Interred with Their Bones

by Jennifer Lee Carrell

[empressbrooke]

I had warned myself long ago about avoiding books that tried to jump on the DaVinci Code bandwagon, since they seemed to be slapped together without much care in hopes of capturing the attention of one of the millions of people who had spent money on Dan Brown's blockbuster. I let down my guard with Interred with Their Bones - it was about Shakespeare, not mysterious religious texts, after all. Missing Shakespeare plays! The secret identity of the playwright! Should be excellent.

Except, not.

I wanted it to be so much better than it was, but it just had so many problems. The sheer number of blown up buildings and murder victims just felt absolutely unbelievable. I was never convinced that any of this mayhem was necessary. I'm sure the author was going for "exciting" - but in reality, it was just a little bit silly.

Another thing that was unbelievable was the secret-keeping and the necessity of the main character's involvement. She brings up a few times that she specialized in occult Shakespeare ('occult' meaning secret, not supernatural, she explains), but never once was it demonstrated to me that she possessed some knowledge that everyone else lacked. All of the other Shakespeare scholars seem to be right there with her in deducing things. Also, there is no practical reason for the main character's mentor to hide nearly-indecipherable clues in sneaky spots. In the beginning of the novel, the mentor gives the main character a package to open that contains the first clue and then is murdered before she can explain it. Why did she hide the clues in the first place? Why didn't she stick a letter explaining everything in the package instead of a vague clue?

Having read all of Dan Brown's books, I knew already who the villain would be. Note to anyone hoping to be the next Dan Brown: please note his pattern and then do the opposite in your book.

I write all of this with a sigh of disappointment, since I love mysteries about books. I wonder if someone else has done anything with this idea minus all the explosions.