Bone Detectives

""More than two hundred bones hold our bodies together, and each one tells a story""-right from the opening words, readers will find themselves glued to this fact-filled foray into the fine art of forensics. A real-life murder case solved through the painstaking work of ""bone detectives"" serves as a springboard for examining the techniques employed by forensic anthropologists in fighting crime and unraveling archeological puzzles. How a person's height, weight, sex, ethnic heritage and so on can be estimated from just a handful of bones makes for absorbing reading, and the plentiful accompanying photographs are equally intriguing. In addition to the murder case, first-time author Jackson highlights several historically significant finds-including the ""Lucy"" fossil, a bone fragment found at Little Bighorn, and perhaps this decade's most spectacular discovery, the 5300-year-old mummified ""Iceman"" found in the Alps (an artistic facial reconstruction is eerily lifelike). The handsome design and Jackson's equable presentation help tone down the grislier aspects of the subject matter. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)