fraeon
Films
BrowseTop 250
Series
TV ShowsAnimeTop 250 TVTop 100 Anime
Games
BrowseTop 100
Books
BooksMangaTop 125 BooksTop 100 Manga
For youTrendingTier ListsThe ArchiveLeaderboard
Log inSign up free
fraeon

Everything you watch, play and read — tracked, rated and remembered in one library.

Explore

  • Films
  • TV
  • Anime
  • Games
  • Books
  • Manga

Discover

  • Trending
  • Leaderboard
  • Find people
  • Lists
  • Tier lists

Company

  • Tour
  • About
  • Community guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Contact

© 2026 fraeon. All rights reserved. ·

Metadata from TMDB, RAWG, Jikan & Open Library. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

Questions or ideas? mehmet@avortas.com

HomeFeedProfile
Dead man's bones

Dead man's bones

by Susan Wittig Albert

MysteryWomen detectivesDetective and mystery storiesChina Bayles (Fictitious character)Community theater in fiction
4.0
Open Library
Open Library

About this book

"A leader among female sleuths."?Publishers WeeklySusan Wittig Albert's exciting mysteries have been praised as "unique" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) and "fascinating" (Booklist). Now, a dead man's bones are uncovered—and Texas ex-lawyer and herbalist China Bayles must dig into a pair of murders separated by time but connected by motive…When China's teenage son finds some skeletal remains during a local cave dig—remains that show a not-so-accidental death—it's a disturbing development. But China doesn't let it distract her from the opening of the new community theater donated by the elderly Obermann sisters. Unfortunately, the haughty, bullying Jane Obermann—and her frail, frightened younger sister—made the donation with a condition: that the first production be a play written by Jane about their aristocratic family history.The premiere party ends with a bang when a ne'er-do-well local handyman is shot dead by Jane while breaking into the Obermann estate. It seems like a clear-cut case of self-defense. But China senses something else going on behind the scenes. Now, the key to catching a killer might be the mysterious bones in the cave—a clue from the past that could help China solve a mystery in the present…

Themes & subjects

MysteryWomen detectivesDetective and mystery storiesChina Bayles (Fictitious character)Community theater in fictionHerbalists

Setting

Texas

About the author

Susan Wittig Albert
Susan Wittig Albert

2 January 1940

Susan Wittig Albert is an American author. She has been a full-time novelist since she left her career as an English professor and university administrator in 1985. She lives with her husband Bill Albert, also an author, in the Texas Hill Country.

Author

Susan Wittig Albert

Pages

329

Read time

≈ 8h

Editions

4

Language

English

Publisher

Berkley Prime Crime

ISBN

9781436272438

Where to buy

TR
Amazon Bookshop

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to write one from the Log screen.

Quotes

No quotes yet.

Discussions

Similar books

The Hound of the Baskervilles

crime novel · English Civil War

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Arthur Conan Doyle

1900

Преступление и наказание

English Translations · Russian literature

Преступление и наказание

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

1866

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [12 stories]

Classic Literature · Murder

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [12 stories]

Arthur Conan Doyle

1892

The Man Who Was Thursday

Anarchists · Novela de misterio

The Man Who Was Thursday

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

1908

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Fiction · Mystery

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Agatha Christie

1920

The Secret Adversary

Classic Literature · English language

The Secret Adversary

Agatha Christie

1922

The mystery of Edwin Drood

Missing persons · Triangles (Interpersonal relations)

The mystery of Edwin Drood

Charles Dickens

1870

His Last Bow [8 stories]

short stories · Detective and mystery fiction

His Last Bow [8 stories]

Arthur Conan Doyle

1917

Heart of Darkness

form:novella · genre:historical fiction

Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad

1899

The Riddle of the Sands

Great britain, fiction · Fiction, action & adventure

The Riddle of the Sands

Erskine Childers

1903

Greenmantle

Fiction, thrillers, espionage · Hannay, richard (fictitious character), fiction

Greenmantle

John Buchan

1915

Basil

Fiction · Fathers and sons

Basil

Wilkie Collins

1852

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

series:Harry_Potter · Ghosts

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

J. K. Rowling

1997

The Law and the Lady

Classic Literature · Fiction

The Law and the Lady

Wilkie Collins

1875

4:50 from Paddington

Fiction · Mystery

4:50 from Paddington

Agatha Christie

1957

The Body in the Library

Fiction · Mystery

The Body in the Library

Agatha Christie

1942

The Murder at the Vicarage

Women detectives · Fiction

The Murder at the Vicarage

Agatha Christie

1930

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

Fiction · Mystery

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

Agatha Christie

1960

Similar across media

Same mood, other forms — books, series, anime, games and beyond.

Film
Se7en

Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.

4.2

Se7en

1995

Series
The Apothecary Diaries

Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she's sold as a lowly servant to the emperor's palace. But she wasn't meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she's making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!

4.3

The Apothecary Diaries

2023

Game
Silent Hill 2

Puzzle · Adventure

4.5

Silent Hill 2

2001

Anime
Monster

Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a renowned Japanese brain surgeon working at a leading hospital in Germany. One night, Dr. Tenma risks his reputation and career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy over that of the town mayor who had been planning to support the hospital financially. A string of mysterious murders begin to occur soon after the operation, and Dr. Tenma emerges as the primary suspect despite no incriminating evidence. A doctor is taught to believe that all life is equal; however, when another series of murders occur in the surgeon's vicinity, Dr. Tenma's beliefs are shaken as his actions that night are shown to have much broader consequences than he could have imagined. Leaving behind his life as a surgeon he embarks on a journey across the country to unravel the mystery of the boy he saved.

Drama · Horror

4.4

Monster

2004 · 74 eps

Manga
Umineko When They Cry Episode 7: Requiem of the Golden Witch

The time for logical debate and magical feints has come to an end; the revelation of the truth about Beatrice the Golden Witch is at hand. To facilitate this, game master Bernkastel has chosen Will Wright the Mage-Hunter to step onto her board and answer a single question: Who killed Beatrice? Joining him in the game is Lion Ushiromiya, Krauss's firstborn and heir, whose role is a mystery in its own right. Will's line of questioning draws together the stray strands from all the previous games, twisting them into a thread of truth, revisiting Kinzou's first encounter with the young Beatrice and working through the legends that have since sprung up around her... (Source: Yen Press)

Drama · Mystery

4.4

Umineko When They Cry Episode 7: Requiem of the Golden Witch

Eita Mizuno

2011 · 48 ch

Film
Rear Window

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

4.2

Rear Window

1954

Series
Alchemy of Souls

A powerful sorceress in a blind woman's body encounters a man from a prestigious family, who wants her help to change his destiny.

4.3

Alchemy of Souls

2022

Game
Return of the Obra Dinn

Puzzle · Adventure

4.7

Return of the Obra Dinn

2018

Anime
The Apothecary Diaries

Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries! (Source: Crunchyroll)

Drama · Mystery

4.4

The Apothecary Diaries

2023 · 24 eps

Manga
Bakemonogatari: Monster Tale

The first part of the Monogatari Series. There’s a girl at their school who is always ill. She routinely arrives late, leaves early, or doesn’t show up at all, and skips gym as a matter of course. She’s pretty, and the boys take to whispering that she’s a cloistered princess. As the self-described worst loser in her class soon finds out, they just don’t know what a monster she is. So begins a tale of mysterious maladies that are supernatural in origin yet deeply revealing of the human psyche, a set of case files as given to unexpected feeling as it is to irreverent humour. (Source: Kodansha USA) Note: The English release and the JP ebook edition have Bakemonogatari split across three volumes, instead of the original two volumes.

Action · Mystery

4.4

Bakemonogatari: Monster Tale

NISIOISIN

2006 · 41 ch

Film
Oldboy

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.

4.1

Oldboy

2003

Series
The Originals

The Vampire Diaries spin-off that follows the Mikaelsons, a family of millennia-old, power-hungry vampires who want to reclaim the city they built, New Orleans, and dominate all those who have wronged them.

4.3

The Originals

2013