Great concept, but could have been better. Too many twists and turns apparently for the sake of making twists and turns. And if you have any sense of travel timing (dealing with airlines, costs, etc) or find yourself easily bored by the concept of someone magically being able to (in almost all cases instantly) "figure out" codes, clues, and mysteries with very little effort or research, this is probably not the book for you. I liked the idea but felt it could have been a much better book just being kept more a little more plausible in some instances and not trying so hard to be the uber-mystery that continues to twist and turn its way to (what I found to be) a very predictable end. Points for effort, but the rest was rather lost in process.

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If you like a good mystery story this one is worth the read. For a first attempt at writing a fiction mystery story I enjoyed it tremendously. Perhaps the story line could have been tightened up a bit. Regardless, of any small flaws this story kept my attention. Was the action feasible probably not but that's the beauty of fiction over real life, "anything" can happen. Ah the suspension of disbelief I love it ;o)

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Interesting mystery/thriller with bits and pieces of Shakesperean "fact" intertwined. Somewhat like the DaVinci Code in concept I suppose. In any case, it kept me interested and had lots of twists and turns. Even the "predictable" things often weren't what they seemed.

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Fans of Dan Brown, rejoice! Heres a fast-paced mystery thatll hold your attention. The scholar is a Harvard-educated authority on Shakespeare, the goal is to find the long-lost manuscript and may be even find out the true identity of the legendary poet. Theres murder, a handsome stranger, cryptic letters serving as breadcrumbs showing the way and friends who may be enemies and vice versa.
It is a satisfying read that keeps you turning the pages despite all the many Williams of Shakespeares time that are so hard to keep track of. I enjoyed the fact that it was written in the format of a play with acts and interludes and that the villain wasnt who I thought it was (oh, I believed myself so clever!). I think I would have enjoyed it more if the author gave us glimpses of the villain along the way, the way Dan Brown does. This device serves to speed up the pace and with the entire story done from the perspective of the scholar it got bogged down in the academic explanations a couple of times.
All in all it is a very good debut novel and I can only hope that the author will write another soon.

Read my other reviews at bibliophilescorner.blogspot.com

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Instead of a male protagonist, it's scholar Kate Stanley's mentor who is killed, because she "found something". Kate, with the help of somewhat mysterious soldier/adventurer companion Ben, finds out that the "something" is one of Shakespeare's lost plays. Mixed in is also the question of who Shakespeare really was, and the unseen protection of another mentor/collector. It's not bad, but did not hold my attention that well. About three-quarters through the book I almost stopped caring.

If you know your Shakespeare well, or are deeply interested in the question of whether it was indeed someone named Shakespeare who wrote the plays, you will probably have much more fun with this book.

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Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth are just a few among the many classic plays from the famous William Shakespeare. But on the title pages of a few of those masterpieces, should his name be followed by "et al"?

This is the question raised in Carrell's Interred with Their Bones. As Kate Stanley, a theatre director and Shakespeare fanatic, takes the mystery of her friend Roz's murder into her own hands, she spans the world over for secrets not sought in hundreds of years. This adventure, stirred by a gift from Roz of a flowered brooch and a cryptic message, takes Kate to Massachusetts, Arizona, London, Utah, among other locations, all most unusual to seek the truth of rumors surrounding Shakespeare's works and whether he actually wrote them.

Oh, did I mention a killer is trying to sabotage Kate's discoveries? Oh, yes, and they leave quite a mess in their wake, stealing copies of Shakespeare's 'First Folio' and setting the buildings that housed them aflame.

To those relatively unfamiliar with Shakespeare's works and the read-between-the-lines meanings (myself included), the story might seem a bit difficult to follow, but the heart-pounding action and friend-or-foe suspense will help you hang in there. Carrell's writing is smooth and masterful, willing along brilliantly conceived characters with hidden agendas and motives.

Romance buffs won't find anything worth their time in the partner-in-crime relationships of Kate and pals Ben and Sir Henry, though a slight attraction between Kate and Ben is touched on sparsely throughout the book.

If you found yourself gripped and mystified by The Da Vinci Code, Bones will be a definite favorite. For, as Shakespeare (or so we think) said in Sonnet 23:

"O! let my looks be then the eloquence,
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more express'd."

Not really sure what it means, but it sure sounds intelligent enough, doesn't it?

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I was excited to receive this book because it seemed to be in the area of interest that I love to read. Having read books like The Genesis Secret, Marks of Cain, and the Rossetti Letter, I thought this would be a fast read.

I wanted to like this book so much but I could not finish it. I deeply enjoyed literature in high school and college but was overwhelmed by this book. There were so many names and references I could not keep up with and found myself looking back to remember who was who and what happened. Maybe I was in over my head or maybe it was the book itself that lacked.

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Beware: This book was also published as "The Shakespeare Secret" which I didn't realize until I received my PBS copy!

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