Game of Bones

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Sarah Booth Delaney and Tinkie Bellcase Richmond are hot on the trail of a murderer when a body is found at Mound Salla in Sunflower County, Mississippi. In Game of Bones by Carolyn Haines in what appears to be a ritualistic killing, archaeologist Dr. Sandy Wells is found with her throat slit hanging above an intrusive burial grave. (Game of Bones will be published by Minotaur Books on May 14.)

When the partners arrive, they find her co-worker Dr. Frank Hafner as the leading suspect. It seems Drs. Hafner and Wells had different points of view on how the excavation should be handled and their arguments were heard far and wide. Dr. Hafner claims he is innocent and asks Sarah Booth and Tinkie to investigate to try to clear him.

As they investigate, they discover some strange and almost mystical events swirling around the site. When Peter Deerstalker, a member of the Tunica tribe, mentions a curse, it doesn't seem so far-fetched. Someone is digging in the site for something other than ancient pottery shards. Strange occurrences at night have the entire crew freaked out and when another person is found dead in a similar fashion, the graduate student crew wants to hightail it away.


Although he is their client, Sarah Booth and Tinkie aren't so sure he is innocent. Dr. Hafner is a notorious womanizer and had been having an affair with Dr. Wells as well as with some other graduate students. One in particular gives him an alibi for the time Dr. Wells was murdered.

Struggling to determine what the intruder is looking for inside the mound, Sarah Booth manages to place Sheriff Coleman in jeopardy, now after they have finally found their way together. Another heart-stopping adventure for the detectives from Zinnia, Mississippi.

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley.