Gideon Oliver is a visiting professor in Europe and becomes involved in a Russian spy ring. At one point he identifies the charred fragments of bones and teeth from a corpse, revealing, handedness, pipe-smoking, ethnicity, height & weight, etc. ( )

The first novel featuring Gideon Oliver, "The Skeleton Detective." The anthropologist who likes his bones already stripped and dry! ( )

I wanted to read the first Gideon Oliver again. It's not bad, though the skeletal study is a very small part of the story - more action than thought. And Gideon is a serious idiot a couple times - mostly when he's trying to be a clever spy. But the scene where his identification of the missing man is confirmed is absolutely gorgeous. And I didn't catch the pun in John's name until years after I started reading the series - it's lovely, I'm just surprised Gideon never comments on it. ( )

Ok-series is supposed to get better later. ( )