The Alabama Writers’ Forum
The Alabama Writers’ Forum, a partnership program of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, works to cultivate our state’s literary culture. We do that through supporting writers at all stages. We encourage our young writers to find their creative voice through the Father Goose Poetry Festival for Kids!–and through our Alabama High School Literary Arts Awards. We support the work of our state’s literary community through our Alabama Authors Directory, First Draft magazine, and other programming and opportunities for writers across the state. And we celebrate our state’s rich literary legacy through the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame. We are, above all, a community of writers united by our desire to advance the literary arts in Alabama. If that describes you — join us! There are many ways to get involved.
Ode to the Bones
Ode to the Bones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery By Carolyn Haines Minotaur Books, 2026 Hardcover with dust jacket: $28.00 Genre: Fiction/Mystery, Detective/Cozy Reviewed by Lisa Harrison The South’s sassiest female detective team, Sarah Booth Delaney and Tinkie Belchase Richmond, returns in Ode to the Bones by Carolyn Haines. This rollicking new adventure for the partners of the Delaney Detective Agency features intrigue worthy of a Bobbie Gentry song and an apparition reminiscent of a Wilkie Collins tale. The follow-up to Doggone Bones finds Sarah Booth musing on the return of her arch-nemesis, Gertrude Stromm, and on the still-unanswered questions about the past. Sarah Booth has little time to ponder the situation, as she quickly finds herself the sole witness to a woman standing on the Tallahatchee bridge who seemingly vanishes. Directly after this strange incident, Tinkie’s bank president husband hires the sleuths to investigate the disappearance of Danny Anderson, whose farm he recently foreclosed. Possibilities to explain the disappearance of the local agricultural leader include suicide, murder, or simply a planned but undisclosed absence from his home. Adding to the intrigue, there are rumors about his close relationship with the wife of an admired preacher. The cast of characters expands [...]
