'Skull Duggery': Gideon Oliver investigates a mysterious mummy and Mexican cuisine

Aaron Elkins clearly has too much fun being a writer.

Each of his many mysteries about Gideon Oliver, forensic anthropologist, is set in a different locale, some of them quite exotic.

This is, of course, a transparent excuse for the Edgar-winning author to swan around the world, conduct research on terrific food and write it all off on his taxes. On the other hand, it's a boon to the many fans of his lively and entertaining books about Oliver — the "Bone Detective" and a professor at the mythical University of Washington Port Angeles campus.

The latest from Elkins (who lives on the Olympic Peninsula when not on his, uh, research trips) is "Skull Duggery" (Berkley, 288 pp., $24.95).

Typically in this series, Oliver takes off — for a conference or something — on what is supposed to be a trouble-free trip. Inevitably, it turns into a busman's holiday.

This time, we're off to Mexico — specifically Teotitlán del Valle, a small town in the state of Oaxaca. Oliver's wife Julie has been asked by the Gallaghers, a branch of her family, to temporarily help out at Hacienda Encantada, their dude ranch/resort.

She has to take time off from being a supervisory park ranger, but he's on winter break from teaching, and the trip sounds pretty good. An added incentive is the promise of great food — the resort's cook is supposed to be a genius with Mexican food.

But if the Bone Detective thinks he's going to have a relaxing time down Mexico way, he's sadly mistaken. No sooner has he arrived than the local police ask him to consult on a case. A mummified body has been found, naturally preserved in the dry desert air.

At first, it appears that the body may be thousands of years old. Then the local coroner determines that the guy was shot. However, Oliver is able to show that the poor man was, in fact, stabbed to death with a rather unusual (and quite modern) weapon.

As these things do in Oliver books, a more recent crime soon follows the older one. A year earlier, the corpse of a young woman had turned up. Once again, the coroner has arrived at a wrong conclusion, and once again Oliver is able to show something different. The local man had determined that the girl was a young teen, but she was in fact a young woman in her 20s.

As Oliver investigates further, he becomes increasingly suspicious. How could two such bad mistakes have been made so close together? Who were the victims? Why would a sleepy town like Teotitlán be home to two gruesome murders? Are the deaths connected? And what are the links, if any, between them and the dark history of Julie's deeply dysfunctional relatives?

As usual with this series, "Skull Duggery" is full of amazing information about the art and science of forensic anthropology. Unlike other thrillers concerned with similar disciplines (such as those of Patricia Cornwell), it's never graphic enough to veer into the realm of eye-glazing detail or queasy cadaver porn.

Meanwhile, Oliver maintains his sunny disposition nearly all the time, even in the face of the most gruesome corpses. And did I mention the food? As it turns out, the genius in the kitchen at Hacienda Encantada is perennially grumpy — but boy, can she cook.

Seattle writer Adam Woog's column on mystery and crime fiction appears on the second Sunday of the month in The Times.