Rent: Little Tiny Teeth (A Gideon Oliver Mystery)

I enjoy Elkin's Gideon Oliver books, and wasn't disappointed with this one. The beginning was intriguing. It had just the right touches of mystery and humor, and well-drawn characterization. The jungle setting, the heat, the atmosphere all seemed very real. Somehow, it made me want to take a trip down the Amazon.

It was the cover that drew me to this mystery. I was about to put it down and then I read the flaps. I was sold and I soon found myself deeply immersed in the novel. If I had to put it down, say, to work or sleep, I couldn't wait to pick it back up it, it was that good.

Apparently, Little Tiny Teeth is the fourteenth Gideon Oliver novel from Aaron Elkins but it was the first I have read. Gideon Oliver, the "Skeleton Doctor," has an affinity for studying old bones. He is asked by one of his friends, Phil, a tour guide for On the Cheap, an economy travel company, to take a week long cruise on the Amazon River. To the mix, Gideon is able to bring another friend, John, a Special Agent with the FBI. But they won't be the only ones on the cruise - a leading ethnobiologist from the University of Iowa is chartering the cruise for a week long study group. He brings some very prominent scientists with him to study the local flora and fauna, meet with some shamans to discuss the medicinal properties of local plants, and gather some Amazonian insects. Not long in to the cruise, the scientific leader, Arden Scofield, is nearly killed by a spear with a shrunken head attached to it. Then there is a giant spider. And fire ants. And some Columbian drug dealers. Gideon and his friends find themselves, thousands of miles from home, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest with more than they anticipated. Not only does the heat and humidity make then uncomfortable, but their surroundings aren't helping.

Elkins has spun an amazing mystery. He takes his time setting up the story, slowly introducing the reader to all of the characters and the Amazon itself. But when they all come on board the cruise ship, the story really takes off. I found myself staying up later than usual to "finish a chapter," but actually reading several more. Elkins has more than one possible culprit in the story, and it was a joy to figure out who was behind all of the strange coincidences as Gideon, Phil, and John were working out the particulars. This was a very satisfying novel and I am glad that I am late to the Gideon Oliver series, as the previous 13 books present me with another excellent character and author.

Now, if only I could carve out more time to read. :-)

i am a fan of this author anyway but this is his best work yet

This is a very enjoyable read, ideal for vacation time, particularly while floating down a tropical river somewhere. It is very good at describing tropical heat and enervating humidity, the languid pace of river voyages, and the endless forest of the Peruvian Amazon, in its subtle variety. Prof. Gideon Oliver, and his trusty FBI friend, John Lau, have joined a botanical "fishing" expedition in the selva. Elkins does a wonderful job differentiating the scientists and sending them off together with contentious differences you just know have to result in violence. Oh, so many motives targeted on their arrogant leader. But people just sorta...vanish, from the old steamer boat. Serious modern crises form the distant backdrop to this story, never directly confronted: drugs good and bad, nature, logging, eco-disaster and -tourism, tribal survival. Perhaps the most exciting moment in any Oliver adventure is here. Prodded into the trackless jungle toward undoubted death, all Gideon can think of is the amazingly splayed toes of his tree-dwelling captors. Only a Gideon Oliver fan will understand how hilarious that is.

Oh right, what's the mystery? This is more of a shaggy suspense story. Surely there's a murder? Only if people don't vanish for other reasons. But there has to be more about bones, besides hallux varus, no? After all, this is about "The Skeleton Detective." Well, barely. Mainly this is a well-told tourists-over-their-heads-in-the-tropics adventure story. Elkins has it down, even to the ubiquitous jars of Nescafé powdered instant coffee. He does forget to make much of the biting bugs that would plague you at every stop, something else the glossy tour brochures don't tell you about. Get this book, sit back, and enjoy this story on your cruise. Douse yourself with repellent and turn up the heat, just for atmosphere.

Aaron Elkins delivers one of the best mystery series around, with one of the most interesting and charming amateur detectives. Gideon Oliver, a forensic anthropologist who is dubbed "the skeleton detective," ends up on every vacation he takes and at every conference he attends--always in an exotic locale, described in vivid detail--having to reconstruct from a recently discovered skeleton (or pieces of bone)a crime that has baffled local police. Elkins' knowledge of anatomy is encyclopedic, but Oliver's explanations are never preachy or boring. We learn fascinating facts about how our bodies function and age and how our bones reveal more about us than we ever thought--not only sex and age at death, but our professions and our hobbies. In his latest book, Gideon Oliver takes a trip down the Amazon with his amiable sidekick, a Hawaiian FBI agent, to help out a friend who organizes cheap (no luxury hotels or restaurants) tours. Mysterious natives, cocaine smuggling, piranhas, obnoxious professors--and a glimpse into a world little known to armchair travelers and amateur detectives. Elkins started this series long before forensic pathology became popular in books and on TV. His books are smart and not in the least gory. Highly recommended.