The Bone Fire: A Mystery

Christine Barber

St. Martin's Publishing Group, Jul 6, 2010 - Fiction - 320 pages

"Christine Barber is new to the Southwest in the sense that The Replacement Child is her first novel. But she has a great feel for the territory and for the family connections that enforce its strong community bonds."
—THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Every year, the people of Santa Fe gather together for the burning of a four-story-tall figure called Zozobra, a local custom that that takes place during the Fiesta de Santa Fe. Early the next morning, as the sounds of the Fiesta celebration still echo through the streets, skull is discovered in the ashes of Zozobra.

As Detective Sergeant Gilbert Montoya starts to investigate the case, disturbing displays of human bones begin appearing at religious sites around the city. With a possible psychopath on the loose, Gil goes to newspaper editor Lucy Newroe for help to find the person responsible in a case that will take them into the highest and lowest levels of Santa Fe society.

Christine Barber was highly praised for her first book, The Replacement Child, which won the first annual Tony Hillerman Prize and was named a New York Times Notable Book. An intriguing, impressive new mystery, The Bone Fire captures the colorful New Mexican landscape and the unique world of Santa Fe.

Contents

• CHAPTER ONE: 1
• CHAPTER TWO: 6
• CHAPTER THREE: 19
• CHAPTER FOUR: 43
• CHAPTER FIVE: 52
• CHAPTER SIX: 68
• CHAPTER SEVEN: 83
• CHAPTER EIGHT: 98
• CHAPTER NINE: 112
• CHAPTER TEN: 119
• CHAPTER ELEVEN: 129
• CHAPTER TWELVE: 139
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN: 148
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN: 159
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN: 169
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN: 177
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: 190
• CHAPTER EIGH TEEN: 201
• CHAPTER NINETEEN: 207
• CHAPTER TWENTY: 218
• CHAPTER TWENTYONE: 230
• CHAPTER TWENTYTWO: 241
• CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE: 254
• CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR: 261
• CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE: 273
• CHAPTER TWENTYSIX: 286
• CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN: 298
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 309

About the author

Christine Barber is an award-winning journalist as well as a certified emergency medical technician and firefighter. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has worked as an editor at the Santa Fe New Mexican and a writer for the Albuquerque Journal and Gallup Independent. She is the author of The Replacement Child.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Bone Fire: A Mystery; Volume 2 of Gil Montoya & Lucy Newroe
• Author: Christine Barber
• Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2010
• ISBN: 1429902574, 9781429902571
• Length: 320 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural; Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths