The tranquility is disturbed when a couple of boys find a strange-looking bone in the woods. The Sheriff’s Department is called to investigate, and Joe is given her first opportunity to apply her recent college training on crime scene investigation. She starts slowly with the discovery of one bone and then a few others. A charm bracelet is found nearby and then a strange carving on a tree trunk. A short distance away, even more bones are uncovered and a similar carving on another tree. When the news of these discoveries begins to leak out, it seems that citizens start finding bones and carvings in a number of places. The mothers of missing girls start gathering in the area to see if any of the remains belong to their children. The potential scope of the investigation spreads across several jurisdictional boundaries, and soon the State Police join the investigation.

Joe Frye finds an ally and mentor in the lead investigator from the state, and under his tutelage, they begin to draw a clear picture of a mass murderer. But it’s far from a routine investigation, as things turn sour with fatal results.

I’ve read almost everything that P.J. Parrish has ever written and have enjoyed all of it. The plots are never repetitive, and the stories are always distinctly different. This one is the most different of all. While the author’s previous novel, An Unquiet Grave, with its midnight wailing coming from an abandoned cemetery, had the feel of a gothic novel, A Thousand Bones takes the reader into the mystic world of Native American folklore. It’s a brand new and exciting adventure.

There are absolutely no disappointments in this book. The characters are great, the plot sufficiently complex, and the action is fast. It looks like the beginning of another excellent series with the unique potential of intertwining with the well-established Louis Kincaid series.