Cross Bones

Plot

'A self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head' is the on-scene assessment but the victim's relatives are adamant in their rejection of suicide as an explanation. Discovered in a closet, a full week after death, the body is barely recognisable. Extreme heat has accelerated decomposition and Dr. Temperance Brennan's forensic expertise is required. Advanced putrefaction has made it virtually impossible to determine the trajectory of the bullet. Just as Tempe is attempting to make sense of the fracture patterning an unknown man slips her a photograph of a skeleton telling her it holds the answer to the victim's death.