Minotaur Books, 2024
Hardcover with dust jacket: $28.00
Genre: Fiction/Mystery & Detective/Cozy
Reviewed by Abby McGinn
Bestselling author Carolyn Haines offers a delightful novel full of Christmas and paranormal spirit in this recent addition to the Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery series.
Detective Sarah Booth Delaney, along with her agency partner Tinkie Bellchase Richmond and their friends Cece Dee Falcon and Millie Roberts, travel to Tupelo, Mississippi, for the annual Elvis Festival. The group of women are excited to compete in the amateur Elvis impersonator competition and have time to relax and unwind from their hectic schedules. Their partners and Tinkie’s infant Maylin will be joining them in a few days, so they intend to make the most of their time with just the girls.
However, after the theft of a 3-million-dollar replica belt, Sarah Booth and Tinkie are approached by the belt’s beautiful but entitled owner, Grace Land. Grace insists that she hire them to find the belt. Sarah Booth and Tinkie are reluctant to accept a case during their vacation, but when Grace offers to pay double their fee, they agree to take on the case, certain it will be fairly simple with the assistance of surveillance footage. Unfortunately, they learn the security cameras focused on the belt display malfunctioned. When they also discover that Grace Land has given almost everyone who knows her ample reasons to despise her, they fear that their Christmas vacation will be a blue one.
What starts as a robbery investigation takes a dark turn when Grace is run off the road by a mysterious driver. With every passing hour, Sarah Booth and Tinkie’s suspect list grows longer. In a small town where gossip abounds, they are frustrated by how many of their questions remain unanswered. Chief Yuma Johnson is slow to follow up on leads and refuses to cooperate with Sarah Booth and Tinkie. Reality television personality Allan Malone seems to pop up around every corner. Insurance agent Krystal Bond seems almost happy that Grace Land failed to pay her premium on the Elvis Belt, resulting in the termination of her insurance policy. Assistant Mayor Kent Madison is vehemently against the continuation of the Elvis Festival in Tupelo. And they all hate Grace Land.
As their vacation dwindles away, Sarah Booth and Tinkie are desperate to solve the case before Christmas. With every step they take to unmask the thief, they take one step closer to danger. As the citizens of Tupelo begin to turn on each other, Sarah Booth is further frustrated when her “haint,” Jitty, pops up at the most inconvenient times to discuss Elvis, the music industry, and philosophic musings about our ability to influence others’ paths in life. But one thing is for sure: with the end of the Elvis Festival approaching, “It’s Now or Never.”
Blue Christmas Bones is filled with more twists and turns than Elvis’ signature dance moves. With witty banter between the characters and a deep appreciation for the King of Rock and Roll, Carolyn Haines’s holiday mystery is grounded by the support Sarah Booth gives — and receives — from those who are important to her. Readers “Can’t Help Falling in Love” with the Southern charm and heart of Sarah Booth Delaney and her friends.
Carolyn Haines is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She was born and raised in Mississippi, which is the heart of her Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery series. She has received both the Harper Lee Distinguished Writing Award and the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence, and has been inducted into The Alabama Writers Hall of Fame (Class of 2020).
Abby McGinn studied music and English with a concentration in creative writing at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. She now resides in Prattville and spends her free time writing, frequenting local coffee shops, and introducing her daughter to the joys of the library.
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