Julia Hamill has recently divorced, and purchased an ancient run-down house in the Boston area. In the process of beginning a landscape project, Julia discovers a skeleton that has been buried since the 1830's. The fractured bones suggest murder.

Flashback to 1830: Rose Connolly is in a Boston maternity ward, where Rose's sister is dying of childbirth fever. When Rose's sister dies, Rose hides baby Meggy to protect her from her sister's abusive husband and others who want to take her away and give her to an undisclosed party.

Medical student Norris Marshall is ostracized by his wealthier classmates, and he assists Wall-eyed Jack in obtaining bodies for the medical students to dissect. While it's a gruesome business, it pays his tuition to medical school. But there is a serial killer at work, and when several mutilated bodies turn up in deserted alleyways, Rose and Norris are suspects in the killings since they are the only ones to have caught a glimpse of the "West End Reaper." Norris, Rose, and Norris' fellow student, Oliver Wendell Holmes, race to uncover the truth behind the slayings to keep Norris from facing the gallows.

The story jumps from the past to the present, where Julia is able to trace their progress with the help of a relative of the house's former owner, through old correspondence from Oliver Wendell Holmes.

I have long been a Tess Gerritsen fan and The Bone Garden is a very entertaining novel. However, I felt that the suspense in the story line suffered by switching from past to present, and really enjoyed the historical segments most. The medical history and forensic descriptions were engrossing with compelling characters and a unique plot with just the right amount of romance. The ending was a surprise that I didn't see coming.