Devil Bones

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I haven't really been able to resolve my feelings regarding this book. I liked it, but at the same time, I found it exceedingly frustrating.

Tempe is called when a human skull is discovered in the basement of a house. She has nothing to really go on regarding this skull other than the fact that it is a late teenaged black woman. The skull was being used as part of a ritual - Santeria, a religion similar to voodoo.

Then, a body is discovered by a lakeside. The body is headless and has Satanic symbols carved into its chest. But this body seems wrong. It isn't decomposing in the way that it's supposed to. Tempe isn't sure what is wrong with it.

The prime suspect becomes a man who is a "self-proclaimed witch." In other words, a Wiccan. So Tempe is learning both about the body, and about these fringe religions.

While she's investigating, the commissioner is show boating about how the "devil worshippers" are destroying the city and that the police aren't doing enough to stop it.

I think that bothered me more than anything else. The fact that even in this day, when Wicca is recognized and the information about it is out there, people still associate Wicca - a nature loving religion that, yes, uses magic - with Satanism. It bothers me that this book had to bring it to light. But I think what also bothers me is that it seems like Tempe (and perhaps the author as well) doesn't have enough knowledge about Wicca to be presenting her opinion about the group as a whole.

I enjoyed this book for the most part, but I just have problems with those frustrations. And I felt the resolution was kind of less than ideal. But maybe that's just me being particular.