Dianne Fallon has retired from being a Forensic Anthropologist, after a brutal few years in Asia she's seen one grave too many. Her new career is a museum director. Still working with bones, but those long dead and mostly animals. However a friend from her former life has a favour. He's been shown a bone and he'd like her to look at it.

From just once glace Diane can see there's trouble ahead. Although it was claimed to be an animal bone it's clearly a human collar bone, somewhere there's a body. But it's not her problem. She has a museum to run, funders to woo, board directors to placate and new staff to appease. It's all stressful, but so much less so than the jungles. The friend comes back to her - the family who's found the bone have been murdered. Can she tell them anything more?

And so it goes - deftly weaving the museum storyline around the police case. At times it's a bit confusing as there are too many red herrings thrown around and too many characters, but some of these seem destined to be important in later books. The resolution is neat and tidy. ( )

One Grave Too Many by Beverly Connor
Book #1 in the Diane Fallon series
4 Stars

Synopsis:
After returning home following a stint documenting crimes against humanity for a human rights organization, forensic anthropologist, Diane Fallon, disavows this type of work and becomes a museum curator. A detective friend asks her to examine a bone and determine whether it belongs to a missing girl. Diane soon finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation that may threaten her life while at the same time coping with the vicious world of academic politics.

Review:
This is a fast paced and absorbing read with some interesting forensics tidbits.

The lead character is strong and intelligent, and the supporting characters are well-developed; they do not merely blend into the background. There are several carefully interwoven plot lines but the story is never convoluted or confusing. There are plenty clues to the identity of the killer but they are not too obvious, and I did not manage to figure it out before it was revealed in the book, which is unusual for me.

Recommendation: This book is well worth the read. ( )

Tries to be Karin Slaughter & Kathy Reichs.... doesn't make it though. Was going to recommend these to our collections supervisor, but maybe not now.
Won't continue. ( )

Diane Fallon as a forensic anthropologist had worked for humanitarian aid organization exhuming mass graves of those who were killed by criminal elements in third world countries.
A personal trauma caused her to resign and take up the position of Director of River Trails Natural History Museum.

I enjoyed the suspense, the intrigue and the characters. I couldn’t set it down, I read it late into the night to finish.
This is the first book in the Diane Fallon series, I had read books 2-6 before I was able to get this one from my local library. Therefore, this series can be read-out-of-order but each does build upon the last so if you need a cohesive timeline read-in-order. ( )

I have read them all and I love this series by Beverly Conner. The heroine of the series is the head of the museum and also an anthropologist that works with the police department. The forensics lab is a separate part of the museum. She seldom sees eye to eye with the police but she is always fair. some of the people she deals with are difficult to say the least but she always has the last word. ( )