206 Bones

206 Bones is the twelfth novel by Kathy Reichs featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. The book opens with Brennan imprisoned in an enclosed space, unable to remember where she is or how she got there. This thread alternates with her account of how she escapes, leading to the final resolution. The rest of the story is told in flashback.

Brennan must recover the remains of a murdered elderly woman from a shallow grave during a freezing Quebec winter. She believes she has the full set of 206 bones, but when she analyzes the remains in her lab she discovers that certain crucial finger bones, needed to confirm the victim's identity, are missing. Soon afterwards an accusation of incompetence is made against her: an anonymous phone call to the father of another victim claims that Brennan overlooked the trauma of a bullet wound in the bones of a Chicago heiress found months earlier. Brennan and her on-again, off-again lover, Detective Andrew Ryan, travel to Chicago to try to clear her name. Meanwhile the Montreal forensics team is struggling, and Ryan suspects they may be dealing with a serial killer.