"The first day at college, my professor dropped dead. The second day, I assisted at his autopsy. Let's hope I don't have to go through four years of this...."

Jenna Blake has been looking forward to going away to college. She loves her surgeon mother, but wants to find her own place in the world. Jenna is also looking forward to having a closer relationship with her father, a professor at her new school.

Jenna is uncertain as to what she wants to do with her life. She loves the idea of medicine, but gets weak at the sight of blood. She has a strong fear that she would do something, or not do something, that would cost someone their life. Her father has a unique solution--become a medical examiner. A mutual friend of her divorced parents is the local medical examiner.

Amazing herself Jenna decides to go for an interview. After the interview, conducted during an autopsy, Jenna finds herself intrigued. She likes the idea of answering questions for the police and family about a person's death. Through her new job Jenna is drawn into a mystery that threatens her life.

Christopher Golden presents Jenna Blake as a smart, funny, believable young woman. The suspense builds, with enough red herrings tossed out to lead you astray.

Body Bags is an excellent addition to your collection. It meets the needs of middle and high school students who are looking for mysteries with lots of action and characters with which they can relate. There are a few profanities, but less than the average Mary Higgins Clark book. I would add this book, as well as the other books in the series, to a library collection serving young adults.

Golden stated in an interview at Book Wyrm that his purpose was to create something cool that would appeal to readers from fourteen to twenty, although of course we hope older readers will be intrigued as well. He has succeeded in doing just that. The writing is tight and fast paced. The conclusions are logical. This is the type of book that most young adults want to read, as opposed to the type parents and teachers think they should read.

It is worth noting, especially to doubting teens, that Christopher Golden has also written several Buffy The Vampire Slayer, X Men, and Star Wars books. Golden has written several other non-series books and has earned the Bram Stoker award.