It's one of the hotest summers on record and Dr Temperance Brennan is looking forward to a long overdue vacation. But it's not to be. First, the bones of newborn baby are found in a wood stove. The young mother, hardly more than a child herself, has disappeared.

Next, a Cessna flies into a rock face. the pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition, their bodies coved in a strange black substance. What could it be? It seems they may have had criminal purposes for the flight.

And then a cache of bones, some animal, some human, is found in a remote corner of the county. All evidence points to an isolated farm. But what happened there and who will be the next victim? The answers lie hidden deep within the bones - if only Temp can decipher them in time.

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