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Forensic Geology #4
Skeleton Sea
A mystery at sea plunges forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws into deadly waters.
When a boat is found deserted off the California coast, it looks to be a simple fishing accident. But there is nothing ordinary going on here. The geologists track the strange incident to an even stranger project. Someone with toxic skills is at work in this sea.
If the lethal project is completed, the outcome will be unstoppable.
When a boat is found deserted off the California coast, it looks to be a simple fishing accident. But there is nothing ordinary going on here. The geologists track the strange incident to an even stranger project. Someone with toxic skills is at work in this sea.
If the lethal project is completed, the outcome will be unstoppable.
376 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2015
175 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
November 4, 2017
This book was a bit of a mess, and frankly, annoying at times - a real shame because this series started out with so much potential. So many of the characters (the entire family, the "mad" scientist, etc.) were simply annoying and unbelievable. The climate change commentary was annoying and silly, especially some of the statements made by the so-called expert scientists. The underwater facility was simply not believable. There were some interesting scenes, such as on the volcanic rocks, on the boats, and during the dives, but even those would often get ruined because it would go too far into a realm of non-reality. When I started the series, I wondered why there were only 4 books, now I completely understand why...
December 9, 2017
Kind of boring
The premise sounded good but the story I found boring. Very bland main characters. Not into geology. Did learn some sad things about the state of our oceans however.
The premise sounded good but the story I found boring. Very bland main characters. Not into geology. Did learn some sad things about the state of our oceans however.
July 17, 2018
I couldn't even finish it.
January 9, 2018
Boring beyond belief. Bad guy and bad guy story did not seem credible. Lame characters.
April 1, 2018
Decent story, but a bit choppy.
May 15, 2019
Less rocks more fish
A good mystery but there was very little geology in this story. I learned far more about jellyfish than rocks.
A good mystery but there was very little geology in this story. I learned far more about jellyfish than rocks.
September 1, 2024
I am happily bingeing this smart mystery series.
Audiobook version: 5 stars overall, 5 stars story, 5 stars narration
This is the fourth book in the Forensic Geology series, and I think reading the series in order is best but optional. Cassie and Walter are like old friends to me now, and I love joining them for their adventurous mysteries. The book is told from Cassie’s perspective, and she is a really good and likeable investigator.
This is an excellent mystery and had me puzzled until the end. I love how all the loose plot threads were cleared up. It is a fascinating nautical mystery on the coast of California, with real details of geography, ecology, and geology. There was some exciting diving action as well! The narrator did an excellent job too. I highly recommend this whole series to any mystery lovers who also like science.
I requested and received a free audio copy via the publisher, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review. #TheFlockVIPReviewTeam #FiresideAudio
Audiobook version: 5 stars overall, 5 stars story, 5 stars narration
This is the fourth book in the Forensic Geology series, and I think reading the series in order is best but optional. Cassie and Walter are like old friends to me now, and I love joining them for their adventurous mysteries. The book is told from Cassie’s perspective, and she is a really good and likeable investigator.
This is an excellent mystery and had me puzzled until the end. I love how all the loose plot threads were cleared up. It is a fascinating nautical mystery on the coast of California, with real details of geography, ecology, and geology. There was some exciting diving action as well! The narrator did an excellent job too. I highly recommend this whole series to any mystery lovers who also like science.
I requested and received a free audio copy via the publisher, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review. #TheFlockVIPReviewTeam #FiresideAudio
July 20, 2024
Exciting Story! Audiobook Review 🎧
Another great story by Toni Dwiggins! I loved this book and the continuing saga of Cassie and Walter and their adventures. Cassie and Walter were brought into help solve a murder and some other mysterious things going on in the ocean. This isn’t their usual gig, but they can use geology to figure out a lot of mysteries. This story has a lot of twists and turns, was exciting and kept you on the edge of your seat while you tried to figure out what was going on. The characters in the story were great and I can’t wait to listen to the next book! These stories keep getting better with each one that comes out. Nellie Scott did a great job with the narration and made the book very enjoyable to listen to.
#AudiobookObsession #TheFlock
Another great story by Toni Dwiggins! I loved this book and the continuing saga of Cassie and Walter and their adventures. Cassie and Walter were brought into help solve a murder and some other mysterious things going on in the ocean. This isn’t their usual gig, but they can use geology to figure out a lot of mysteries. This story has a lot of twists and turns, was exciting and kept you on the edge of your seat while you tried to figure out what was going on. The characters in the story were great and I can’t wait to listen to the next book! These stories keep getting better with each one that comes out. Nellie Scott did a great job with the narration and made the book very enjoyable to listen to.
#AudiobookObsession #TheFlock
October 18, 2024
This is the fourth book in the Forensic Geology series. I like this series! I loved to follow Cassie and Walter in this new adventure. The supporting characters are intriguing. The story is complex, thrilling, and enthralling, filled with mystery, intrigue, and twists and turns. The underwater landscape is vividly breathtaking. The writing is brilliantly imaginative, and captivating. Nellie Scott did an excellent job bringing these characters, and this story to life. Looking forward to listening to River Run, the next book in the series. #PFPAudio
August 24, 2021
Whenever I read one of Ms Dwiggins' Forensic Geology books, I know I can count on two things:
1) There will be an entertaining, possibly intricate mystery; and
2) I will learn something new, usually in great detail. In this case, it was about jellyfish. Living hundreds of miles from any ocean, it's knowledge I will never need, but it's still good to know.
1) There will be an entertaining, possibly intricate mystery; and
2) I will learn something new, usually in great detail. In this case, it was about jellyfish. Living hundreds of miles from any ocean, it's knowledge I will never need, but it's still good to know.
April 30, 2024
Great mystery with enough geology to add interesting facts.
I chose this book because I studied geology in college and I love mysteries. What more could you ask for? It was well thought out plot that leads into great twists to keep you interested. Just enough geology to add to the story but not bog it down.
I chose this book because I studied geology in college and I love mysteries. What more could you ask for? It was well thought out plot that leads into great twists to keep you interested. Just enough geology to add to the story but not bog it down.
June 25, 2024
Loved the narration of Nellie Scott
Cassie and Walter get a call for help from Detective Toliver in Morro Bay, a small fishing community and a tourist destination on the west of San Luis Obispo.
Cassie and Walter are up against a master in an undersea world where they don’t belong. Also a mystery of a man missing and his boat abandoned.
Enjoy
Cassie and Walter get a call for help from Detective Toliver in Morro Bay, a small fishing community and a tourist destination on the west of San Luis Obispo.
Cassie and Walter are up against a master in an undersea world where they don’t belong. Also a mystery of a man missing and his boat abandoned.
Enjoy
July 28, 2025
As Usual, a Great Read
I enjoy Toni’s writing in all aspects: plot, characters, and pacing. I loved the marine biology connection in this story, to accompany the geology. The only reason I did not give the book five stars was because I am trying to make authors really work for that level of approval.
I enjoy Toni’s writing in all aspects: plot, characters, and pacing. I loved the marine biology connection in this story, to accompany the geology. The only reason I did not give the book five stars was because I am trying to make authors really work for that level of approval.
August 23, 2025
So slow. Could have been an excellent story, with the genetically modified jellyfish and all, but man, did it drag! Even those last chapters with the underwater chambers...it should have been intense, but all I was thinking about was how did they get power underwater? Most of that section there was barely any way to know they were underwater. This series is definitely not on the reread list.
September 22, 2025
In Skeleton Sea Toni Dwiggins gives us another good crime story with a strong science sub-theme. In this one marine science becomes more important for and Cassie and Walter than geology. Their criminology skills get a workout as they as they go into danger while following clues leading to murder and conspiracy.
3.5 stars rounded up.
3.5 stars rounded up.
January 16, 2018
An excellent read! A whodunnit of the sea.
An excellent read! A whodunnit of the sea. Aspects hint at the old TV series, "Sea Hunt". I thoroughly enjoyed the evidence that required an approach using forensic geology and how the clues related to the story.
An excellent read! A whodunnit of the sea. Aspects hint at the old TV series, "Sea Hunt". I thoroughly enjoyed the evidence that required an approach using forensic geology and how the clues related to the story.
May 3, 2020
If you are a geoscientist, like the geosciences or are remotely interested in science you'll love these books! They are technically written, though, which is why some may not enjoy the series. Sometimes the facts get a little convoluted and I find myself rereading portions.
May 20, 2021
Quite a story!
A fast paced thriller at the intersection of geology and oceanography. I enjoyed this story and learned a lot about jellyfish, which was a surprise in a book about forensic geology.
A fast paced thriller at the intersection of geology and oceanography. I enjoyed this story and learned a lot about jellyfish, which was a surprise in a book about forensic geology.
December 18, 2023
Forensic Geology
This is another outstanding book in the Forensic Geology series. The story lines are always riveting. Learning how geologists use their skills to solve crimes is fascinating.
This is another outstanding book in the Forensic Geology series. The story lines are always riveting. Learning how geologists use their skills to solve crimes is fascinating.
August 24, 2017
Great Read
Really enjoyed this book and the others in the series. My favorite was the third one about the volcanoes. Interesting stuff, this forensic geology.
Really enjoyed this book and the others in the series. My favorite was the third one about the volcanoes. Interesting stuff, this forensic geology.
December 9, 2017
Skeleton Sea
Very enlightening read! Thoroughly enjoy this author and feel like I learn lots from each novel. I am old, so all new knowledge feels good!
Very enlightening read! Thoroughly enjoy this author and feel like I learn lots from each novel. I am old, so all new knowledge feels good!
March 7, 2019
Fascinating murder mystery featuring rocks and a "thousand thousand slimy things".
May 27, 2019
It was good but I liked some of her other books better.
March 14, 2025
Fun adventure...
Good series. Keeps me coming back. Good mix of science and action and creepy people. Good mysteries, sometimes hard to figure out.
Good series. Keeps me coming back. Good mix of science and action and creepy people. Good mysteries, sometimes hard to figure out.
June 20, 2024
This one ddid not disappoint! I loved every second and it definitely kept my earbuds glued to my ears! I liked that this one took up to the sea and underwater. Such a different environment. The characters were well done and I was really rooting for Lonnie. That ending! Exciting and Thrilling!
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this one and look forward to the next installment in this series. I did listen to this on audio. Nellie Scott does an amazing job with the story and these characters.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this one and look forward to the next installment in this series. I did listen to this on audio. Nellie Scott does an amazing job with the story and these characters.
March 8, 2017
Geo Forensic
New idea on the forensic bandwagon. Instead of humans, its rocks. Not ordinary rocks but the way rocks, oil, sea water etc effects our lives thrown in with some wacky bad guys and good good guys. Clean mystery
New idea on the forensic bandwagon. Instead of humans, its rocks. Not ordinary rocks but the way rocks, oil, sea water etc effects our lives thrown in with some wacky bad guys and good good guys. Clean mystery
June 19, 2015
As a lover of forensic thrillers especially those with a dose of science, I have developed a high regard for Tony Dwiggins’ Forensic Geology Series mainly because the two protagonists in the series are geologist which is unique to this particular genre. A geologist’s role in a forensic investigation is to ascertain the location of either the victim or perpetrator before, during, or after a criminal act. In Skeleton Sea, our two dust-collecting heroes, Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws, are called into an investigation in Morro Bay, California on the disappearance of a local anchovy fisherman, Robbie Donie, whose boat drifted ashore without its captain. The investigating detective, Doug Tolliver, consults with Oldfield and Shaws to determine the origin of some pebbles found in a mass of kelp attached to the anchor of the boat. With a pebble, Oldfield and Shaws can get a general idea of where the boat had anchored down and where Robbie Donie may have gone missing. What they didn’t find was Donie’s body, but instead, found something considerably more disturbing.
The investigation focuses on a native Morro Bay family of three siblings, Sandy, Lanny and Jake Keasling. Sandy Keasling is the matriarch of this trio and is a reluctant guardian of her younger sibling, Lanny, who is mentally challenged. Sandy also has a contentious relationship with her other brother, Jake, who is a bit of a slacker. The Keasling siblings have a close but dysfunctional relationship which creates a barrier to the investigation being conducted by Tolliver, Shaws, and Oldfield. It turns out that the Keaslings’ are the key players in stopping a criminal act that would result in an environmental catastrophe and the loss of numerous lives.
Skeleton Sea is great fun for us science geeks or for those who like the more techy aspect of forensic sleuthing. In my review on the series, I complained a little bit about the terminology being a bit too much in some of Dwiggins previous writings, but in Skeleton Sea, the amount of tech lingo is just right. On the downside, Dwiggins, who is very talented in developing her secondary characters, does not do justice for her main characters, Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws. Shaws, in particular, shows almost no personality and in Skeleton Sea, with an exception of a few utterings, has no significant role. I enjoyed Skeleton Sea for its storyline but I would really like to see more in what makes Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws tick. Despite this, Skeleton Sea makes for fun summer reading and for those of you that can't get to the beach at least you can join Oldfield and Shaws in Morro Bay for an exciting adventure. With the exception of a few references to previous novels in the series, Sea Skeleton can be read as a standalone.
If you are interested in learning more about the Forensic Geology Series check it out on my blog A-Thrill-A-Week
The investigation focuses on a native Morro Bay family of three siblings, Sandy, Lanny and Jake Keasling. Sandy Keasling is the matriarch of this trio and is a reluctant guardian of her younger sibling, Lanny, who is mentally challenged. Sandy also has a contentious relationship with her other brother, Jake, who is a bit of a slacker. The Keasling siblings have a close but dysfunctional relationship which creates a barrier to the investigation being conducted by Tolliver, Shaws, and Oldfield. It turns out that the Keaslings’ are the key players in stopping a criminal act that would result in an environmental catastrophe and the loss of numerous lives.
Skeleton Sea is great fun for us science geeks or for those who like the more techy aspect of forensic sleuthing. In my review on the series, I complained a little bit about the terminology being a bit too much in some of Dwiggins previous writings, but in Skeleton Sea, the amount of tech lingo is just right. On the downside, Dwiggins, who is very talented in developing her secondary characters, does not do justice for her main characters, Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws. Shaws, in particular, shows almost no personality and in Skeleton Sea, with an exception of a few utterings, has no significant role. I enjoyed Skeleton Sea for its storyline but I would really like to see more in what makes Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws tick. Despite this, Skeleton Sea makes for fun summer reading and for those of you that can't get to the beach at least you can join Oldfield and Shaws in Morro Bay for an exciting adventure. With the exception of a few references to previous novels in the series, Sea Skeleton can be read as a standalone.
If you are interested in learning more about the Forensic Geology Series check it out on my blog A-Thrill-A-Week
May 23, 2015
I love Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws, the forensic geologists Dwiggins introduced in
Badwater
. Taking the geology, mineralogy or geomorphology of a crime scene as evidence is a fairly new idea in criminalistics, and her Forensic Geology series does a great job of spinning it into good yarns.
In her latest novel, Cassie and Walter get a call for help from a cop in Morro Bay, a small fishing community-slash-tourist destination on the California coast west of San Luis Obispo. Detective Tolliver has an anchovy-fishing boat with a missing owner and little in the way of evidence, beyond some grains of sand. Cassie is
Like any fishing community, this village has a rumor mill that soon informs the residents of the reason for their presence. Sandy Keasling, the spiky captain of a whale-watch tour boat, with her deckhand Lanny, Jake "Captain Kayak" who runs a paddle-rental service, and the sinister Oscar Flynn with his two PhDs and giant chip on his shoulder, and Tolliver himself, will all become enmeshed in the net of rumor and speculation.
As the geologists dig deeper, the mystery blooms. Hematite smears on boats far above the waterline, a strand of kelp with its roots wrapped around a distinctive pebble, and various samples of beach sand help the experts Tolliver has called find the "crime scene". But has there even been a crime?
We have an injured scuba diver, yes, and a suggestion of foul play in some squid ink stains, but perhaps there is no criminal. There is a red tide, and plenty of creepy clues in the water. Cassie and Walter will need to bring all their abilities to bear, researching and making connections outside their area of expertise, to solve the mystery of Morro Bay.
As humans, we like to find someone to blame. One of the greatest appeals of anthropogenic global warming is that it gives us a party or category of actors on which to land the guilt for the consequences of climate change, and narrows the list of events that are still considered an "act of God." Lava flows, for example.
Dwiggins has given us yet another mystery that blurs the lines between the true act of God and the criminal deed.
In her latest novel, Cassie and Walter get a call for help from a cop in Morro Bay, a small fishing community-slash-tourist destination on the California coast west of San Luis Obispo. Detective Tolliver has an anchovy-fishing boat with a missing owner and little in the way of evidence, beyond some grains of sand. Cassie is
Grateful for a cop who recognized rocks as evidence, who treated them with the same respect given to fingerprints or cigarette butts or bloodstains or what have you.
Like any fishing community, this village has a rumor mill that soon informs the residents of the reason for their presence. Sandy Keasling, the spiky captain of a whale-watch tour boat, with her deckhand Lanny, Jake "Captain Kayak" who runs a paddle-rental service, and the sinister Oscar Flynn with his two PhDs and giant chip on his shoulder, and Tolliver himself, will all become enmeshed in the net of rumor and speculation.
As the geologists dig deeper, the mystery blooms. Hematite smears on boats far above the waterline, a strand of kelp with its roots wrapped around a distinctive pebble, and various samples of beach sand help the experts Tolliver has called find the "crime scene". But has there even been a crime?
We have an injured scuba diver, yes, and a suggestion of foul play in some squid ink stains, but perhaps there is no criminal. There is a red tide, and plenty of creepy clues in the water. Cassie and Walter will need to bring all their abilities to bear, researching and making connections outside their area of expertise, to solve the mystery of Morro Bay.
As humans, we like to find someone to blame. One of the greatest appeals of anthropogenic global warming is that it gives us a party or category of actors on which to land the guilt for the consequences of climate change, and narrows the list of events that are still considered an "act of God." Lava flows, for example.
Dwiggins has given us yet another mystery that blurs the lines between the true act of God and the criminal deed.
May 14, 2022
A missing scuba diver and strange creatures in the ocean off the coast of California bring forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws to the town of Morro Bay at the request of local authorities to assist in their investigation. Really likeable and well-developed characters and a very timely theme made this book a very interesting read.
February 22, 2017
This is the 4th is the forensic geology series and the best so far. I was wondering how geology could have a part in an ocean based mysterious disappearance. The book is well written, it flows and is a very easy read. One of those books you could read straight through with no problem.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews