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book_concierge's review
3.0
More Southern Mississippi Delta mystery - still entertaining, but getting predictable. I may give Sarah Booth a rest for a while.
momruns's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
spai's review
4.0
I read one earlier book in this series and it was so different from my usual fair that I gave it only two stars.
This year is part of my determination to read more books by female authors not called Agatha Christie and not looking like they came from the House of Mills & Boon. Given that and given how popular Carolyn Haines is in her fandom, I picked up this book against my better angels and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I will likely read more of the Sarah Booth Delaney books. They have a charm and use of language that makes for great reading.
This year is part of my determination to read more books by female authors not called Agatha Christie and not looking like they came from the House of Mills & Boon. Given that and given how popular Carolyn Haines is in her fandom, I picked up this book against my better angels and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I will likely read more of the Sarah Booth Delaney books. They have a charm and use of language that makes for great reading.
mdlaclair's review
3.0
This book had a horse aspect to it so that kept my interest in the book. However I do have to say I am wondering what happen to Hamiltion? He shows up in the end of book #2 but then it wasn't really clear what happen to him in this book only that he is back in Europe. While I am interested to see what other love interest come along, I have to say the ghost can be annoying along with every man in town wanting to sleep with Sarah.
krista_reads_it_all's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
plantbirdwoman's review
3.0
I think I might have to categorize this book as one of my guilty reading pleasures. It's a bit of fluff - lighter than air really - but I found it highly entertaining. It's a book that fits well with the hot, sultry summer weather when you don't want to tax your brain too severely.
Sarah Booth Delaney is a spinster of 33 years with no prospect of a marriage anytime soon. Or ever. This is not a big point of concern to Sarah Booth Delaney, but in the Delta town of Zinnia, Mississippi, where she lives, it is the kiss of social death.
Sarah Booth (She's always called by both names - it's a Mississippi tradition.) has lived an unconventional life. After college, she went off to New York to try to make it as an actress. When that didn't work out, she returned to her family's ancestral home in Zinnia and started trying to figure out a way to save the farm and herself. The answer she came up with was to become a private investigator. So far, that has kept her afloat. Barely.
Although she's without family, she's not alone in the house. She has a redtick coonhound (which the author insists on calling a "red tic" hound) named Sweetie Pie and the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny named Jitty. Jitty does her best to rule the roost and Sarah Booth and spends most of her time scheming up ways to get Sarah Booth married and producing heirs for the estate. She wants to ensure that she will have another generation of Delaneys to haunt.
The one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Jitty is always trying to get Sarah Booth to get with the times and modernize her thinking. At one point, she lectures her:
And that's about as deep as conversations ever get in this book.
The main story concerns a highly dysfunctional family, the wife and mother of whom is a childhood friend of Sarah Booth. When the woman's abusive husband is murdered on their horse farm, in the stall of their most valuable stud horse, she immediately confesses to the murder and asks Sarah Booth to help find evidence that the man "needed to be killed." She's hoping this will sway a jury to believe the killing was justified.
Finding such evidence turns out not to be very hard. The man was really a piece of work and everybody pretty much agreed that he needed to die. But Sarah Booth is not comfortable with her friend's plans for a defense. She doesn't believe she killed anybody but rather that she's trying to protect someone. The most likely target for her protection is her fourteen-year-old daughter, Kip, a very troubled child.
Toss in a melange of characters to keep the plot moving and provide red herrings and you've got one engaging whodunit. Among those characters is the handsome horse trainer who makes all the local ladies want to sign up for lessons; the local girl turned country singer who's ready to make the big push to become a star; the singer's unsavory manager/husband; some gambling mafia types from the coast; a blues singer/guitarist; an Elvis impersonator; and Kinky Friedman. Yes, THAT Kinky Friedman; is there another? Then, of course, there are all the fellow "Daddy's Girls" that Sarah Booth grew up with.
Well, you get the idea. It's a wacky adventure from beginning to end, filled with a lot of Southern charm and just a few bad guys to season the froth, but they all get their comeuppance in the denouement.
Carolyn Haines' writing has been compared to Janet Evanovich and there are definite parallels between the adventures of Sarah Booth Delaney, P.I. and Stephanie Plum, Trenton, New Jersey bounty hunter. They both provide fun reads which seem to have no agenda except to divert the reader. No hidden messages or attempts to raise our consciousnesses. Sometimes, that's a good thing.
Sarah Booth Delaney is a spinster of 33 years with no prospect of a marriage anytime soon. Or ever. This is not a big point of concern to Sarah Booth Delaney, but in the Delta town of Zinnia, Mississippi, where she lives, it is the kiss of social death.
Sarah Booth (She's always called by both names - it's a Mississippi tradition.) has lived an unconventional life. After college, she went off to New York to try to make it as an actress. When that didn't work out, she returned to her family's ancestral home in Zinnia and started trying to figure out a way to save the farm and herself. The answer she came up with was to become a private investigator. So far, that has kept her afloat. Barely.
Although she's without family, she's not alone in the house. She has a redtick coonhound (which the author insists on calling a "red tic" hound) named Sweetie Pie and the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny named Jitty. Jitty does her best to rule the roost and Sarah Booth and spends most of her time scheming up ways to get Sarah Booth married and producing heirs for the estate. She wants to ensure that she will have another generation of Delaneys to haunt.
The one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Jitty is always trying to get Sarah Booth to get with the times and modernize her thinking. At one point, she lectures her:
"You're talkin' like a traditionalist. You only want to risk a man that you can pin like a bug and examine. You think you know Harold because he's familiar. Because he's geographically known. You think 'cause he's from right around here that you share values with him." She paused for effect. "That's a might big assumption, young lady."
And that's about as deep as conversations ever get in this book.
The main story concerns a highly dysfunctional family, the wife and mother of whom is a childhood friend of Sarah Booth. When the woman's abusive husband is murdered on their horse farm, in the stall of their most valuable stud horse, she immediately confesses to the murder and asks Sarah Booth to help find evidence that the man "needed to be killed." She's hoping this will sway a jury to believe the killing was justified.
Finding such evidence turns out not to be very hard. The man was really a piece of work and everybody pretty much agreed that he needed to die. But Sarah Booth is not comfortable with her friend's plans for a defense. She doesn't believe she killed anybody but rather that she's trying to protect someone. The most likely target for her protection is her fourteen-year-old daughter, Kip, a very troubled child.
Toss in a melange of characters to keep the plot moving and provide red herrings and you've got one engaging whodunit. Among those characters is the handsome horse trainer who makes all the local ladies want to sign up for lessons; the local girl turned country singer who's ready to make the big push to become a star; the singer's unsavory manager/husband; some gambling mafia types from the coast; a blues singer/guitarist; an Elvis impersonator; and Kinky Friedman. Yes, THAT Kinky Friedman; is there another? Then, of course, there are all the fellow "Daddy's Girls" that Sarah Booth grew up with.
Well, you get the idea. It's a wacky adventure from beginning to end, filled with a lot of Southern charm and just a few bad guys to season the froth, but they all get their comeuppance in the denouement.
Carolyn Haines' writing has been compared to Janet Evanovich and there are definite parallels between the adventures of Sarah Booth Delaney, P.I. and Stephanie Plum, Trenton, New Jersey bounty hunter. They both provide fun reads which seem to have no agenda except to divert the reader. No hidden messages or attempts to raise our consciousnesses. Sometimes, that's a good thing.
rlbasley's review
4.0
Splintered Bones by Carolyn Haines (Rb Digital library audiobook) Another Sara Booth Delaney misadventure. This time she is asked to help a school friend by taking care of her daughter ...and helping to prove that her friends husband was worth killing.. since she admitted to killing him. But everything isn’t as it seems and this assignment leads Sara on another interesting adventure full of horses.. questionable characters and finding a date for the latest social function. I loved this book! Really recommend this series! I’m on to the next book.
jmeston's review
3.0
Three plus. Kinky Friedman shout out! I loved that. My other favorite parts were the unsuitable suitors. I can see the wheels turning but it was still a fine southern mystery. I think I may have read the first one a decade ago.