Fellowship of Fear: 1 - Aaron Elkins

First in the Edgar Awardwinning series that never disappoints, featuring the forensic anthropologist known as the Skeleton Detective (The Philadelphia Inquirer). When anthropology professor Gideon Oliver is offered a teaching fellowship at US military bases in Germany, Sicily, Spain, and Holland, he wastes no time accepting. Stimulating courses to teach, a decent stipend, all expenses paid, plenty of interesting European travel . . . Whats not to like? It does not take him long to find out. On his first night, he is forced to fend off two desperate, blackclad men who have invaded his Heidelberg hotel room with intent to kill. And then there are a few trivial details that the recruiting agency forgot to mentionsuch as the fact that the two previous holders of the fellowship both met with mysterious ends. From there, it is all downhill. Gideon finds himself the target in an unfamiliar game for which no one has bothered to give him the rules. What he does have is his own considerable intellect and his remarkable forensic skills. He will need them, for he is playing for some fairly high stakes: the security of Western Europe. Fellowship of Fear is the 1st book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.