Admittedly, I bought this book for escape reading. It provided that.

Even when I am looking for escape, however, I like it to be good stuff. Good characters, good plot, good research when applicable. This one leaves a lot of holes.

Claire is a forensic psychologist. As this is part of a series, we learn a bit about a previous novel. She had a bad time and both she and her second husband, Nick, want her to avoid dangerous situations. When she is asked by a longtime friend to come on board a project involving long-dead humans, she figures she is safe. She can analyze these "bog people" til the cows come home and they won't seek revenge.

The bog is in Florida, on private property owned by a former senator and his wife. The couple are keeping the discovery of human remains private "for now", promising that they will share it with the world when they have uncovered its essence. To that end, bodies are dug from the bog by the small staff, photographed, then removed and taken to a room for preservation. Artifacts found with the bodies are removed immediately, cleaned and moved to a locked room, where only the ex-senator can see them.

Claire sees the reason for all the secrecy. If news of the find gets out, the press will be all over it and damage can result. She doesn't understand, however, why the artifacts are kept in a secret location and only photographs of them are available for viewing.

Meanwhile, a body is found in a freezer. Turns out the body is the ex-fiance of a young lawyer who works in Nick's office. The young man, Dale, is immediately under suspicion. Nick, of course, tells him the firm will represent him. At times Dale seems like he may be guilty, and this causes Nick some pain.

Claire is at the center of the book, and she is involved in both cases, even if peripherally. She keeps the bog secret but quietly investigates as she observes odd behavior there.

I had difficulty with the plot from the beginning. This bog is on private property but it contains human remains. According to Florida law, all human remains must be reported to authorities. In this case, a state archaeologist would have been assigned to evaluate the find. The author apparently assumes that because it is on private property the remains belong to the property owners. This is simply not the case and it seems odd that she would think it is.

Then Claire. Claire might be called on to evaluate a criminal or help in profiling. But looking at bog bodies and trying to suss out what was going on in their lives from the position of the bodies??? Seriously! And she writes a little fan fiction about a trio found buried together. First, I can't take this job seriously. In archeological digs, many different disciplines are involved, and one thing they do not do is take off on flights of fancy. Every determination made about a find is based on what they have learned about the era, not on instinct. Second, if this couple is trying to keep this deeply secret, what is the point of bringing someone in who can make up a story about the finds? Even if her suppositions about the bodies' position in society are correct, why bring her in now? Why not wait until it is time to go public? The whole scene struck me as ridiculous.

And now on to the body in the freezer. When a body is discovered, the area is declared a crime scene and crime scene experts are brought in. We might presume in this case that fingerprints were taken (although that is not stated) but the freezer is left in place for weeks before a hauling company paid by the police come to haul it to the station. Are you kidding again? Some movers are responsible for maintaining the chain of custody? Have you watched Forensic Files??

The characters are all right, typical, the usual. I found it funny when Nick jokes about Claire's references to Alice in Wonderland and other well-known works as if they were deep references that only hardcore readers would know. I felt these scenes displayed the lack of depth of both Claire and Nick.

Oh, and one more thing. The face of the body in the freezer is frozen in a "silent scream". Again, forensics? Faces relax after death. I believe there are some poisons that can cause a distortion in the face, but that didn't happen here.

My advice to Ms. Harper is to do deeper research. I'm surprised that some of her prepublishing readers did not raise any questions about the probability or even possibility of any of these things. On the other hand, I know many people who do not care about accuracy. "It's just a book," they say. I'll leave this to one of them. I am sure there are many who will enjoy this book more than I did. ( )