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.

A Gift of Bones

It's nearly Christmas in Zinnia, Mississippi, and Sarah Booth Delaney is looking forward to her first Christmas as a couple with sheriff Coleman Peters. In A Gift of Bones by Carolyn Haines, there's even a hint of snow in Zinnia. (A Gift of Bones will be released by Minotaur on October 16.)

Preparing for the holidays, Sarah Booth hopes the season will be quiet and peaceful. First Madame Tomeeka aka Tammy Odom, frightens Sarah Booth with a dream featuring two babies and something dangerous, Then suddenly her friend Cece bursts in asking for help for a dire situation. It seems Cece received a box with a lock of hair, a photo of a very pregnancy young woman and a ransom note. The young woman is Cece's cousin who she lost touch with years ago. Cece always loved Eve, but her parents didn't want Cece around, especially after Cecil transitioned into Cece. Cece lost track of Eve and has no idea where she might be now.

Sarah Booth naturally wants to involve Coleman, but the ransom

note says no police. Along with her partner Tinkie, Sarah Booth tries to find Eve's last known location. She decides to interview Will and Carla Falcon, Eve's estranged parents. Carla is a horrible person and threatens to call the police on the partners. They know they will not learn anything from this angry, vindictive woman, nor her meek husband.

It's a race against time to find Eve before the ransom has to be paid and as Sarah Booth digs deeper she uncovers a plot that would frighten even the most hardened hearts.

Another suspenseful mystery by one of my favorite authors, Carolyn Haines. I'm happy Sarah Booth's relationship with Coleman has moved forward, but I wish she'd stop teasing us about Tinkie. Carolyn, you are in charge of your characters lives, give Tinkie a baby!

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Charmed Bones

Sarah Booth Delaney is in the midst of an uproar at the Zinnia, Mississippi, Board of Education. It seems three sisters who are Wiccan want to open a school in Zinnia. In Charmed Bones by Carolyn Haines, the town is divided on the request.

When Sarah and her partner Tinkie are hired to find the delinquent son of the most vocal critics, they know he is a troublesome kid. The parents are sure Corey has been kidnapped by three "witches" who live in Musgrove Manor. Sarah Booth and Tinkie are not so sure.

When they meet the three sisters, who by all appearance seem to be attractive, trendy women, they try to defend them from the crazies. Also living in the house is the reclusive artist and owner of Musgrove Manor Trevor Mugrove. He has promised to sell the Manor to the sisters conveniently named Hope, Faith and Charity Harrington.

Sarah Booth and Tinkie don't really want to search for Kitten's delinquent son, but the pay is too

good to pass up. They head out to the Manor to meet the sisters and to gather information on Corey and what trouble he has caused.

When a well-know tabloid reporter Esmerelda Grimes from Memphis shows up and teams up with Kitten Fontana, Sarah Booth knows there will be fireworks about the three sisters and she is more determined than ever to help them fit in to the town. When the misleading and fabricated headlines start to fly, tempers flare.

When Trevor is found dead in the Manor, the sisters are suspected, and his death sparks a battle for the Manor and the land surrounding it. When another person is found dead near the Manor, the story takes a strange turn. There were so many twists and turns in this book, I was taken by surprise at the ending.

Oh and not to spoil things, but the attraction between Sarah Booth and Coleman makes some progress. Yay.

The Specter of Seduction

Fresh from their success in Alabama, Raissa James and Reginald Proctor are asked to come to Waverley Mansion, an antebellum home in Mississippi. The Specter of Seduction by Carolyn Haines is the third in the Pluto's Snitch series and it is the most diabolical.

The Sheridans have decided to renovate a crumbling down, but still gorgeous mansion in the wilds of Mississippi, but something seems to have taken hold of their eight-year old daughter Amanda. Her behavior is reminiscent of someone much older and she seems wild and untamed. Also she has an imaginary friend named Nan who seems to be leading Amanda down a distant and peculiar path.

The mansion property is fraught with Civil War history and betrayal. The original family known as the Norquist family had three sons and three daughters and lived comfortably and quietly before the war. Three years into the war a young woman named Nora Bailey came to live with the family and fell in love with Francis, the eldest son. As they were Southerners, the three sons were Confederate officers, but Nora would soon wreak havoc on their lives.  She had a voracious sexual appetite and had affairs with two of the brothers, the local doctor and who knows who else. She also was a Union spy and her mission was to gain knowledge of Confederate military plans, but was hanged as a spy at Waverley Mansion.

Her sexual appetite was felt on the property and it drew college age women from The Mississippi
College for Women, which was a problem as well in the current day. The Sheridans also fear for the soul of their daughter Amanda with so much turbulence surrounding the home.

Raissa feels the powerful force of Nora and struggles to keep herself from being drawn in while she tries to save Amanda. With many twists and turns The Specter of Seduction is a wonderful addition to Carolyn Haines' list of books and I am looking forward to the next in the series.

Sticks and Bones

A New Year's celebration goes bad when Frangelica "Sister" McFee makes her grand entrance in Sticks and Bone by Carolyn Haines. Sarah Booth knew Sister in college and her arrogant, cruel ways have changed not at all even as she became a successful author.

Her latest best seller documents the deaths of her mother, Cleo and brother many years ago. Sister seems determined to have her brother Son (of all names) take the blame for drunk driving and killing himself and their mother. Worst of all, she is back in Zinnia to film a movie based on the book.

The movie producers think there might be more to the story and hire Sarah Booth and Tinkie to investigate. Also in the frame is Colin McFee, husband of Cleo, now married to Susan. Colin, an ultra wealthy developer, is running for Senator in Mississippi. His platform includes rants about how Vladimir Putin is destroying the economy of Mississippi. I would have thought this premise was too bizarre even for southern politics, but now that this country has experienced the most recent presidential election, nothing surprises me or seems outrageous any more. He is truly crazy.

A convoluted trust agreement, billions of dollars in assets, an unfulfilled desire for parental acceptance and the mysterious deaths haunting the family lead Sarah Booth and Tinkie into a complicated investigation. Why were Cleo and Son out on the road on a horrible, rainy night with flooding everywhere? What caused the car to crash into the river? How did the car disappear after it had been salvaged?

Another gem of a mystery by Carolyn Haines. For a review of another Carolyn Haines book -  The Book of Beloved,  click here.

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