Chapters 1-3 Summary

In the second book of Simon Beckett's thriller/detective series, London-based forensic anthropologist Dr. David Hunter travels to the remote island of Runa in the Scottish Hebrides. He investigates a suspiciously burned body that had been discovered in a rural hut by ex-cop Andrew Brody. The island's small, insular, and secretive population becomes embroiled in a murder investigation which unravels as a result of old feuds among the citizens, incompetent management by the local police, unrelenting stormy weather, and nefarious subterfuge by the murderous elements. Chaos envelops the island; the body count increases; and Hunter, caught in a vortex of spiraling violence and pyrotechnics, barely escapes Runa alive.

Dr. David Hunter, who is the book's narrator as well as its protagonist, begins "Written in Bone" by describing, in general terms, the incineration of the human body, noting that bones will retain...