The Devil’s Bones is the latest novel in the series from Carolyn Haines that Kirkus Reviews characterizes as “Stephanie Plum meets the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” featuring sassy Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney. As Sarah Booth sees it, Easter weekend is a time to celebrate life in all its many forms. So when the newly-pregnant Tinkie invites her and Cece on a girls’ trip to Lucedale, … Cece on a girls’ trip to Lucedale, Mississippi to celebrate that spring has officially sprung, Sarah Booth can’t resist. Plans include facials, food, and a trip to the incredible Garden of Bones–a miniature Holy Land with recreations of all parts of the Middle East–for their Sunrise Easter Services led by biblical scholar, gardener, and creator of the Gardens Daniel Reynolds.
Unfortunately for Sarah Booth and the gang, someone doesn’t seem appreciate this season of new life. Easter morning has just dawned when the trio find themselves at the Mount of Olives–with a dead body at their feet.
Reynolds identifies the dead man as local lawyer Perry Slay, who was well known for his sly and underhanded dealings. Perry had rubbed plenty of people the wrong way, and now it looks like someone has rubbed him out…
Because being a PI apparently means never being on vacation, Sarah Booth and her friends must now find a way to resurrect the truth from a list of suspects as long as the River Jordan, reveal the devil in disguise, and–if they’re lucky–find a moment to enjoy a few chocolate bunnies before more bodies pile up like pillars of salt.
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Haines is writing at the top of her form in this latest Sarah Booth Delaney novel. This one has a fascinating background, based on an actual Mississippi landmark that I’d never heard of before. Love me some Sarah Booth!
The Devils Bones is the 21st installment in the “A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery” series. I haven’t read the whole series (Maybe 4) but boy I wish I had as I love Sarah Booth! I always walk away having learned something when I read one of Carolyn’s books. With all this said you can easily read this book as a stand-alone, but I recommend reading in order.
Sarah Booth is a strong and intelligent protagonist and all the characters are fully developed with some quirky attributes. I loved how important Sarah Booth’s friends are to her Tinkie, CeCe, and Coleman. The inclusion of her haint (Dahlia House’s ghost Jetty) who helps by giving clue from the beyond to help solve the mystery. I really enjoyed learning about the miniature Holy Land in Lucedale, Missisippi .
There were plenty of twists and turns and lots of suspects to choose from this go around and the main suspect did not help himself what so ever. I found this book to be a real page-turner, suspenseful, read that had me second guessing up till the end. I did figure out who the killer was but I was wrong about the why until close to the end.
I’ll be reading more of this author, I highly recommend this book and series.
I requested and received an Advanced Reader Copy from Minotaur Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A female private eye and her pals solve crimes in the Mississippi Delta. Love all the characters!
The body count is high when an apparent serial killer begins knocking off residents of a small Mississippi town during Easter week. And the site of the body dumping is none other than a replica of the Holy Land. Sarah Booth, Tinkie, and Cece spend what’s supposed to be a girls’ weekend chasing clues that lead to more mayhem. I enjoyed this book even though I figured out who was the villain long before our heroines did.
Another fun book in the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. This is actually book 21 in the series *boggles*, and I’m still enjoying this series a much now as I did at the beginning. There’s always great characters and a mystery that has me guessing until the end.
Keep on writing them Ms. Haines, and I’ll keep reading them.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.
So, Tinkie is pregnant and Sarah Booth agrees to ‘take on’ small-town Lucedale, Mississippi for the celebration of life. The partners’ intentions are good, the results—not so much. When a body is found in the quaint town’s recreation of the Holy Land in miniature, the fault can’t possibly be laid at Sarah Booth’s door. Even so, as usual, it’s hers to solve. Hers and Tinkie’s. I tend to agree. If you want something ‘done right’ you must ‘do it yourself’. This is a fun romp you won’t want to miss, dead bodies and all. (And I don’t think I say that just because the setting is my adopted town and I love it.)
The Devil’s Bones by Carolyn Haines is a pleasurable read, with the perfect amount of mystery, romance, friendship, family, and paranormal.
Will Sarah Booth and Tinkie figure out who the killer is?
Sarah Booth and Cece join Tinkie for a girls’ weekend to visit the Garden of Bones and miniature Holyland in Lucedale, Mississippi. Tinkie is pregnant and isn’t quite herself in this installment. However, Jitty has traveled with the girls to help keep her eye on them as trouble is headed their way.
The Client
Erik is the local pharmacist. He owns the only pharmacy in town, but Erik has hidden a part of his life from the people of Lucedale. The problem is he doesn’t even want to tell Sarah Booth and Tinkie, which makes investigating to clear his name even harder. Erik also can’t seem to stay where he should so he doesn’t have an alibi for some events. Erik is a fun, happy guy, but he hides his true self because he doesn’t trust that the people in town will believe in him. Even though he comes across as an eligible bachelor, I don’t think that he is looking for love. Also, he seems a bit conceited too.
The Mystery
There are multiple murders happening and all of the bodies keep ending up in the Dead Sea or nearby at the Garden of Bones. But there are other things going on too like Cosmo wants the garden closed and the water diverted back to his property for the insects and animals in the wetland. Then there is some crazy person shooting at Sarah Booth and Tinkie. Cece isn’t checking in regularly as she is trying to work with an online video host. Then she goes missing and Sarah Booth knows that she hasn’t left the area.
Jitty
The ghost, Jitty shows up and is trying to tell Sarah Booth what is going on but she is always very vague. However, she gets Sarah Booth thinking and that is what counts. Jitty is such a marvelous character, I adore the scenes with her in them.
Five Stars
I absolutely love this series. Ms. Haines has such a fabulous writing style that I am sucked right in. She includes the perfect amounts of life, thrills, and love in each story. I adore the way there is a lesson for Sarah Booth in each case and that Jitty is there for her. My rating for The Devil’s Bones by Carolyn Haines is five stars.
If you haven’t read this series, pick a book and get started. Seriously, these are some of the best out there.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Devil’s Bones by Carolyn Haines.
This Guest Review is for Baroness’ Book Trove.
Until the next time,
~Jen
If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.
How many bodies can Sarah Booth and Tinkie find on a lovely getaway weekend? Well, quite a few. Along with the intrepid Cece, the girls are in Lucedale, Mississippi staying at a B & B and enjoying the lovely Gardens of Bones, a sweet retreat, indeed.
The setting is a lovely garden spot designed to represent the Holy Land. The many victims are dying of poisoning or bludgeoning with all clues pointing to the local pharmacist who hires the very pregnant Tinkie and the always sharp Sarah Booth to prove his innocence.
If you are just discovering Sarah Booth, you are in for a treat! The characters are engaging, fun and smart. Even the pets have roles in these detectives’ lives! And then there is Jitty, Sarah’s personal haint, who really nails it!
The mystery is intricate and cleverly drawn. Just when I think I’ve figured it out, my suspect shows up dead! Word is the next Sarah Booth Delany book is in the works. YAY!
“The Devil’s Bones” (Minotaur Books, July 21, 2020), is a charmingly complex, character-driven mystery involving the feisty women detective partners from Zinnia, Mississippi, Sarah Booth Delaney and Tinkie Richmond, along with their friend and sidekick, journalist CeCe Dee Falcon. Like all the 21 Sarah Booth Delany books before it in this popular, long-running series, “The Devil’s Bones” is a delightful, well-crafted peach of a cozy mystery that is sure to charm readers.
The first book in the series, “Them Bones” (Bantam, 2009), introduced readers to Sarah Booth, a failed actress who returns home to Mississippi to find her family plantation on the brink of ruin. Sarah Booth’s retreat to Mississippi in the inaugural book presents her as unmarried, unemployed, and over-thirty, and an unconventional Southern belle. Sleuthing, however, comes naturally to her, and she forms the Delaney Detective Agency. She is aided by Jitty, the ghost of her great-great-grandmother’s nanny.
While Sarah Booth, in all her complexities and glories, is the star of the series, Tinkie, a certified “Daddy’s girl” with an independent streak an acre wide, holds her own, as do a host of other characters. Jitty can steal a scene quicker than a freckle-faced child with a puppy, and Tinkie is adept at the droll one-liners that roll through the stories.
If one of the trademarks of good Southern literature is eccentric, compelling characters, Haines nails it time and time again in the Bones series. In “Devil’s Bones,” Cosmo Constantine is an entomologist who “can’t kill a fire ant when it’s biting him,” but might not be above poisoning off some people to preserve his piece of paradise. Eric Ward, a dreamboat single pharmacist, has a secret from the town (but not a dark one; rather a lovely, fun one). He loves cats and old people and lowers the charge for folks who can’t pay for their prescriptions. Yet Eric might be poisoning bad people. And don’t forget Sheriff Glory J. Howard, a former rodeo star who rides a horse to the scene of the first murder. Her soft spot for Eric and Cosmo compounds her job when they surface as likely suspects in a series of murders. Pay attention to Glory’s horse, by the way, as the story unfolds.
In Devil’s Bones, Sarah Booth, Tinkie, and CeCe head to Bexley Bed and Breakfast retreat in Lucedale, Mississippi, with plans for a relaxing, pampered weekend of facials, massages, and world-class eating. boldness.
Of course, the relaxing part of a relaxing weekend is not going to happen. When the trio heads out for an Easter service, worship is interrupted by an irate Cosmo who fears the crowds will endanger the habitat. Soon after the disrupted service, Sarah Booth, Tinkie and Cece find a dead body. The corpse is quickly identified as Perry Slay, an odious lawyer that just about everybody in the community hated—and for good reason. One local says: “Perry Slay was a gnat in the eye of mankind.” With a suspect list that includes nearly everyone, Sarah Booth, Tinkie and CeCe do not envy Sheriff Glory J. Howard.
Haines, with her trademark droll humor and intricate plotting, soon has the women involved in more murder and mayhem. Eric hires Sarah Booth and Tinkie to prove he is not guilty after his arrest for the first murder. But even Sarah Booth begins to question his innocence as the crimes multiply once Eric is released on bail.
What follows is a tense romp with the traditional who-done-it puzzle (not who you’d think!) and some edge-of-your-seat suspense, but all deftly written with the typical Haines’ grace and charm and low dose of graphic violence. Everything a good cozy mystery should be, and more.
A fast paced mystery with lots of victims and suspense. Private eye Sarah Booth and her partner Tinkie have their hands full in what was supposed to be a girls weekend in the miniature Holy Land. What happens is not holy.
This is another great installment in the Sarah Booth Delaney series. I have read them all and love how each story is unique yet there is always something that ties them together. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC. The opinions are my own.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest, voluntary review. As always, Carolyn Haines has written another phenomenal Sarah Booth mystery. Her writing is stellar along with her fantastic characters. This book is both entertaining and a quick read that all mystery fans will enjoy. You can’t go wrong with Sarah Booth and all her crazy friends. Enjoy!
Bodies Keep Appearing, Serial Killer Perhaps?
This mystery is the21st in a series where the books can be read in any order. This episode has Sarah and her friends discovering bodies every day! These are not quite cozy mysteries but they won’t give the readers nightmares either. The mystery is very good. There are red herrings and pieces that just don’t fit together. The final reveal was very good. I have read a few other books in this series and they are all hard to put down. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.
This is the first book in this series I have read, but it was really good. After reading for a bit, I was caught up with the main things needed with the 3 friends, Sarah, Cece, and Tinkie. The girls on a girl’s weekend but the mystery still finds them! They find a dead body and must solve the crime! I loved the characters!!! They were so much fun and I think I need to go read the whole series now! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
Sarah Booth and the gang have taken a long weekend to go to a spa and celebrate Tinkie’s pregnancy! The spa is set on the site of a miniature Holy Land. Easter service isn’t even finished before the first body is found. The local pharmacist, Eric, is the chief suspect. Eric hires Sarah Booth and Tinkie and the search begins. Soon the bodies and the suspects pile up. Cece joins up with a visiting blogger in exploring the area while the others search for the murderer(s).
Of course, I love the characters and the mystery is great. I loved this book and look forward to another this year.
Sarah Booth and CeCe are invited by Tinkie who is pregnant on a girls weekend to a posh B&B in Lucedale, Mississippi. There they can have spa treatments and massages and relax.
On Easter morning they go to the Palestinian Gardens, a miniature Holy Land.
Unfortunately while touring the Gardens they stumble across a dead body.
So begins their help to investigate, hoping to find the killer before anyone else ends up dead.
Twists and turns and parts that had me laughing.
I loved this book and I love this series!
Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book.
Holy smokes, what else can go wrong for these three ladies? They run a PI business, go on a girls retreat and find dead bodies, poisoned people, get shot at, and are hired by a man with so many secrets that you can’t keep them all straight.
The Devil’s Bones was fun to read. The story had me smiling and laughing all while trying to figure out exactly who the bad guy was. I had to change my guess a couple times, but the story did not require me to think hard. It was easy to figure out who was who, and who was not what they seemed. I liked that the characters had fun, enjoyed life, and were true to their friendships.
This is the first book I have read in the series, although it is #21, and it was easy to know what was happening. I feel like there may have been a couple back stories that would have helped me catch on a little quicker, but I still liked what I was reading. I may go back and read some of the first books, but I know that I will be looking for book #22 and on so that I can keep on these crazy fun ladies.
It’s Easter time and book #21 takes Sarah Booth, Cece and Tinkie on a trip to Lucedale, Mississippi for a girls weekend of fun and pampering at the Bexly B%B. The weekend also includes a miniature Holy Land – the Palestinian Gardens. What they didn’t plan for their Easter morning was stumbling over a dead body. Turns out shady lawyer, Perry Slay had made one enemy too many and he’s done in and laid to rest at The Mount of Olives. As Sarah is a PI and they did find the dead guy….off they go to track down a killer. I won’t say any more for fear of spoiling your reading pleasure with a possible spoiler.
I have enjoyed this series from the beginning and it was never disappointed me. Put a Sarah Booth mystery in my hands and I am one very happy reader. The characters are so well developed and the puzzles so satisfying, I know that I will sit down to read and not come up for breaks until I’ve turned the last page. Yes, this series is that good.
My thanks to the publisher, Minotaur and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
I’ve pretty much read all of the Carolyn Haines books in this series. Love the characters, the humor, and the easy to read style. Just a good fun read.
This was a riveting read; storytelling at its best. Sarah Booth, Tinkie and Cece are enjoying a girls weekend trip…until they find the first body. An amazingly twisty plot, well developed characters and brilliant writing move the story along at a nice pace. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to future installments. I received this book free and chose to make a voluntary, unbiased review.
The Devil’s Bones by Carolyn Haines has it all: a transgender newspaper reporter, a TV journalist, a pregnant private investigator, a horseback-riding sheriff, and a model of the Holy Land. It these things don’t set up a murder, what does? This book has no shortage of interesting characters, that’s for sure. It has a plot, which takes a while to unfold but does so rapidly and dramatically when the time comes. It has tons of back-story, probably covered in earlier novels, but explained in this one, which should intrigue the reader enough to go back and read earlier books.
Someone is murdering seemingly unrelated people and planting their bodies at the site of a miniature replica of the Holy Land. The murders don’t seem related to the site, but maybe they are. There is no shortage of likely suspects and a small-town sheriff who is good at her job, but extremely short-handed as the murders pile up. Haines portrayal of her main characters is thorough and accurate and is the driving force behind solving the crime, with a client who never has an alibi when crimes are committed, but whom everyone agrees in unlikely to be the murderer. It come with a compelling motive and thought-provoking solution to a number of crimes. It was a good read. I recommend it.
I was invited to read a free ARC of The Devil’s Bones by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thedevilsbones