A Garland of Bones By Carolyn Haines: Review/Giveaway

Nov 28, 2020 | 2020 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 the book, and links to purchase it.

December in the Mississippi Delta is not the snow-covered trees kind of holiday season. However, towns each have special celebrations. Sarah Booth Delaney is happy to travel to nearby Columbus for a few days of alone time with her honey, Coleman, the local lawman. Of course, alone time is a relative term since the trip is funded by Sarah Booth’s PI business partner and pregnant at last best friend, Tinkie. Along for the trip is Tinkie’s husband Oscar, CeCe the reporter, her boyfriend, Jaytee, a jazz player, Millie from the diner, and Harold. And even though this is a vacation, there still shouldn’t be any thoughts of sleeping in. Tinkie is unrepentantly a morning person and wants to shop, sightsee, and enjoy herself as much as possible before the long-awaited baby arrives.

Tinkie has rented the entire hotel and hired a limo for their group. One of the activities is the flotilla of holiday decorated boats. The weather is cold, the water icy, but the excessive amount of lights and decorations on the boats is heartwarming. When the boat they’re on has an underwater collision, people are thrown off their feet. Two women disappear overboard. Only one is rescued.

Donna, the boat and hotel’s owner, has lost her best friend. The other victim hires Sarah Booth and Tinkie to find out who’s trying to kill her. The boating incident isn’t the first time.

Then all the pranks start—a faulty wire, concrete poured into a convertible, a fall down the stairs—they seem random, but with a bit of investigation, Tinkie and Sarah Booth are able to find out they’re aimed at society women who are not too choosy about who they sleep with, married or not.

Despite their reluctance to accept the job, Tinkie and Sarah Booth are determined to do a good job, make the most of their time away from home, and have a merry Christmas when home again.

This is book twenty-two of twenty-three. It looks like everyone has figured out what matters most and are on the verge of having it. Sarah Booth has Coleman—and Jitty, her resident ghost. Tinkie’s baby will fulfill her dream. CeCe and Millie have a new column in the paper and are having great fun with it. The romance between Coleman and Sarah Booth is hot enough to catch the page on fire.

Look for book twenty-three, Independent Bones, in May, 2021, available for pre-order now.

To enter to win a copy of A Garland of Bones, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “garland,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 5, 2020. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If you are entering via email please include you mailing address in case you win, it will be deleted after the contest. You can read our privacy statement here if you like. BE AWARE THAT IT WILL TAKE MUCH LONGER THAN USUAL FOR WINNERS TO GET THEIR BOOKS DUE TO THE CURRENT CRISIS.

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. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. A new episode went up this week!

You can use this link to purchase this book from indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy, and KRL gets a portion of the sale:

You can use this link to purchase these book from 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. A Murder of Crows, edited by Sandra Murphy (a popular title so you need her name to search), has twenty-one cozy stories. Each features the collective name of an animal and a crime. The animals range from tarantulas, koalas, wolves, bears, jellyfish, toads, cats, dogs, alpaca, goats, penguins and more. No animals were harmed. The people weren’t so lucky. Available at the usual outlets, print or ebook.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. 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.

9 Comments

  1. Another Christmas mystery! Count me in!

    Reply
  2. I don’t normally read paranormal, but got the first book by accident and fell in love with the series – thanks for the chance to own one.

    Reply
  3. Sounds like a fun story and a fun place to visit for Christmas. Thanks for the chance to win a copy. crs(at)codedivasites(dot)com

    Reply
  4. Sounds like another series I’ve been missing out on! tWarner419(at)aol(dot)com

    Reply
  5. Love this series! Would love to read “A Garland of Bones”.

    Reply
  6. I’ve been a follower of this series from day one and even own a few of the books. I’d love to be your lucky winner.

    Reply
  7. I have been a fan of Carolyn Haines’ books for many years. This book would be perfect for a wintery read by the fireplace!

    Reply
  8. We have a winner!

    Reply

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