Charmed Bones By Carolyn Haines: Review/Giveaway

Jun 9, 2018 | 2018 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze, Sandra Murphy

by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Charmed Bones, and a link to purchase it from Amazon, and an indie bookstore where a portion of the sale goes to help support KRL.

Sarah Booth Delaney is used to seeing ghosts or at least the one that lives in her house in Zinnia, Mississippi. Jitty is always popping in and out, wearing different costumes to make her point which is usually that Sarah Booth needs to get herself a man so she can carry on the Delaney name.

Now there are three sisters who claim to be witches who moved to town to start a Wiccan boarding school. They say they embrace the spiritual world through nature. The locals are afraid, and led by Kitten Fontana, ready to run the witches out of town. mystery book cover

When a dead body shows up, the townspeople are sure the witches are murderers. The women swear they’re innocent and frankly, they don’t have a motive. Sarah Booth and her PI partner, Tinkie, are on the case although Tinkie is distracted by the promise of a baby of her own thanks to a potion the witches have concocted.

On the personal front, Sarah Booth has been trying to spend some up close and very personal time with the local Sheriff, Coleman. It seems the universe is conspiring to keep them apart. Maybe a little bag of charms from the witches will change things in their favor.

When Kitten’s son, Corey, goes missing, Kitten’s quick to point her finger at the witches. She also hires Sarah Booth and Tinkie to find the kid. Kitten is nobody’s favorite person, but the check she writes for their services overcomes their reluctance.

The more Sarah Booth and Tinkie investigate, the more complicated everything becomes. The sister witches have murky pasts, the deal for the school hadn’t been signed, a new document pops up and it could be a forgery, there’s a mysterious patch of thorn bushes to deal with and something’s in the woods. When a local professor goes missing, Sarah Booth and Tinkie have to solve the case, pronto.

This is the eighteenth book in the popular series. Sarah Booth has figured out what she wants out of life and is on the path to get it. Tinkie still holds out hope of having her own baby, but will the witch’s potion help her achieve that goal? The romance between Coleman and Sarah Booth is both frustrating and promising. I was glad to see Jitty back off a bit about carrying on the family name. In fact, now she drops hints of disastrous omens if Sarah Booth does manage to connect with Coleman.

I thought I knew how things would turn out for Sarah Booth and Tinkie, who the killer was, and if the witches were real. Wrong on all counts. The mystery is a good one and the ending will leave readers wanting more—and right away. For a taste of the South and a good mystery, this series will satisfy your cravings.

Haines has also written eleven novels, one non-fiction book, and two books under the pen name of R. B. Chesterson.

To enter to win a copy of Charmed Bones, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “charmed,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen June 16, 2018. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address (so if you win we can get the book sent right out to you), and if via comment please include your email address. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Be sure to check out our new podcast which just launched.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She writes about eco-friendly topics, pets and wildlife for magazines and reviews mysteries and thrillers for KRL. A collection of her short stories, published by Untreed Reads, From Hay to Eternity: Ten Tales of Crime and Deception can be found at all the usual outlets. Each one is a little weird and all have a twist you won’t see coming.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases using those links. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.

26 Comments

  1. This is such a great series! And this one sounds like all kinds of fun!

    Reply
    • Thanks, Mary. My life is really crazy–so I feel for Sarah Booth, who ends up in the most insane situations.

      Reply
  2. If anyone has any questions about the book, Sarah Booth, or the series, I’m happy to talk about my “family.” I have been writing about Sarah Booth for almost two decades, so she is very much family to me.

    Reply
    • Thanks, Sandy. I love writing them–so we’re a perfect fit.

      Reply
  3. Sounds like another good book in this series! Thank you for the giveaway.
    debprice60@gmail.com

    Reply
  4. Sounds really good and I want to read it soon. I’m new and glad I saw this review.

    Reply
    • I love new readers. The books are each stand-alone mysteries, though the lives of the characters do grow and change. But you can read them out of sequence. Good luck with the drawing.

      Reply
    • With an email like legallyblonde–I think you and Tinkie are going to hit it off.

      Reply
  5. I love the characters in these books. I lived in Kosciusko, Mississippi, for a couple if years and the setting is so familiar. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of the book.
    ezellmarlene(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply
  6. Looking forward to reading this one. I’ve read the nature series. Always a fun adventure.

    Reply
    • Ha ha ha, Karen. That was excellent. Autos-Correct is a bane. And I was going–now what series would she think is a nature series. Because I’m like a warrior for nature and I was so flattered!

      Reply
  7. Entire. Autocorrect got me.

    Reply
  8. One of my top 5 all time series.

    Reply
  9. That is truly flattering, Doward. I know what a big reader you are. Thank you.

    Reply
  10. I love Sarah Booth and her friends.

    pruter(at)comcast(dot)net

    Reply
    • Thank you. I hope this book holds up to your expectations for Sarah Booth!

      Reply
  11. A new to me series, I’m glad I read the review. I’m looking forward to diving in and catching up. 😀

    Reply
  12. And I want to welcome you to the Sarah Booth world of Zinnia. I hope you enjoy my stories.

    Reply
  13. I love this series! Looking forward to reading “Charmed Bones”.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply
    • Thanks, Dianne. I really love writing about these characters.

      Reply
  14. We have a winner!

    Reply

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