Dead, Without a Stone to Tell It (Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries, #1)

by Ann Vanderlaan and Jen J. Danna

Homicide detective Leigh Abbott has something to prove both to herself and to the men in her department. She s been assigned a difficult challenge: solve a murder where the only evidence is a single bone. To identify the victim and find the killer she must join forces with forensic anthropologist Matt Lowell. Matt s initial refusal is only the first in a series of setbacks. Matt and Leigh s skills and tenuous partnership are tested when the evidence leads them to a burial ground of unidentified victims where to their horror they stumble upon a freshly ravaged corpse. Before long the serial killer raises the stakes and Matt and Leigh find themselves marked as targets. Now they must stop the killer before they become the next victims.

• ISBN10: 1432826956
• ISBN13: 9781432826956
• Publish Date: 15 May 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 16 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Cengage Learning, Inc
• Imprint: Cengage Gale
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 289
• Language: English

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

This book has been buried in my wish list forever, and facing a lack of books to read I was in the mood to read, I finally bought it. And overall, it was a great, fast paced read but I had a couple of problems with plot holes and TSTL moments.

Leigh Abbot, a Massachusetts state trooper, is assigned to investigate a bone found in a beaver dam. (No word on if the person who found it said DAM IT! which is a shame.) Enlisting the help of a forensic anthropologist, the gushingly described hunky and well built Matt Lowell (eye roll) who happens to be a former Marine battlefield medic, Leigh uncovers a burial ground for a serial killer. Stalked and taunted, Leigh has to find the man responsible before she becomes the next victim.

This was a great plot, with a quick pace and a lot of twists and turns. But, it was also a little predictable and there was a giant plot hole that a M1 Abrams could've driven through and still had room for a 747.

When Leigh and Matt find the first grave, they post an officer overnight to keep the scene secure until they can go back the next morning. So, the next morning they go back and startle the murderer in the act of burying his latest victim, who was able to dig a grave unnoticed because the officer posted to guard the island apparently never existed. And was never mentioned again. HUGE plot hole that bothered me through the whole book.

Which, of course, the plot hole had to be there because otherwise the case would've been solved before they got to the murder room.

Which was on the property of the house the murderer lived in. So, after sending the SWAT team home, Leigh and hunky Dr. Matt enter the scene of the murders, but not before Leigh declares it has to be done "by the book" so she must go in first. You know, instead of calling for back up or putting on latex gloves or a crime scene suit. You know. By the book.

And, of course, there has to be the obligatory sexual tension between Matt & Leigh, and, of course, Matt has to have a painful secret that only Leigh can fix. And, of course, they end up making out. All a bit predictable.


Still, this was a likeable book and I had a hard time putting it down until I finished it. A good start to the series, and other than the plot holes, a solid story.