Book Review: A Garland of Bones by Carolyn Haines

 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook from via St martin's Press, via #Netgalley, free of charge, for review purposes on this blog. No compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own

Spunky southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney tackles a string of strange accidents while celebrating the holiday season in Carolyn Haines's cozy A Garland of Bones

Synopsis:

Sarah Booth has traded in hosting this Christmas season for a road trip with her besties. Each little Delta town has a special Christmas activity, and Sarah Booth’s bff and detective partner, Tinkie, has arranged to rent a limo for the gang and drive to Columbus, MS, to stay in a B&B. Visions of Christmas shopping, parade floats, and romantic rendezvous are already dancing in their heads.

But Christmas cheer soon turns to Christmas fear when, at one event after another, people keep getting hurt. Christmas karaoke gets ugly when one singer’s microphone gives her an electric shock. A party during a historic home tour ends with a fall down the stairs for one of Columbus’s most disreputable “players.” And when the woman who hires Sarah Booth to find the villain behind the so-called accidents is nearly killed with an arrow during a holiday mumming, Sarah Booth knows something more sinister is at work.

The Christmas bells are ringing hauntingly in Columbus this year, and Sarah Booth and Tinkie—with a little help from hunky Sheriff Coleman Peters, of course—are determined to catch the wrong-doers and ensure they receive nothing but coal in their stockings.

Review:

Oddly, this book started off differently than normal. The writing itself was stiff, and a bit pretentious, compared to the normal pacing and tenor of the Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery series. I was beginning to think someone else was writing the books, and about ready to give up on the book, but I persevered and by the end of Chapter 2, everything was back to normal. Not sure why there was a bit of disparity, but for those fans of the series (there are 21 books before this book), just skip the lead-in and get into the story! For new fans, just know it gets much better! Once the gang arrive in Columbus they get involved (like always) in a local problem, that is leading up to some serious crime, and eventually murder. With a time limit on their heads, and no fondness for the client, or her friends, Tinkie and Sarah Booth have their hands full trying to figure out who is lying, and who is misdirecting them, and the law. Fun, quick read, and a great lead into the holiday season!

About the Author:

Carolyn Haines is the USA Today bestselling author of the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series and a number of other books in mystery and crime, including the Pluto's Snitch paranormal-historical mystery series, and Trouble, the black cat detective romantic suspense books. She is the recipient of the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writing, the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence, and the Mississippi Writers Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a former journalist, bartender, photographer, farmhand, and college professor and lives on a farm where she works with rescue cats, dogs, and horses.