Patricia Stoltey

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A Mini-Review of Napier’s Bones by Robert Spiller

May 11, 2015 By: Patricia

Napier's BonesI was a big fan of the first two Bonnie Pinkwater novels, so when I heard Spiller was publishing book #5 in the series, I was eager to get caught up on the series. Each of the book titles is based on mathematics, so it should be no surprise that the author, as well as the series protagonist, is a math teacher.

That might have put off a less-than-happy math student as I was in high school, but Robert Spiller is a Colorado writer and a member of a couple of my favorite organizations….and he appeared on a few of the “Mystery Through the Ages” panels that made the rounds of book stores and libraries 2007ish.

My lack of love for math left over from high school is a whole different story for another day. Lured into reading the Bonnie Pinkwater mysteries after I met Mr. Spiller, I discovered math wasn’t so bad after all. Happily, Spiller spends a little time  on math problem-solving but a lot of time on murder and crime-solving.

I found Napier’s Bones the best book in the series so far. That might be because of the new characters introduced for this book, characters who are unusual and very interesting. They make the story edge into thriller status and a teensy bit away from cozy mystery. As for Bonnie Pinkwater, she’s a little spiritual, a little cynical, a little sarcastic, a little sad, but a lot clever and logical and a lot loyal to her dear friends, many of them former students. She’s a person I would like to know.

Spiller opens his novels with a jolt and doesn’t stop with the plot complications and character reveals. You can certainly read Napier’s Bones as a standalone, but I recommend you go back and pick up the first book (The Witch of Agnesi)and read straight through the series (A Calculated Demise, Irrational Numbers, Radical Equations, and Napier’s Bones).

Here’s the short synopsis from Amazon.com:

When a skeleton is unearthed in a field next to East Plains High School, math teacher Bonnie Pinkwater is thrust into a three-decade-old murder. What she uncovers are Satanists, ruthless mercenaries, murderous homecoming queens, a crazed mother, a fateful blizzard, and the death of someone near and dear to her. As her once considerable gifts of memory and deduction are eroded by the trauma of loss, Bonnie must solve a thirty-year-old cold case before the killer decides the best way to remain free is to add one female mathematician to his list of victims.

Highly recommended.

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Category: Books and Authors Tag: book review, cozy mystery, Napier's Bones, Rpbert Spiller

Comments

  1. Jean says

    May 13, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    I too have found that the books get progressively better. Can’t wait to read Napier’s Bones.

  2. Marvin D Wilson (AKA "The Old Silly" says

    May 11, 2015 at 11:48 am

    Thank you for this review. It sound like it is right up one of my favorite alleys! Definitely going to check it out.

    • Patricia says

      May 11, 2015 at 12:31 pm

      I think you’ll like it, Marvin!

    • Robert Spiller says

      May 11, 2015 at 5:41 pm

      Dear Marvin, I thought it was a great review as well. Please contact me if you would like to find out more.

  3. Alex J. Cavanaugh says

    May 11, 2015 at 6:07 am

    So even if I don’t like math I can enjoy it? Good to know!

    • Patricia says

      May 11, 2015 at 7:46 am

      If anyone in your family likes mysteries, Alex, I recommend the series.

    • Robert Spiller says

      May 11, 2015 at 5:42 pm

      Dear Alex, I tried to make the books friendly even if folks weren’t particularly fond of Mathematics.

  4. Margot Kinberg says

    May 11, 2015 at 6:05 am

    Glad you enjoyed this, Pat. I think it’s the mark of a talented author when there’s a theme that you might not think you’ll like, but you get drawn in anyway. Oh, and for what it’s worth, mathematics and I have never been on the best terms…

    • Patricia says

      May 11, 2015 at 7:45 am

      You’ll enjoy Bonnie Pinkwater even if you’re not a math person, Margot….and you even get to learn something a little fun along the way.

    • Robert Spiller says

      May 11, 2015 at 5:45 pm

      Dear Margot, You would have loved math if you’d of had me for Algebra. That said, all of the books were written with a non-math person in mind. If you read any give me a holler and let me know what you think.

Meet Patricia

I read, I write, I blog, and sometimes I do the laundry and cook. My 2014 novel, Dead Wrong, was a finalist in the thriller category of the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. Wishing Caswell Dead (Five Star/Cengage, December 20, 2017) is a historical mystery set in 1830s Illinois in the fictitious Village of Sangamon. The novel was a finalist for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards for General Fiction. Read More…

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