Pressroom

Cheers, raves, and other pretty nice stuff about Aaron Elkins and Gideon Oliver

• When Agatha Christie was the world's most popular author, the whodunit consisted largely of a puzzle wherein the reader was challenged to come up with the solution before reaching the final pages. Today, the emphasis is on shock rather than surprise, and the eccentric sleuth of yesteryear has been all but offed by the maniacal serial killer.   But there remains a stubborn handful of writers who continue to labor in that gentler genre. Among them, no one does it better than Aaron Elkins.  The San Diego Union Tribune.

• A pleasure . . . sit back and enjoy . . . while wallowing in all that deliciously obscure and newly learned information."  USA Today

• The pleasure of . . . reading lies not in resolution but in investigation, and Elkins keeps things moving with plenty of local atmosphere, compelling characterization, and a refreshingly low level of violence.  Natural History Magazine.

• "Elkins always presents a rich buffet of fascinating scientific facts . . . Learned and entertaining." Booklist

•  "The pleasure of summer reading lies not in resolution but in investigation, and Elkins keeps things moving with plenty of local atmosphere, compelling characterization, and a refreshingly low level of violence.  CSI: Miami it’s not, but it would make a lovely episode on the BBC Mystery Monday series." -- Natural History Magazine
• "Elkins' writing skills are superb, his research impeccable, and his plots intriguing."--Booklist
•  "He not only makes one think how interesting it would be to be an anthropologist, he almost persuades one that a certain amount of fun could be had out of being a skeleton."--Sarah Caudwell
• "Elkins has established himself as a master craftsman both in the Oliver series and in his stand-alone thrillers."  --Booklist
• "Aaron Elkins is a gifted storyteller."  The Midwest Book Review 
• When Agatha Christie was the world's most popular author, the whodunit consisted largely of a puzzle wherein the reader was challenged to come up with the solution before reaching the final pages. Today, the emphasis is on shock rather than surprise, and the eccentric sleuth of yesteryear has been all but offed by the maniacal serial killer. But there remains a stubborn handful of writers who continue to labor in that gentler genre. Among them, no one does it better than Aaron Elkins.  --San Diego Union Tribune
• "Fascinating . . .  clever . . . with wit and well-drawn,  colorful characters . . . . An intriguing mixture of forensic anthropology and real skull-duggery."  The Los Angeles Daily News
• "Great stuff . . . Our hero has but to look at a piece of human bone and, like Sherlock Holmes, can tell everything about the person to whom it belonged. Since he knows more about hominid phylogeny than Sherlock did, he can look at a tibial fragment 113 millimeters long and say, "This one was nearly forty. And Japanese. And built like a wrestler, say 145 pounds."--The New York Times Book Review  
• "Aaron Elkins always tells a story that keeps readers turning pages."--The Denver Post
• "Elkins is a master."--The Dallas Morning News  
• "Like English mystery master Dick Francis . . . Elkins transcends the mystery genre: he creates memorable characters, puts them inside well-crafted, fascinating plots, and keeps the whole mix fun to read. Talk about a virtuoso!"--The Press-Enterprise
• "At last a new detective has come along that looks to small clues, however inanimate, to discover what a man looks like and what his customary behavior might have been. . . . It is when Gideon uses a few charred scraps of a human body to describe a man, his height, weight, age and smoking habits, that a new Sherlock Holmes rises before us."--The Houston Post
• "Aaron Elkins is witty and oh so clever."--The New York Daily News
• "Bright, breezy, witty writing."--Booklist
• "Aaron Elkins is that most cherished of authors, one who leaves you feeling you've absorbed important knowledge you never knew you lacked. . . . The essential key to unlocking the (mysteries) . . . is a forensic tidbit no reader will ever forget."--The Chicago Sun Times   
• "The . . . best part of the series is Gideon Oliver's expertise, his ability to look at a smattering of bones and, if not solve the crime, at least tell an awful lot about the victim. He (often) does that twice and . . . one wishes he had a chance to do it more."--The Baltimore Sun
• "Elkins has a dry wit and one of mystery fiction's cleanest styles."--The Sunday Oregonian
• "Engaging . . . Gideon (is) charming and eccentric, especially with a dusty bone in hand or his beloved Julie nearby."--Publishers Weekly
• "A pleasure you're assured of when you first pick up a book by Aaron Elkins is that you'll be whisked away to an intriguing (often foreign) setting. And you can bet your booties the information is factual, except the murders, of course."--Mystery News
• "Not even a glacial avalanche can cover up murder when Gideon Oliver, the physical anthropologist, is given some rags and a few old bones to examine."--The Washington Post
• "This series has great appeal . . . and if you love knowing odd facts, you'll be fascinated with everything that old bones can reveal." --The Atlanta Journal & Constitution.
• "Witty, intelligent, and delightful. . . . Aaron Elkins is notable among mystery writers in that he can take a heap of nasty old human bones and turn them into suspense and humor...”--The Washington Times
• "Classic detection."--The Virginian-Pilot
• "Elkins will keep you guessing. . . . He writes riveting mysteries, where nasty things happen and the smell of gunfire is in the air. . . . Cozy, yes, but count on there always being greed, death . . . and assorted villains."--The Denver Post
• "Elkins thoroughly understands the art of the murder mystery."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
• "Elkins has a remarkable gift for teaching you a great deal about esoteric subjects while keeping you scared witless that this nice young man is going to be smashed before your eyes."--The Houston Post
• "All of Elkins's books are meticulously researched. . . . There is never any doubt that Elkins has experienced the locales he describes. . . . Elkins is a skillful plotter, and all of the events leading up to the solution of the crime follow a logical development."--Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers
• "Aaron Elkins's anthropological detective, Gideon Oliver, has dug out a niche all his own. A latter-day Dr. Thorndyke, he's a forensic whiz known as "the skeleton detective." Show him a few bones and he'll not only describe who died, and from what, but how he or she lived."--The Detroit News