Book Review: “Greedy Bones” by Carolyn Haines

July 13, 2009

Rating: 4 WaterTowers (Not a ghost of a chance not to like this book)

Genre: Mystery

“Greedy Bones” is the first book I have read by Carolyn Haines and the ninth book in the series. This book is an ARC sent to me by Carolyn Haines and was due in stores July 7th.

As I mentioned above, this is my introduction to Sarah Booth Delaney and the cast of characters in the the “Bones” series. Below is a quick list of the characters who I think are recurring (I’ll find out for sure when I pick up the first book which I believe is “Them Bones”. Hmmmm, Carolyn could put the books in order on her web site to help us new readers 🙂

OK, here we go. I hope I get this at least mostly correct.

The series takes place mostly in the small town of Zinnia, Mississippi located in Sunflower County.

Sarah Booth Delaney is in her mid 30’s and in this book is in love with Graf, a movie star. Sarah just came back from starring in a movie (that was destroyed in the last book so will never be shown) in Costa Rica. She is a PI and actress.
Coleman is the town Sherrif and Sarah’s ex-lover.
Jitty is a ghost in Sarah’s family home, the Dahlia House. Jitty was apparently friends with Sarah’s great-great- grandmother. So she has been dead for a long time.
Doc is the town Doctor.
Cece is the town reporter who used to be man, but, is now a woman.
Tinkie is Sarah’s partner in the PI business, and best friend.
Oscar is Tinkies husband. He works, I think, in the local bank that is run by Tinkie’s Dad.
Gordon is Sherrif Coleman’s right hand man in the Sherrif’s department
Millie runs the local diner
Graf is Sarah’s new lover and a movie star in Hollywood.
Reveler and Miss Scrapiron are Sarah’s horses
Sweetie Pie is Sarah’s dog and Chablis is Tinkie’s.

“Greedy Bones” starts with four people near death in the hospital after visiting the Carlisle Plantation (which owner Luther wants to sell for development). The sick include two realtors, Gordon, and Oscar. The two realtors are women and are not as sick as the two men. Gordon is the worst, but, both he and Oscar may die.

Doc is working as hard as he can to save them. As he struggles, he calls in the CDC for help. Two CDC members answer the call: Peyton and Bonnie Louise. They investigate the Carlisle Plantation and find a mutated form of boll weevil and verfiy reports of an unusally mature cotton field for this time of year.

Being a PI, Sarah starts her own investigation. As part of this investigation she finds Luther’s sister who does not want to sell, another sister in Chicago (the result of Luthers’s Dad’s fooling around), and begins to suspect that the illnesses are not a natural event, but, that someone is intentionally trying to destroy the Carlisle land or interfere with the sale.

Unfortunately, people start to go missing only to be found murdered. And the list of suspects grows, and shrinks, as more people disappear and are found.

Who is the killer? What is their interest in the Carlisle Plantation? Have they intentionally tried to kill Gordon, Oscar or the two realtors? Will Sarah solve the mystery? You will have to read “Greedy Bones” to find out.

It took me a bit of time (like the first 170 pages or so) to get used to the characters and understand who they were and what their roles are (at least in this book). Jitty took me awhile to understand. She could have been a ghost or a figment of Sarah’s imagination (or both). I was left struggling with Sarah’s sanity, until, I realized Jitty is a ghost (hey….ghosts are real…we have our own out here in the Banta Inn). So Sarah is just as sane as I am. 😉

Once I got into the characters, the story took off and the mystery deepened. I spent a whole day reading the last half of the book (remember, I am a very slow reader)…I could not put it down and could not wait to see who dunnit.

I am going to pick up the first book; “Them Bones” and do some catching up on the characters. If you have not yet read Carolyn Haines, I suggest you do the same….I suspect you will enjoy the books as much as I expect to! “Greedy Bones” was excellent!

Oh yeah…on page 129 of the ARC Sarah listens to a country song about a “prison hound”. Since I am a country fan, here is the song I think Carolyn Haines was referring to: 🙂