Body Of Proof On the First Date - How Do the Remains Speak?

A new mystery writer picks up where Erle Stanley Gardner and forensics pioneers of the mid-20th Century, such as those uplifted by Quincy, M.E., left off by handing the baton to cutting edge CSIs and certified forensic scientists of the future. That future is now, but forensics is ever expanding in a way that attorney and investigator Garner would admire. While Perry mason;s creator is cannot write additional novels from the grave, our new author can provide an authentic forensics background from which to create a new line of murder mystery for today.

So many Hollywood stars have died mysterious deaths during the Summer of 2009, that the author's next novel may delve into this overarching mystery. Until then, he remains in high demand for a professional opinion on the end-of-life conditions of celebrities such as David Carradine, Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson and the next cohort of actors to go.Some of these celebrity deaths look very suspicious and will take much examination before conclusive findings and judgments are obtained. Drugs, sex games, or just plain murder may be the culprit.

The 21st Century writer in question takes his stories and his expertise beyond his predecessors' high-water marks of excellence.This writer has experience as a successful medical examiner and litigator, as well as an expert witness in dozens of crimes of murder, abduction, drug trafficking, suicide, and more.

The well qualified author is actually a team of two. He is a medical examiner and she is a trial lawyer and they beat Hart to Hart on Retro TV in our own generation with excitement, suspense, and substance in the late 2009s.

He is the preeminent ME, Dr. Michael Baden and she is his wife, fierce litigator Linda Kenney. Together, they are magic in a morgue.

If crime scenes, mysteries, and the law fascinate you and you have not yet read any of their books, then now's the time. The character of the book jumped out of it as I opened the cover and it was energetic and compelling from frontispiece to back cover.Happily, there are more books in the series.

Some critics may equate Baden and Kenney and their protagonist alter egos with Nick and Nora Charles, or Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn in Adam's Rib, but I think that they are unique.

by Michael Baden and Linda Kenney

Random House

♦♦♦♦♦ Rating: 5 out of 5

This book grabbed me by the throat when I opened the front cover and it never let go until I was finished reading the jacket back blurbs at the very end.

It is captivating, intelligent, detailed, and fun all at once. More husbands and wives should get along this well and produce such a good work as this one.

I am happily entranced by this first-of-a-series murder mystery and think it is finally one that can fill the void left by no more new Perry Mason thrillers.

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Now that I mention it, Baden and Kenney do in fact remind me of HeSaidSheSaid's Hank and Nanny on HubPages. That's another reason that I like this book so much,. So witty, so engaging! Nanny and Hank could solve murders - I'm sure of it.

However, I don't think their first date was in a morgue, like characters Jake Rosen M.E.s and Philomena "Manny" Manfreda's (and Baden and Kenney's, in fact.) However, all of these couples have had their hesaidshesaid moments. What fun!

A husband-and-wife team writing novels together can mean hard work, disagreements, and fun. This first novel in this series shows all three. It is energetic and fast-paced, fun to read, and puts to very good use the authors’ professional experiences and skills.

Now, a first date in a morgue is not something I have known about, but could likely make or break any new relationship. The first date between the protagonists of Remains Silent reminds me a lot of Terri Irwin’s first date with Steve, observing alligators and other wild animals with big teeth and claws in the swamps and waters of Queensland Australia Zoo’s surrounding countryside. Both first dates are lasting love stories.

The couple in Remains Silent is comprised of courtroom combatants that join forces to solve a horrendous holocaust of a crime spree. He is the chief medical examiner for New York City and she is a female trial attorney and advocate for the underdogs and the maltreated of the world.

He is Dr. Jake Rosen and she is Philomena "Manny" Manfreda. He is always truthful on the witness stand and she is always tenacious and well dressed for court.

Jake is called in on a strange case by his old mentor, Pete Harrigan, who retired from NYC to serve as rural M.E. in Baxter County. A major mall construction project in the county began to unearth human skeletal remains. The land used to be a state mental institution. The game is afoot.

One of the skeletons is identified and Jake refers the next of kin to Manny for legal services while he continues to study bones. The more Manny and Jake learn about the case, the odder it becomes -- They know that something big is being covered up. Romance develops and during their first date, an emergency autopsy interrupts, but does not scare Manny off in her expensive suit and shoes. What is hidden beneath the new mall grounds could make Roswell and Cold War government experimentation look like Kindergarten story hour. It makes one wonder if such things as this story have actually happened.

I look forward to many more of these books about the M.E. and the lawyer.