Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist temperance brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an orthodox jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary montreal murder...Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist temperance brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an orthodox jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary montreal murder. When a stranger slips tempe a photograph of a skeleton unearthed at an archaeological site, tempe uncovers chilling ties between the dead man and secrets long buried in the dust of israel.