The Bone Garden

by TessGerritsen (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2008

  $3.24

  Julia Hamill is gardening one afternoon in rural Massachusetts when her spade strikes something soft and unyielding - not a rock but a human skull. Medical examiner, Maura Isles quickly determines that the skeleton - that of a woman - dates back to the early 1800s. 'But too much time has passed,' Maura warns Julia. 'We may never know the whole story of how she died.' Boston in the 1830s is a place of disease and pestilence - and no one is more aware of this than Norris Marshall, a student at Harvard Medical School who is forced to support himself by performing the most secretive job of all. Norris is a resurrectionist - a body-snatcher - who procures cadavers from grave robbers in order to further his study of human anatomy. Soon he finds himself hunting the most notorious killer of his time, a shadowy figure who flits through graveyards and glittering ballrooms. What he does not realize is that the killer is far closer than he thinks ...

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.24

  Newly divorced Julia Hamill is digging in her back garden when she uncovers a human skull belonging to a woman which, according to medical examiner Maura Isles, is over a century old. So begins a story that goes back to the 1830s; to a teaching hospital in Boston where doctors with dirty hands spread infection, when labouring mothers are crammed two a hospital bed on sheets still encrusted with the foul discharges of those who have died before them; to a medical student, Norris Marshall, who is forced to perform the most disgusting and secretive job of all. Norris is a resurrectionist - a body-snatcher - a man who procures cadavers from grave robbers in order to further his study of human anatomy. And he is aided in his pursuit of knowledge by a fellow student, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Together they will hunt down the most notorious killer of their time who preys on the unwary; a shadowy figure whom Norris and Holmes track through graveyards and autopsy suites, through glittering ball rooms and the luxurious drawing rooms of Boston Brahmins. What neither of them realise is that the killer is far closer than they think ...Woven into this historical story is Julia's present-day narrative. With Maura Isles' help, she will work to uncover a secret that, over a century later, proves more shocking than she can imagine.

• New

  Paperback
  2010

  $14.02

  A gruesome secret is about to be unearthed...When a human skull is dug up in a garden near Boston, Dr Maura Isles is called in to investigate. She quickly discovers that the skeleton - that of a young woman - has been buried for over a hundred years. But who was the woman? And how did she die? It is the 1930s, and an impoverished medical student, Norris Marshall, is forced to procure corpses in order to further his studies in human anatomy. It's a gruesome livelihood that will bring him into contact with a terrifying serial killer who slips from ballrooms to graveyards and into autopsy suites. And who is far, far closer than Norris could ever imagine...