Tally Whyte has spent the past year avoiding her old life where she counseled the grieving family members of homicide victims. It was a year ago that her foster mother, Veda, died and Tally took the money she inherited and traveled. But her life feels hollow, even purposeless, and she finds herself back in Massachusetts, entering the building that houses the Massachusetts Grief Assistance Program that she started.

But, of course, she's not planning on getting involved again. Really. Only there is that pretty amazing mystery of a skull found inside a clay Anasazi pot. Curiosity pulls her into the office of her friend, Didi, who's doing the facial reconstruction on the skull. Shocked, Tally finds that it looks just like someone she knows. But it can't be, because that pot is very old and it had to have been formed around the skull.

It's too late for Tally to escape. She's pulled into the mystery and trying to find her friend to make sure it isn't her skull. Then another friend is killed and Tally's own life is in danger.

Three words describe the Tally Whyte series: Intense. Addictive. Chilling.

Tally's personality will draw you in as surely as the mystery does in this series. Supporting characters are multi-layered and intriguing, building a world you'll want to know. My best advice is to set aside a week and read all four books (THE BONE MAN, BODY PARTS, THE DEAD STONE and THE GRIEF SHOP).

Book Summary

Feeling at sea with her professional and personal life, homicide counselor Tally Whyte is slapped with a conundrum: a skull found in an ancient Anasazi pot appears to be that of her good friend, Delphine.

That mystery, combined with a brutal murder close to home sends Tally on her most dangerous and daring quest yet.

In this, Tally's fourth outing, she travels to Martha's Vineyard and to New Mexico, where she's been offered a job with the New Mexico medical examiner's office. It's there, that her hunt for a killer heats up, particularly since she seems to be the newest object of the killer's intentions.