Apprentice (2002) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
The Sinner (2003) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
Body Double (2004) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
The Surgeon (2001) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
The Apprentice (2002) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
The Sinner (2003) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
Body Double (2004) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
Vanish (2005) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
The Mephisto Club (2006) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle
The Keepsake (2008) Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isle

Harvest (1996) Medical suspense
Life Support (1997) Medical suspense
Bloodstream (1998) Medical suspense
Gravity (1999) Medical suspense
Keeper of the Bride (2002) Medical suspense
The Bone Garden (2007) Medical suspense

Call After Midnight (1987) Romantic suspense
Under the Knife1 (1990) Romantic suspense
Whistleblower (1992) Romantic suspense
Never Say Die (1992) Romantic suspense
Presumed Guilty (1993) Romantic suspense
Peggy Sue Got Murdered (1994) Romantic suspense
In Their Footsteps1 (1995) Romantic suspense
Thief of Hearts (1995) Also published as: Stolen Romantic suspense
Keeper of the Bride (1996) Romantic suspense