An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller.She’s come back to solve the mystery of her father’s death and confront her own dark past.When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But … set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he killed himself.
To prove it, she needs the help of Ash Haugen, the man she left behind. But Rebecca and Ash share more than broken hearts. Something darker lies between them, and the investigation is stirring it back to life. Clues lead them to the home of Olivia West and her deeply troubled twelve-year-old daughter, Tori. The child knows more about the murder than anyone can imagine, but she’s too terrified to say a word.
And as a cold-blooded killer resurfaces from the past, Rebecca and Ash begin to fear that their own secrets may be even harder to survive.
more
Simple, direct and right to the point review — Love this author … Love this series … LOVED this new book.
Thank you #netgalley and #montlakeromance for the eARC.
Loreth Anne White is at the top of her game! The Dark Bones is set in the same world as Dark Lure but stands alone. The mystery here is tightly woven, and the world springs to life. Sights and sounds, especially, almost seem to underscore what the characters are experiencing. Excellent writing and a compelling story!
A gripping weaving …. from the first to last page…
Another home run from Loreth Anne White.
Color me surprised that characters have come back to visit from The Dark Lure.
Dark Bones, what a well crafted thriller with several different story lines woven together flawlessly. Amazing, each chapter felt like a mini cliffhanger that insisted I completely ignore adulting and keep turning the pages. Ash and Rebecca are two halves of a whole and their story, at every turn, seemed like it would only ever be part of their pasts.
So many secrets, so many lies and that conclusion was so worth the wait!
Light on the romance, as most thrillers should be, but just enough to satisfy the HEA lover in us all. If you’re not a Loreth Anne White fan, pick this one up, you will be.
This book was so beautifully written that I found myself in a daze of admiration for the author. This book tackles some intense issues near the end of the story. I recommend reading through the reviews
This book didn’t grab my attention right away, but after a few chapters it picked up and was amazing!
Not usually a fan of romance mysteries but this one was good. Had enough going on that the romance angle didn’t overrun the story
The second in the Dark Lure series, I now have to go and read the first one.
I love the voice the author gave to her MC, Rebecca (Becca) North and the hero, Ash Haugen, and all the secondary characters, especially the inner voices moving them back and forth through time. From the catalyst that started it all, to the unraveling and impact of a crime committed twenty years ago. Ms. White doesn’t shy away from the gritty side of life, a big plus in the books I enjoy.
The cadence of the writing itself, some sentences flowing, some hitting with the punch of a fist, and always delivering one more clue, or regret, sorrow, or hope, kept the story moving. The reader can feel the cold, hear the wind and crackle of ice, and taste the snow in wonderful descriptive passages.
No cliffhanger here, but leaves room for more. I highly recommend this book and will be reading more by this author.
A dark thriller that weaves wrongdoings of 20 years ago into present day with murderous outcomes.
The location setting is a familiar one along with Olivia, Cole and Tori returning from the first book. But that is where the similarities to the first book end. New characters, Canadian detective Rebecca North and rancher Ash Haugen and their traumatic childhood pasts are the main characters in this second book in the series.
Rebecca returns home after the alleged suicide of her father. She feels guilt over their past estrangement and for not taking his last call to her right before his death more seriously. He was re-looking into the cold case of 2 teens who went missing 20 years ago and he knows that both Rebecca and Ash, who were in love back then, both lied about things that happened back then.
Betrayals are abundant throughout along with many murders to cover-up to keep hidden the sins of the past. Rebecca’s investigation is the forefront of the story and keeps you fascinated with finding out both the past and present mysteries and how they are connected.
White delivers a dark and suspenseful novel with masterfully written characters. An eye for detail in setting and the twists and danger in the prose will keep readers engaged.
I highly recommend this book to fans of the mystery & suspense genre.
Well written and held my interest. After the apparent suicide of her retired police officer father, Detective Rebecca North returns to her rural home town to make final arrangements. Her father had been keeping his hands in things after retirement by looking into cold cases. The last case, over twenty years old, had a strange connection to Rebecca. The circumstances of his death just don’t seem to add up. She vows to get to the bottom of her father’s death and the implications of his last investigation. This was a well written story. It was a little wordy in parts, but overall the pace was good, there were enough twists and turns to keep me interested, and it had at least one big surprise that I didn’t see coming. There were also enough “bread crumbs” offered during the investigation to make the reader feel “in on the action” as it happened. (I hate those stories where the brilliant detective holds back all the information and then dumps it in a tell-all at the end.) This was an entertaining read that I would recommend.
Anything written by this author is 5 stars in my opinion!
Loreth Anne White is a new author to me, and I am impressed, I admit that. Her writing is beautiful, smooth, and descriptive, I called it in my mind Women’s Lit meets Cozy Mystery meets Thriller meets Romantic Suspense.
Of course, if you are looking for a fast-paced action thriller, then you might get anxious after the intensely frightening beginning as the stage is set for the twenty-year-old crimes to be solved and connected to the current ones. The investigation is interesting and engaging but it does take time to get all the information together. Yet the author abundantly awards the readers, as the action and tension increases after half of the book are read.
Everything in the story is intense, not just the investigation. The small town, the weather, the people, the connections, the climate, the past that is playing such an important role in the present, everything is an intricate part of the plot as the story unfolds, and as the solution started to be at hand, the book was impossible to put down until the end.
Detective Rebecca North is a strong female lead. She knows her job, she is talented, detail oriented and dedicated. She has her issues from the past and her unresolved relationship with Ash Haugen, both ending up as the center of the investigation at hand.
Ash is a broken hero, with his faults and failures. There are third person issues, there are youthful mistakes, there are terrible secrets and heartbreaking destinies. Even though it took me a long time to feel an emotional connection with Rebecca and Ash, when it finally came, it hit hard and directly to my heart. The road for them is not easy, the obstacles they face are unimaginable. The author does not take easy short cuts in their relationship but gives lifelike, believable solutions that were acceptable.
I have not read the book one in the series and was actually surprised to see that this is the book two – the two stories are separate tales, even though after reading the blurb to the book one realized that the main characters do visit this story as well.
Tragic human destinies and devastating, horrifying secrets unravel as Rebecca starts to question the apparent suicide of her father. Mix in small-town Canada up in the prairie in the middle of the winter, with protagonists facing their past mistakes and currently churning emotions, teenagers getting into trouble, and the state police stepping in to run the investigation and you get a potent, ardent tale of the fragility of life, love, and human destinies.
~ Four Spoons
Readers of Loreth Anne White’s other books will recognize the setting of The Dark Bones, as she returns to previous characters from A Dark Lure. Though they are the hook in, Olivia and her daughter Tori are minor characters and this can be easily read as a standalone. Rebecca North is front and center as she returns home after the death of her father to unspool events of twenty-years ago. I am a huge White fan and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this novel.
The Dark Bones was an excellent novel. Though the second in A Dark Lure series by Loreth Ann White, The Dark Bones is completely stand alone. That said, I’m now looking for #1. I enjoyed these protagonists, and want more of them.
We do a little flip-flopping between events taking place a little over 20 years ago, September of 1999, with high school lovers Whitney Gagnon and Trevor Beauchamp, and Rebecca North and Ash Haugen. We also see through the eyes of teenage lovers Tori Burton and Ricky Simon, and again from the viewpoint of Rebecca and Ash in the dead of a super bad winter, 2019. Location is a small town in Cariboo Country Canada called Clinton, a town that is so small it has an official Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force of just a couple of officers, and anything complex – like mayhem or murder – has to be investigated with personnel from outside. And as in most small towns everywhere, everybody knows everybody’s sins and secrets.
Sargeant Rebecca North, now a detective with the commercial crime branch of the Canadian federal police force in Ottawa, is the daughter of a former RCMP police detective of Clinton, Noah North, who suffers a bit with paranoia and alcohol abuse and sheer boredom in his retirement. He has been undertaking the investigation of cold cases he was not able to solve on his watch and is currently focused on the disappearance of two teenagers a little over 20 years ago. Whitney had left her mother a note before she disappeared September 27, 1999, telling her she was heading to LA in the US. Trevor disappeared at the same time. Whitney’s Mom Janet Gagnon doesn’t begin to worry until neither she nor Whitney’s best friend hears from her over the Christmas holidays. By then, the trail is cold. What is known is that Whitney and Trevor did not take the bus as was supposed, but a witness from Devil’s Butte comes forward who saw the couple hitching, and getting into a white panel van with Oregon US plates. Again, the ball is dropped.
But Noah has made a breakthrough in the case. Ash had lied in his testimony way back then. And so had Rebecca. His call to Rebecca is ill-timed – she is in court, about to testify in a white-collar criminal case, but agrees to call him back when she can. Her next phone call is from the Clinton RCMP, notifying her of her father’s suicide. But Rebecca knows that Noah did not commit suicide. This has to be murder. And she will have to return to Clinton to handle it. The place that for the last twenty years wasn’t big enough for both her and Ash.
I received a free electronic copy of this mystery novel from Netgalley, Loreth Anne White, and Montlake Romance publishing. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
This was my first time reading this author. I did not read the previous book but had no trouble following along. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and the romance. A very good read!
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and voluntarily chose to review it.
The Dark Bones is a twisty mystery filled with secrets and suspects. Detective Rebecca North returns to the town she left in her rear view when her father dies in a suspected suicide. Facing down past heartbreak and the guilt from leaving her father, Becca dives headfirst into investigating her father’s death. Her father’s last case was a cold case that brings up the past and the betrayal she experience first hand with her first love. Now flirting with a second chance at love while not knowing who she can trust, Rebecca faces down the danger of the present and the hurt of the past to uncover the truth and protect all those that get caught in the line of fire. A fast paced page turner, this mystery tugged the heart strings and kept me on the edge of my seat. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.
Detective Rebecca North, RCMP, returns to her home town after learning of the death of her father, Noah, a retired cop. They said that he shot himself, but she cannot believe that her father committed suicide…she had just heard from him the night before. He was worried about something, someone watching him and removing something from his cabin involving a former cold case. When Rebecca investigates on her own, she uncovers evidence that was missed by the local police. Was the decades old case, of two missing people, the catalyst that caused her father’s death? She receives help from her former lover, Ash Haugen, and is determined to get justice for her father. They will have to persevere as someone wants the past to stay dead. A follow up mystery to “A Dark Lure”, a very involved and wonderful mystery with characters that will imprint themselves in your mind. I had not read the first book in the series, but I did not feel lost while reading this book. I did, however, feel that I was missing out on a first book that I really needed and wanted to read…so I purchased it and can’t wait to start reading! I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)
Inside the brooding mystery of The Dark Bones beats a bright and booming heart of a story, concerned as much with forgiveness, redemption, and love as with the long-buried evils that threaten snowbound Cariboo Country in remote British Columbia. Loreth Anne White writes with crystalline clarity about the landscape and culture that reclaim the soul of her stunning protagonist, Canadian federal cop Rebecca North, when Sergeant North returns home to right old wrongs, restore dignity, and reopen her heart to the old flame she could never forget.
From the first page of The Dark Bones I knew I was in the hands of a master storyteller. It starts with one of the most intense, knock your socks off openings I’ve ever read and just snowballs from there. The combination of gorgeous writing and endless twists and turns literally kept me up all night reading so I could get to the extremely satisfying conclusion.