Review: Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
I’m a sucker for historically inspired mysteries, hence my constant gushing over the Da Vinci Code series. Luckily, Interred with their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell is right up my alley. Publishers Weekly even compared to Dan Brown’s series. Official description on the cover: “A long-lost work of Shakespeare, newly found . . .a killer who stages the Bard’s extravagant murders as flesh-and-blood realities . . . a desperate race to find literary gold, and just to stay alive . . . On the eve of the Globe’s production of Hamlet, Kate Stanley’s eccentric mentor gives her a mysterious box, claiming to have made a groundbreaking discovery. Before she can reveal it to Kate, however, terrifying echoes of the past break through to the present: the Globe burns, and a body is found inside—murdered in the strange manner of Hamlet’s father. Opening the box, Kate finds the first piece in a Shakespearean puzzle that sets her off on a deadly, high-stakes treasure hunt, racing from England to Spain to America. An expert in occult Shakespeare, Kate knows better than anyone the many secrets, half-truths, codes, and curses surrounding his life and work. On the trail of a four-hundred-year-old mystery, she soon realizes that the prize at the end promises to unlock literary history’s greatest secret. But Kate is not alone in this hunt, and the buried truth threatens to come at the ultimate cost. . .” I fished this book out of an endless line of shelves in a local bookstore, and when I read that description, I was sold. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was suspenseful, it offered awesome characters, and it had really interesting historical allusions that got my nerdy self all excited. I did find the pace of the book to be a bit slow sometimes, as it felt like I was reading variations of the same scene in different locations. I also found some of the word choices haughty and over-embellished, but it occurred less and less as the story continued. My biggest qualm was the lack of realism in the dialogue. In my opinion, Carrell seemed to have a difficult time exposing new information through dialogue in a way that felt natural. Furthermore, some of the exchanges between characters, though most of them experts in Shakespeare’s work, felt too scripted. “Roz burst into a deep, throaty laugh, letting the cloak slip to the floor as she enveloped me in an oceanic hug. ‘Call me the ghost of Christmas past, sweetheart. I come bearing gifts.’ ‘So did the Greeks,’ I said, rigid inside her embrace. ‘And look where it got the Trojans.’” I may not be a Shakespearean authority, but I am a history major who has plenty of nerdy conversation with obscure references. I can confirm that no one talks like that. Luckily, there were other aspects of the book that made up for the diction and dialogue. Each character introduced throughout the story was distinct and complex in a way that complemented the high-intensity plot. There was a lot of historical information included in the novel, and the mystery surrounding the box given to Kate was very complicated, but Carrell did a fantastic job of keeping things organized and easy to follow. One of the best parts of the novel, in my opinion, were the flashbacks to the 1600s, showing original events surrounding the lost Shakespearean play. They added an interesting perspective and made the plot only that much easier to follow. I’m typically pretty good at guessing the ending when reading mysteries, but Carrell kept me guessing until the very end. This book definitely inspired some trust issues, and it wasn’t lacking a healthy dose of heartbreak. I would highly recommend Interred with their Bones to anyone who enjoys history and mystery novels packed full of conspiracy. Carrell’s book raises some interesting questions about Shakespeare and the theories surrounding his life and work. Also, be prepared to develop a big ol’ crush on Kate’s butt-whooping sidekick Ben Pearl.