Sunday Salon: One Grave Less by Beverly Connor

This isn’t a cozy Christmas story, but it is a story of hope, courage, determination, strength, and love.

I picked up ONE GRAVE LESS just to skim a few pages. When I put it down, I was already into chapter 5. The story grabs you, draws you in, and keeps you enthralled until the very end. It’s a fast pace thriller even as two stories are unfolding to come together as one.

Forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon has her hands full as the director of the River Trail Museum of Natural History in Georgia. She’s preparing for a new international exhibit, dealing with a museum board members who loves to gossip and expand on what she’s telling, and her friends are planning her upcoming wedding.

Diane is also haunted by her past. While she was working with a human rights organization in the Amazon there was a massacre and she lost her adopted daughter.

Late one night just prior to the exhibit opening, Diane finds a strange man hurt in the museum as well as a former co-worker from the human rights organization. Before collapsing, the co-worker gives Diane a cryptic message - “It was one of us.” Then there’s a fire. Examining the museum after the fire, Diane discovers a backpack containing a number of suspicious items including a human bone.

Meanwhile somewhere in the Amazon, another forensic anthropologist - Lindsay Chamberlain - has been kidnapped after being mistaken for Diane. Lindsay is held captive in a cage until she is rescued by Diane’s lost daughter, Ariel. They pair have to fight the jungle and Lindsay’s kidnappers to get back to the U.S.

When mother and daughter are finally reunited, the problems continue. The museum is surrounded by mercenaries. It’s a nail-bitter as Diane combats the super soldiers, as well as a storm brewing outside.

Author Beverly Connor has created three amazing protagonist in the characters of Diane, Lindsay and little Ariel. These are determined ladies who strive to do what is right, but protect what they love at the same time.

The author weaves the two stories back and forth only giving readers a chance to catch their breath before the next ordeal begins. The transition between the two story lines is smooth and flows well.

This was my first introduction to the Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation series, but it won’t be my last. This is the ninth installment in the series, but is a stand alone book.

ONE GRAVE LESS may not be a Christmas story, but it’s a story to inspire and remind us not to give up hope. This is a mystery thriller with a lot of heart.

One Grave Less by Beverly Connor, A Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation, Obsidian, @2010, ISBN: 978-0451231802, Paperback, 368 pages

FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.