One Grave Too Many

And the award for most unusual boss goes to-- Diane Fallon at the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History in Georgia.

Fallon is a forensic anthropologist and the new director of the RiverTrail Museum in Rosewood, Georgia. Her life is sort of like a big game of chess. Her old flame Frank Duncan comes to her with a bone (literally) and she gets pulled into the investigation of the murder of a couple of Frank's friends even as the working with bones brings up bad and melancholy memories. At the same time as the murderer is trying to scare Fallon away, there are more political machinations going on at the museum against her too.

It's a great book, both stories complement each other, but don't tread on the other. There are unexpected twists and show more turns that are surprising but make sense, and the characters are awesome. They jump off the page and t hey're so real that I found myself rooting for some and despising others. (Probably as the author wanted). And whether 'good' or 'bad', they were all unique too.

This is a great start to a great forensic anthropologist/crime lab series. The PR says it could be compared to Patterson, Cornwell, personally I think it's significantly better than both. show less

First Line: "His head isn't on straight."

Forensic anthropologist and former human rights investigator Diane Fallon is now director of the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History in Georgia. She's hoping that the new line of work will help her to forget the South American nightmare she found herself in as a human rights investigator uncovering mass graves.

It isn't long until Detective Frank Duncan tracks her down for help. A bone has been found in the woods that may relate to a missing persons case. Diane finally agrees to his request, and shortly after her investigation begins, a family is murdered. Little does she know that this one small bone is going to put her life in danger once again.

Diane is the type of person who's good at anything show more to which she puts her mind. She also has a wide range of interests--anything from the Thai Elephant Orchestra to caving. One scene in particular has Diane fighting for her life. The scene was swift and scary, and I liked it-- not because Diane was in jeopardy, but because she was capable of using her head even though she was scared to death.

The story was also a strong one. Time after time, I thought I had it figured out only to discover that I really didn't. Connor also didn't use an interesting profession as a hook to persuade readers to read only to abandon the hook a few pages in. (Something that really irks me.) Throughout the book, Diane is a museum director and a forensic anthropologist, and I learned quite a bit (painlessly) about both professions.

Strong, interesting main character, fast-moving, well-plotted action... I'm already looking for the second book in the series. If you've enjoyed books by Aaron Elkins, Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs, you might want to give Beverly Connor a try. show less

Dianne Fallon has retired from being a Forensic Anthropologist, after a brutal few years in Asia she's seen one grave too many. Her new career is a museum director. Still working with bones, but those long dead and mostly animals. However a friend from her former life has a favour. He's been shown a bone and he'd like her to look at it.

From just once glace Diane can see there's trouble ahead. Although it was claimed to be an animal bone it's clearly a human collar bone, somewhere there's a body. But it's not her problem. She has a museum to run, funders to woo, board directors to placate and new staff to appease. It's all stressful, but so much less so than the jungles. The friend comes back to her - the family who's found the bone show more have been murdered. Can she tell them anything more?

And so it goes - deftly weaving the museum storyline around the police case. At times it's a bit confusing as there are too many red herrings thrown around and too many characters, but some of these seem destined to be important in later books. The resolution is neat and tidy. show less

One Grave Too Many by Beverly Connor is the first book in her series about Diane Fallon, a forensic anthropologist who, at the beginning of the book has decided to start over as the director of the Rivertrail Museum of Natural History. On the day of the museum’s grand opening, her former boyfriend, Detective Frank Duncan comes to her for help with a human bone found in the woods. Even though she has vowed not to get involved in this type of work again, it isn’t too long before she is helping Frank to hopefully clear the surviving member of a murdered family.

Along with this mystery, there is also something going on at the museum, someone is obviously trying to make Diane appear incompetent. A number of board members are pushing to show more have the museum moved as there is interest in developing the land into a golf course resort. Also Diane has not recovered from her last forensic job that had her working on mass graves in a small South American country.

It took me awhile to get into this book as the author juggled various plotlines and I wondered exactly where the story was going but eventually all the threads were gathered and entwined together. As the characters never really grabbed me and I actually found the academic politics more interesting than the murder plot, I doubt that I will be continuing on with the series.

For me, One Grave Too Many was a quick, light read that just didn’t quite satisfy. show less

Beverly Connor’s “One Grave Too Many” has one too many characters, one too many plot lines, and way too many coincidences. My wife is devouring Connor’s books, but I don’t know that I’ll read any more of them.

“One Grave Too Many” is the story of Diane Fallon, a former forensic anthropologist who, after a tragic year, gets hired as a museum director outside Atlanta. An old flame of hers, Frank Duncan, an Atlanta cop, asks her to examine a bone a buddy of his found. Because part of Fallon’s tragic year had to do with her forensic anthropology work, she says she has no interest in working with bones any more. But before you know it, she’s not only looking at this bone fragment, but is in the blood-splattered bedroom of show more Frank’s now late best buddy, who was brutally murdered along with his wife and son. (The daughter wasn’t home, but she’s the main suspect.) So here we have a character, Fallon, who not only immediately jumps back into the life from which she was trying to leave behind, but also seems to be completely ignoring her museum duties.

And then there’s the other main plot line—one of the board members wants to sell the museum and put it elsewhere. Diane is against this. Things happen that are supposed to discredit Fallon and make her look bad to the board. Rarely being at work and asking staff to do jobs unrelated to the museum (but directly related to the case) sounds like grounds for dismissal alone. Seems to me she’s doing a good job of discrediting herself.

This was Connor’s first Diane Fallon book so maybe I’m being too harsh. But there seemed to be way too much going on in this book to be a clear, concise, tight read. show less

One Grave Too Many by Beverly Connor
Book #1 in the Diane Fallon series
4 Stars

Synopsis:
After returning home following a stint documenting crimes against humanity for a human rights organization, forensic anthropologist, Diane Fallon, disavows this type of work and becomes a museum curator. A detective friend asks her to examine a bone and determine whether it belongs to a missing girl. Diane soon finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation that may threaten her life while at the same time coping with the vicious world of academic politics.

Review:
This is a fast paced and absorbing read with some interesting forensics tidbits.

The lead character is strong and intelligent, and the supporting characters are well-developed; they do not show more merely blend into the background. There are several carefully interwoven plot lines but the story is never convoluted or confusing. There are plenty clues to the identity of the killer but they are not too obvious, and I did not manage to figure it out before it was revealed in the book, which is unusual for me.

Recommendation: This book is well worth the read. show less

Diane Fallon as a forensic anthropologist had worked for humanitarian aid organization exhuming mass graves of those who were killed by criminal elements in third world countries.
A personal trauma caused her to resign and take up the position of Director of River Trails Natural History Museum.

I enjoyed the suspense, the intrigue and the characters. I couldn’t set it down, I read it late into the night to finish.
This is the first book in the Diane Fallon series, I had read books 2-6 before I was able to get this one from my local library. Therefore, this series can be read-out-of-order but each does build upon the last so if you need a cohesive timeline read-in-order.