Switcheroo

Written by Aaron Elkins

Narrated by Jeff Cummings

The Skeleton Detective is back.

A cold case dating from the 1960s draws forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver to the Channel Islands decades later to shine a light on the mysterious connection between two men who died there on the same night.

Swapped as young boys by their fathers during the Nazi occupation, wealthy Roddy Carlisle and middle-class George Skinner had some readjusting to do after the war ended—but their lives remained linked through work, trouble with the law, and finally, it would seem, through murder.

Nobody expects that Gideon’s modern-day investigation will turn up fresh bodies. But old bones tell many tales, and the Skeleton Detective has to be at his sharpest to piece together the truth before the body count mounts still higher.

Declared “a series that never disappoints” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Gideon Oliver mystery series is for fans of Agatha Christie and Kathy Reichs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Feb 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781511328982

Aaron Elkins

Aaron Elkins’s mysteries and thrillers have earned him an Edgar, an Agatha, a Nero Wolfe Award, and a Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement Award. His nonfiction works have appeared in Smithsonian magazine, the New York Times magazine, and Writer’s Digest. A former anthropology professor, Elkins is known for starting the forensic-mystery genre with his 1982 novel, Fellowship of Fear. He currently serves as the anthropological consultant for the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force in Washington State. Elkins lives in Washington with his wife, Charlotte—his occasional collaborator—who is also an Agatha winner.

Reviews for Switcheroo

[dokfintong · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Whether you like this book or not depends entirely on what style of mystery you like. If you like light fiction set in unusual locations, you might enjoy this book very much. If you prefer dense writing and a serious mystery then pass it over. For me this book is a travelogue with a story (not a mystery) inside.The book opens in Málaga, Spain. I don't know why the book opens in Málaga, Spain, the segue to French, English (and briefly German) Isle of Jersey is very clunky. The working holiday travelogue continues around Jersey and provides lots of info on what to do if you happen to go there, including how to see marmosets, which is always an excellent thing to do. We learn that the main square of Saint Helier town is not a square but a triangle "perhaps five hundred feet long and not much more than a hundred feet wide at its base, with shade trees and benches attractively spaced at regular intervals ." This level of excessive detail might allow you to go for a visit without buying a guide book. Charming but...This book can be enjoyed like any light fiction. But as a mystery there is one detail that I count as a glaring error.As you can imagine in a story about switched people, genetics plays a role in solving the mystery. One of the most important characters – Rafe Carlisle, the son of the man murdered 50 years ago – is fascinated by genetics and makes a serious hobby of it. Yet Mr. Carlisle does not recognize one of those fairly-well-known genetic quirks like tongue rolling. This quirk would certainly be known by anyone who studied genetics even at the amateur level and the whole progress of events would have been different if Mr. Carlisle had known what he would have known. Mr. Elkins should have chosen another hobby for this guy.I received a review copy of "Switcheroo" by Aaron Elkins (Thomas and Mercer) through NetGalley.com.

[jjbooklvr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It is hard to believe this is the 18th book in the Skeleton Detective series. I have read them all and was a little nervous about this one because I did not enjoy the last entry. I am happy to say this reminded me why I have been reading this series so long. If you are looking for a cozy mystery series to read with some humor and forensics this is one to check out. If you want more detail or something more graphic then move along and try something else.

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis: 'The story begins just before the occupation of the Channel Island of Jersey by the Nazis in 1940. Mass evacuation of the islands were occurring, but only a limited number of the inhabitants could be evacuated. Which leads us to Howard Carlisle, a wealthy citizen of the Island of Jersey, who out of pride, chose to stay behind instead of evacuating to England. However, he didn’t take into consideration his family members especially his young two year old son, Roddy, who was not of good health. Unfortunately Carlisle realized too late that the boy would most likely not survive the hardships of the occupation. Desperate to get Roddy on the ship to England, he made a deal with his brother-in-law, William ‘Willie’ Skinner, to swap his son Roddy with Skinner’s two year old son, George. To keep the swap under wraps, Roddy would take on the identity of George and George the identity of Roddy until the war ended and they could hopefully make the switch back. Both Roddy and George survived and even worked closely with each other over the years until the early 1960s when both men turned up suspiciously dead. How both men died was unclear and a cold case was shelved away. Now we come to present day with Gideon Oliver receiving a request from Roddy’s son, Rafe, to inspect the supposed bones of his father to see if Oliver could get any insights into a crime that happened over fifty years ago. Of course, when Gideon comes on the scene, a whole can of worms is opened.'Review: This was a very good Gideon mystery. I thought I knew 'who done it', but I was mistaken. The forensic information added to rather than slowed down the story, and the description of the Channel Islands makes me want to go there.

[patriciau-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gideon Oliver has been one of my favorite characters for years and I always eagerly anticipate a new story. Switcheroo began with a rteally interesting look into what happened to the Channel Islands during World War II, focusing on a wealthy family who engineered the first "switcheroo" in order to save their sickly child from certain death under German rule. We soon learn that the two boys who were switched were also part of an unsolved murder from the 1960s. When Gideon meets the grandson of one of the switched boys, he agrees to visit the Channel Islands and examine bones that were recovered from a tar pit, supposedly belonging to one of the boys. Of course, Gideon discovers all sorts of family secrets and subterfuge, leading to what, unfortunately, was a conclusion I spotted chapters before the end. And that's my quibble. In a story where clever plotting abounds, the end was just...unremarkable. But, still, it's Gideon Oliver and Aaron Elkins, which always means an entertaining couple of hours. Just not the best in the series....

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good. Nothing exciting, but an excellent example of a Skeleton Detective story. Nice twist(s) on who did the crimes - though the one that got away turns out pretty slimy, if not an actual killer. Lots of Julie and John Lau, and Mike Clapper (I didn't remember him - I need to figure out which book he showed up in before, assuming that was a book). Very little actual forensics - one episode with some very fragmentary bones, and then everything else gets short-circuited. The initial chapters are a bit of a giveaway - why else mention all that? - but the twist there is revealed nicely late. And an interesting setting, on the Isle of Jersey. One slightly odd thing - there are very few descriptions of the main characters. Not something I miss - I can do without seeing "pleasantly battered face" yet again - but it struck me as odd that John gets a sketchy description, Gideon is _only_ described as being "one inch shorter" (than John) and not as massive, and I don't think Julie gets _any_ description. Rafe, Mike, Vickery, Abbot, etc. - the characters new to this book - get normal descriptions, but the continuing characters don't. Not a problem for me, they're all familiar to me, but someone starting the series with this book might feel a little lost, possibly without even knowing why. That aside - yeah, I'm glad I read it. It feels better - more a proper part of this series - to me than most of the recent Skeleton Detective books - I can't remember any of them well enough to say why, which says something about them. Looking forward to any others Elkins wants to write, too. I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

[sus456 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a well crafted forensic mystery novel set in the Channel Islands. Gideon, a Professor of forensic anthropology is asked by Rafe Carlisle, a Jersey islander if he would look at some bones that are considered to belong to his father who died in 1964. Rafe would like Gideon to examine the bones in order to shed light on the circumstances of his father's death. The bones were found in a tar pit five years after his father disappeared and his uncle was killed. At the time of his disappearance, Roddy Carlisle was suspected of having killed his cousin George Skinner. But while examining these bones another murder occurs that may be linked to the old case Gideon is examining. Will Gideon be able to shed some light on that one as well?This is a mystery with an historical slant, an interesting setting and a plot the has enough twists and turns to satisfy any discerning reader. It's also a very good read for anyone interested in forensic mysteries.Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.