Customer Reviews

The Bone Fire: A Mystery

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

In New Mexico at the Fiesta de Santa Fe gala, the annual Zozobra bonfire is lit in front of happy revelers. The next morning after the four-story high puppet burned to the ground, a human baby's skull is found amidst the Zozobra ashes.

Santa Fe Detective Sergeant Gilbert Montoya leads the inquiry. He fears the victim is Brianna Rodriguez, who vanished a year ago. However the already gruesome murder takes an even more horrific twist when infant body parts including extremities, teeth and bones are creepily left at various area churches. Montoya prays the ghastly remains all belong to Brianna as horrid as that thought is; he knows if not all belonging to Brianna than a deadly serial pedophile is stalking the no longer Land of Enchantment. Also investigating between exercising her elbow (at bars) is reporter Lucy Newroe as the case seems to only lead back to where it began when a toddler disappeared from her family's barbecue.

This is an exhilarating New Mexico police procedural with some journalistic investigative elements starring two intriguing lead investigators though Montoya is the significant player (see The Replacement Child for his previous case). The plot ironically brings alive the charm, in spite of the horrendous nature of the case, of the Santa Fe area The story line is fast-paced from the moment the skull is found and never slows down as Christine Barber looks deeply at the impact of a lost baby in an incestuous family. Although the reason for scattering the bones seems over the top of the Santa Fe Mountains, The Bone Fire is a gripping whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

Great reading, author knows a lot about Santa Fe and it shows. One of my favorite places on earth. I hope the author will write another sequel.

I really enjoyed this writer. Her book has local flavor with lots of twists and turns in this Santa Fe mystery. It kept me turning pages. I look forward to her next one!

Christine Barber has come up with a quirky, fascinating story set in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She delves into the location, its people and its cultures, giving the reader a good feel for the place.

The story starts on the night of the burning of Zozobra (aka Old Man Gloom), a Santa Fe tradition marking the beginning of Fiesta. When a baby's skull is found among the ashes, Detective Sergeant Gil Montoya and his partner, Detective Joe Phillips, are called in to investigate. Meanwhile, the parallel story is told of Lucy Newroe, an investigative reporter and medic, who is on the story. Other bones of a child are found adorning shrines to the Virgin Mary around town. Gil fears that the bones belong to Brianna Rodriguez, a two-year-old who disappeared during a family picnic the year before.

His investigation involves interviewing a number of different suspects, and one of the fascinating things that Christine Barber does is provide an insider's view of the psychology of the interview of these people - specific words within questions that are chosen to cause a certain reaction in the interviewee. Her characters, particularly Gil, Joe and Lucy, are also very interesting and well developed.

I would like to see more of Gil and Lucy in a sequel.

Well done!

I can't recommend this one enough. Based in Santa Fe, it
is an enthralling tale that is impossible to put down!
I can't wait to see what her next book will be like...