or legal and ethical reasons I cannot discuss any of the real-life cases that may have inspired Bare Bones, but I can share with you some experiences that contributed to the plot. Monsieur Orignal

Shakespeare spoke of 'murder most foul' (Hamlet, 1.5), but not all forensic anthropology cases are the result of violence.

A variety of bones find their way to my lab: trophy skulls smuggled from foreign lands; teaching skeletons spirited from classrooms to fraternity houses; Confederate soldiers buried in unmarked graves; pets laid to rest in backyards or crawl spaces.

It happens all the time. Bones or body parts are discovered. Local authorities, unfamiliar with anatomy, send them to the coroner or medical examiner. Occasionally the 'vic' turns out to be a reptile or bird, but most are members of the class Mammalia. I've examined spareribs, deer metapodia, ham bones, and elk horns. I've gotten kittens in gunnysacks and wood rats mixed in with murder victims. Bear paws, which particularly resemble human hands and feet, also sometimes show up at my lab.

The skeletal remains that found their way into Bare Bones actually entered my life during a blizzard in Montreal on a Thursday in November 1997. Driving as a Southerner versed in snowfall panic, edging my speed up to thirty only in the tunnel, I arrived late to the lab and thus missed the morning meeting at which the day's cases had been discussed and assigned. One document lay on my desk, a Demande d'Expertise en Anthropologic

Wasting no time, I skimmed for critical information: case number, morgue number, coroner, pathologist. I was being asked to examine cut marks on leg and pelvic bones to determine the type of saw used for dismemberment. The summary of known facts included one French word unfamiliar to me: orignal Guilty over my tardiness, I headed straight for the bones, opting for a vocabulary check at a later time.

Throwing on a lab coat, I crossed to the counter reserved for new cases. When I unzipped the pouch, my jaw dropped. Either this victim had a colossal pituitary disorder, or I was looking at Goliath himself.

About-face. Dictionary.

Orignal: elan, n. m. Au Canada on l'appelle orignal.

My dismemberment victim was a moose.

On more careful reading of the request-for-expertise form, I discovered that the analysis had been requested by the Société de la faune et des parcs, the Quebec equivalent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A poacher had been killing moose for years with blatant disregard for the annual quota. Conservation agents had decided to prosecute and wanted an opinion. Could I tie the cut marks on the moose bones to a saw recovered from the suspect's garage?

I could.

Big bones. Big animal. Big lesson in proceeding rapidly while not fully cognizant of the mission.

No need for Shakespeare here.

Thoreau put it well: 'Some circumstantial evidence is strong, as when you find a trout in the milk' (Walden).

Or Bullwinkle in a body bag.