read of the dead

The stack of books on my nightstand has several new additions as of late. Perhaps this could be a good time to accept my friend Jessica's invitation to join Goodreads, a social networking site that lets you see what your friends are reading and lets them see what you're reading. Before I go rushing into an online commitment, I want to know a little more about it. Have any of you joined? PC Magazine picked it as one of its Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites and as its Site of the Week last July.

If I do join Goodreads, Jessica will see that the next three books on my reading list share a common theme. For Christmas, I received "The Book of the Dead" by Patricia Cornwell and "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" by Dr. William Maples. I had just started on the Maples book earlier this week when I was interrupted by an overnight package from HarperCollins.

The publicity department sent me an uncorrected proof copy of "The Devil's Bones," the new Jefferson Bass novel. Like the last proof they sent, I need to finish it before my next interview with the authors, Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Right now, I'm in the middle of chapter 8 where the main character, Dr. Bill Brockton, is gathering information at a local crematorium. He just learned about the special steps that must be taken to cremate an obese person. They burn hotter. The chapter reminded me of a link to a newspaper story I saw last week in Perry Simon's Talk Topics column on AllAccess.com. The article says that larger dead people require bigger autopsy tables, morgue drawers and other equipment. I'll have to bring it up in the interview.