Dallas Morning News
Elkins is a master.
Publishers Weekly
In Edgar-winner Elkins's absorbing 15th novel to feature forensics anthropology professor Gideon Oliver (after 2007's Little Tiny Teeth), Oliver and his wife, Julie, are off to Gibraltar so he can take part in a conference honoring the discovery of the First Family, the skeletons of a human woman buried with her half-Neanderthal child. After he narrowly escapes death twice before he can take part in the program, however, Gideon becomes suspicious that other "accidental" deaths associated with the archeological dig may actually be murders. Gideon interacts with a small group of scholars who display amusing quirks while also showing enough professional vanity to make them suspects. When Gideon studies the bone evidence, he gets the job done without CSI gimmicks and glitz, and Julie presses him for explanations if matters get too technical. In addition, Elkins offers readers a pleasant tour of the Rock and its neighborhood. (July)
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Library Journal
The Rock of Gibraltar serves as the exotic site where anthropologist Gideon Oliver will be giving a talk on what might be the greatest paleontological hoax of all time. But two murders put Gideon into jeopardy. Mostly using a gentle tone and highly instructional when dealing with history, archaeology, and paleontology, Elkins (Edgar Award winner for Little Tiny Teeth) delivers a solid mystery.
—Jo Ann Vicarel
Kirkus Reviews
A trip to Gibraltar brings Dr. Gideon Oliver, the Skeleton Detective (Little Tiny Teeth, 2007, etc.), up against old bones and new. The Europa Point dig's discovery of the First Family-Gibraltar Woman, a Homo sapiens skeleton, and Gibraltar Boy, the Neanderthal skeleton cradled in her arms-raised the heady possibility that Neanderthals and humans lived in peaceful coexistence with each others' communities some time thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, Gideon, who's headed to a conference commemorating Europa Point, hasn't been equally successful at keeping the peace. He didn't keep a tight enough lid on his sense of humor when he was talking to a newspaper reporter covering his trip, and now headlines scream that he's going to unmask the biggest anthropological fraud since Piltdown Man. What Gideon finds instead is evidence of far more recent violence: the suspicious cave-in that buried Europa Point area supervisor Sheila Chan three years ago; the fiery death of wealthy amateur archeologist/TV personality Ivan Gunderson; and two nearly fatal attacks on Gideon's own august person. Which of the eminent conferees-Gibraltar museum director Rowley Boyd, tippling Europa Point director Adrian Vanderwater, schoomarmish archeologist Audrey Godwin-Pope, Gideon's old student Pru McGinnis-has been responsible for the carnage, and why?Beyond the sawdust exposition-Elkins catalogs his characters' professional credentials and physical appearance as conscientiously as any field anthropologist-lies a neatly turned puzzle with a didactic but painless use of the forensic expertise that's the Skeleton Detective's stock in trade.
