Preston, David.  The Lost Tomb and Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder.  New 

         York: Grand Central Publishing, 2023.  ISBN: 9781538741221

Douglas Preston is half of the duo that writes the Agent Pendergast series (Lee child is the other half). When he is not writing thrillers, Preston writes non-fiction books and articles. This tome is a collection of articles he has written on murders, unexplained deaths, unsolved mysteries, curious crimes, and old bones (those were how he categorized the articles).

 

 Douglas Preston opens with him discovering the murder of a middle school friend who had moved away; another murder explains why he can no longer visit Italy. The unexplained deaths happened in the Himalayas, the Ural Mountains, and Kennewick , Washington. The mysteries involve Oak Island, Sandia Cave (NM), and Hell Creek (MT). The crimes involves a con that was thought impossible by experts, and the ire and blow-back caused by Amanda Knox haters (interesting link back to the 2nd murder story). The final section (Old Bones) discuss the human remains held by museums, the possibility of cannibalism in the American Southwest, and a visit by Preston to KV5 - the "lost" tomb of Ramesses II's sons. All of the articles have updates after the original article and have listed the original publication dates and journals. 

 

If you enjoy the topics or have enjoyed other non-fiction titles by Preston, pick up this book and read!