Book 67: "The Bone Garden" by Tess Gerritsen

     Gerritsen's two popular characters, Dr. Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, will make it to television this summer.  I will be watching. "The Bone Garden" does not feature these 2 Boston-based professional women (except for a brief appearance by Dr. Isles).  However, many critics consider this historical novel one of Tess Gerritsen's best!
    The setting is Boston in the 1830's and the story revolves around an Irish immigrant, Rose Connolly, who will stop at nothing to protect the welfare of her deceased sister's child.  It is a well told story with many interesting characters for the reader to meet along the way, including the very real Oliver Wendell Holmes, an aspiring medical student at the time.  For the more squeamish, beware--"The Bone Garden" is also about the gruesome business of grave robbing to provide cadavers for medical study--so while most of the book is a real page-turner, there are some parts that are real stomach-turners.