The first in a gripping new series by Paula Munier, A Borrowing of Bones is full of complex twists, introducing a wonderful new voice for mystery readers and dog lovers.Grief and guilt are the ghosts that haunt you when you survive what others do not….After their last deployment, when she got shot, her fiancé Martinez got killed and his bomb-sniffing dog Elvis got depressed, soldier Mercy Carr … depressed, soldier Mercy Carr and Elvis were both sent home, her late lover’s last words ringing in her ears: “Take care of my partner.”
Together the two former military police—one twenty-nine-year-old two-legged female with wounds deeper than skin and one handsome five-year-old four-legged Malinois with canine PTSD—march off their grief mile after mile in the beautiful remote Vermont wilderness.
Even on the Fourth of July weekend, when all of Northshire celebrates with fun and frolic and fireworks, it’s just another walk in the woods for Mercy and Elvis—until the dog alerts to explosives and they find a squalling baby abandoned near a shallow grave filled with what appear to be human bones.
U.S. Game Warden Troy Warner and his search and rescue Newfoundland Susie Bear respond to Mercy’s 911 call, and the four must work together to track down a missing mother, solve a cold-case murder, and keep the citizens of Northshire safe on potentially the most incendiary Independence Day since the American Revolution.
It’s a call to action Mercy and Elvis cannot ignore, no matter what the cost.
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I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading others by the author.
I loved the characters, both human and canine, and the setting in southern Vermont. Nice plot twists
Wow! I couldn’t put it down. (Warning: Don’t start this one at bedtime.) Paula is an artist. Her prose is breathtaking, the story compelling, the pace exhilarating. Truly, I loved it. A Borrowing of Bones is an exultant exploration of decency, honor, and patriotism. Beautifully crafted, thoroughly enjoyable.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book (both the two-legged and the four-legged!) as well as the setting. The author did a great job describing the quaint towns and beautiful landscape. The main character retired MP, Mercy, and her retired bomb-sniffing dog , Elvis, are both trying to heal from a terrible loss as well as PTSD. I really enjoyed seeing their relationship evolve throughout the book. There was a lot going on – found babies, potential explosives, murder…keeping my attention throughout. It sounds like this book is intended to be the first in a series – I would definitely read additional books with these characters.
A Borrowing of Bones by author Paula Munier is a wonderful new mystery series with ex-MP Mercy Carr and her Belgian Malinois, Elvis. Mercy is healing from past traumas, physical and emotional as she works with the sheriff department in a remote area of Vermont. The healing of body and mind after the immersion of survival in a war-torn country is not easy, but Mercy and Elvis are making it one day at a time.
She is out walking Elvis and he hits on the presence of explosives. Elvis is healing from his own trauma and sometimes he goes a bit off course as he is associating Mercy as his handler since the death of his previous owner/handler, Martinez. He finds a baby rattle or teether which seems very much out of place in this area.
I enjoyed this book very much! It is well written, has wonderful characters, and I love the SARs dogs Elvis and Susie Bear. The plot interweaves finding an abandoned baby in the remote wilderness, finding old bones from a previous murder, domestic violence, and cultural elements which strike a cord from revolutionary days of the past.
I will be eagerly waiting for the next book in this series!
Publication Date September 11, 2018
I liked it! There are lots of threads to this story (including a romance, which manages to not be too intrusive). There’s also plenty of Vermont scenery and “product placement” with mentions of stores and restaurants and specific local brands, which I love.
A BORROWING OF BONES by Paula Munier
A Series’ First Entry with Possibilities
First, I should say I met the author when she coordinated a “Pitch Conference” in New York City a few years ago. The conference focused on the “pitch”—the concise piece any aspiring author needs to craft to sell their work—and the power of a strong beginning. I took heed of the lessons of the conference and both my pitch and opening improved, which led to my work getting published, but that’s a story for another time. All this is only germane as Munier obviously knows of which she speaks—based on this novel.
Her opening line—“Grief and guilt are the ghosts that haunt you when you survive what other do not”—and her opening chapter are both some of the strongest I’ve read recently. The chapter is tight, gripping and persuasive, and makes you want to read the rest. And while the remaining chapters do not reach this high bar and at times wander a bit, they are sufficient to keep the reader engaged.
Like other detective works lately, she crafts two protagonists. Mercy Carr is the surviving, but scarred, Iraq war veteran and military police, who is also mourning the loss of her fiancé, who plunges ahead and never waits for backup. Troy Warner is a quiet, enigmatic game warden working the woodlands of Vermont who likes to color within the lines and live by the rules. With their very different backgrounds and experiences, both characters offer interesting possibilities which are only partially realized in the pages of the first book in this series. They pool their efforts to tackle a mystery involving explosives, a long dead body, a militia group and an abandoned baby in the middle of a meadow.
Perhaps, most important, both heroes have their own canine companions. Mercy is helping Elvis, a bomb-sniffing Belgian shepherd, whose handler was killed in Iraq, get acclimated to a new world, a new life and a new handler. Troy works with Susie Bear, a fetching search-and-rescue Newfoundland, who is his companion and friend. Munier does a nice job of giving both dogs critical roles in the story and not just add-ons. No doubt, dog lovers will find much to appreciate in the narrative as both canines protect their human companions at all costs and both use their unique talents to help our heroes solve the crime. I’m not a dog lover, but I must admit that I was won over to the charm of these two four-legged helpers through the pages.
Readers will likely be taken in by the story location as well; I was. The verdant landscape of the mountains and woods of Vermont provide a beautiful background for the narrative, but also an apt setting for the intricate—and sometimes convoluted—puzzle of the crime(s) Munier has devised. I read the novel during the Covid lockdown and had the almost irresistible urge to get in the car and head north into the White Mountain of Vermont.
The Borrowing of Bones is the first in a new series and it will be interesting to see how these characters develop and what Mercy and Elvis and Troy and Susie Bear can get themselves into in the next installments. Both book two and three
Two ex-military. Two trained dogs. One set of bones buried in the woods. That’s just the beginning for this book. Troy and Mercy are reconnected after many years and decide to team up in order to figure out the mystery of a baby found in the woods. While current game warden, Troy, tries to keep Mercy out of it, she just want let sleeping dogs lie. These characters are highly likable and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
This is a fantastic read by a great author! I couldn’t put it down! The story line is excellent and really kept me engaged. I have recommended it to friends and they bought the book as well. Be sure to read this one–you will be very happy that you did! I really appreciated that the protagonist had been in the military, and that she and her canine companion were able to assist (more than assist–she solved the entire mystery!) the local law enforcement when a baby and a skeleton are found in the wood! Don’t miss it!!!
I COULD NOT WAIT FOR THIS BOOK TO BE OVER!!!!! I couldn’t stand it the character was whinny the dogs names were terrible. I just hated reading this book. I was so disappointed!! If you want to read a great book about a war hero and her dog, read Blood on the Tracks Sidney Rose Parnell by Barbara Nickless. Now that is an amazing book and an amazing series!!! I now that book had a great story and it wasn’t completely cheesy unlike this one!!