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Sarah Booth Delaney #13
Smarty Bones
Professor Olive Twist has come to Zinnia, Mississippi to study a mysterious grave wherein lies the Lady in Red, a perfectly preserved and stunningly beautiful but unnamed and unclaimed body. Olive claims she can not only identify the corpse, she can also prove the woman's scandalous role in the nation's history. Olive takes it a step too far, though, when she starts connecting elite Zinnia families with the same scandal.
Dander up, Zinnia's society ladies know only one way to handle Olive: they call on the private investigative services of Sarah Booth Delaney. But Olive's real agenda is clear as Mississippi mud, and when Sarah Booth discovers a present-day dead body, she knows there's more than just family pride and Southern heritage at stake. If she can't find the murderer and fast, it might just be Sarah Booth's life on the line next.
Carolyn Haines pulls out all the stops in Smarty Bones, the next charming, sassy, Southern-fried Sarah Booth Delaney mystery.
Dander up, Zinnia's society ladies know only one way to handle Olive: they call on the private investigative services of Sarah Booth Delaney. But Olive's real agenda is clear as Mississippi mud, and when Sarah Booth discovers a present-day dead body, she knows there's more than just family pride and Southern heritage at stake. If she can't find the murderer and fast, it might just be Sarah Booth's life on the line next.
Carolyn Haines pulls out all the stops in Smarty Bones, the next charming, sassy, Southern-fried Sarah Booth Delaney mystery.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published May 21, 2013
90 people are currently reading
1,760 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Haines
102 books1,544 followersCarolyn Haines is the USA Today bestselling author of over 70 books. In 2020, she was inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alabama Library Association, the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writing, the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence, as well as the "Best Amateur Sleuth" award by Romantic Times. Born and raised in Mississippi, she now lives in Alabama on a farm with more dogs, cats, and horses than she can possibly keep track of.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
December 17, 2013
I have to give this book a 2.5 though I would have loved to give it more as this is one of my favarite series but it may be time to retire Sarah Booth. We were always shown a great love of the south and Mississippi in these books with a great mystery to go along with it. In this book the love went to the extreme that showed a lot of mental instability in most of the characters driven from not being able to forget or get past they they lost the Civil War in 1865. One of the main characters that was from the north kept saying "you people" regarding the Mississippi southeners in a derogatory manner but by the end of the book another important character said the same thing and by this time I was in total agreement. The problem I have is that Sarah Book understood and sympathized in part but because they had went to the extreme of thinking in this book makes me feel that there is no way she can have a healthy normal life with a man that is not from there if she herself can't separate herself from mississippi mentally and emotionally. If effects her entire way of life and thinking and personally that is not healthy to me. I never though Sarah Booth and Graff was a great match but I'm feeling really sorry for him after this book and hope he dumps her and never look back. If this is the new Sarah Booth thinking I prefer not to read anymore, the character is not growing at all.
August 15, 2013
I have read all of the Sarah Booth Delaney books from Ms Haines and look forward to reading them. Unfortunately this book was really not up to the quality of the previous books. A very weak and convoluted plot featuring the most obnoxious Yankee since General Sherman. The fact that she spent so much time discussing how big the obnoxious Olive's feet were was just the first annoying factor in this book. Another major annoyance was all the stupid expressions Sarah B. came up with "King Herod waltzing with Freddy Krueger!" was one of the most egregious. And now SBD has a super cat Pluto to go with the amazing dog Sweetie Pie.
This book made me think of how good Janet Evanovich's early Stephanie Plumb books were before they became so formulaic. I hope Ms Haines puts more heart into the next book so that I can continue to look forward to reading Sarah Booth Delaney's next adventure.
This book made me think of how good Janet Evanovich's early Stephanie Plumb books were before they became so formulaic. I hope Ms Haines puts more heart into the next book so that I can continue to look forward to reading Sarah Booth Delaney's next adventure.
Shelved as 'never-finished'
January 12, 2016This just didn't grab me, I think partly because of the narrator for the audiobook. I haven't read others in the series, so when I heard the narrator on this one, I assumed the main character was about 70+ and a long-time smoker. Then I found out she's a 34 year old private detective. The disconnect, along with other things, made me give up on this one, alas.
November 17, 2020
Warning: Rant
Disclaimer: I didn't buy this book. Honestly, I never would have chosen this book for myself - with the chick-lit cover and the proud proclamation of it being 'Stephanie Plum meets The Ya-Ya Sisterhood' I would have stayed far away from it. But it was a gift. Because of that, I wanted to like it.
We started on shaky ground. The first five pages were told in the present tense and then it inexplicably shifted to past tense. I already had a headache.
Let's start off with the absolute worst thing in the whole book, shall we. Sarah Booth. Sarah Booth is smug. Sarah Booth is cutsie (She named her dog 'Sweetie Pie' and 80% of the time uses fake curses. Thing such as 'Nebuchadnezzar eating a Kit Kat'. And a lot of saint and biblical references. What does this even mean? The other 20% of the time she uses typical curses. For all of her cutsie-ness, she has the worst mouth of everyone in the book.). Sarah Booth is named Sarah Booth and is never called anything else because all good and proper southern ladies must go by their middle name too - forget the fact that her best friend is called Tinkie and her other best friend is Cece. Even her lover calls her Sarah Booth. (I can just hear the passionate exclamations now.) I hate this little naming trend - especially when she's the only one that even seems to have a middle name. It's made even worse in this instance by the fact that Booth is actually Sarah Booth's mother's maiden name. I'm sure after she get's married, her adoring public brainwashed masses friends will star calling her 'Sarah Booth Delaney' all the time.
If I have to read the name 'Sarah Booth' one more time I will scream. Henceforth I shall refer to her as Sarah in a minor act of rebellion.
Sarah is a smug, entitled, superior bitch! Everything she hates in other women is either what she is or is catty jealousy. She hates Olive Twist because she has bad fashion sense. Bad fashion sense such as a high collar button up shirt and a black pencil skirt. I'm sorry, I think she sounds nicely dressed. She hates Olive because she has big feet. How dare you? My feet are bigger than normal for a woman of my size. I have an aunt that has size ten feet and she has a difficult time finding shoes to fit. Olive's feet have to be 'at least size fifteen'. Then she makes a joke about Olive wearing boots in the heat and the fact that she'll develop athlete's foot and her toes will fall off. I'm sorry, did you just... She did. Honestly I've never heard a grown woman acting so petty before in my life. (That explains it: A couple cases ago I just bet being visited by the ghost of a former slave broke something in Sarah's mind and she regressed into a horny fifteen year old. Problem solved.) Oh, and don't forget the fact that if Olive would 'turn sideways, she'd disappear'. It's not her fault, Sarah, that you'd rather pig out on cake and pinch your fat in hopes it will go away.
Yes, I'll admit that Olive is a bigot. I don't deny that, but that's given much less screen time as a reason to hate her than all of Sarah's mindless, petty problems. Sarah is a reverse snob and hates Olive because Olive has book learnin. Humor's fine as long as Sarah is the one being funny. If anyone else cracks a joke, she's all business - and the joke's probably beneath her anyways.
The next problem I had was something that might have been remedied if I'd started with the first book of the series. I cannot picture anyone. Why? Because hardly anyone is described. By the end of the book, I knew the hair color of four people - two of whom were first introduced in this book and a third that probably was. The fourth was the main character. How about eye color? Are eyes even mentioned? Honestly, most conversations were talking heads. No, disembodied voices. Yeah, that's it.
Graf, the fiancé, is handsome - as you're reminded repeatedly. Okay. What color is his hair? Or is he bald? (Page 159: no, not bald. We find out later that he had 'dark chest hair' - so he's probably not too fair haired either.)
Tinkie? Cece? Oscar? Buford? Harold? Coleman? Millie?
No clue what they look like.
The most I can tell you about Sarah is that she has long chestnut hair. Of course, I could have guessed that from the quirky cover illustration. But then again, that's probably not Sarah because she's never described as wearing glasses (no one is, in fact) or a skirt. Ironed jeans, yes. A skirt, no.
Now, this is a mystery book, so, how was the mystery?
On the back cover it says 'Sarah Booth discovers a present-day dead body'. That statement is wrong.
Someone is killed and Sarah is called in because the prime suspect wants her to prove said suspect's innocence. When she arrives at the crime scene, the sheriff (who called her) is already there - along with a hearse. (? Do they actually do that in Mississippi? Where I'm from it'd be an ambulance, even if the person is DOA. A hearse is used, says an expert 'to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to the cemetery'. So… We stuck the victim in a coffin and will now go an shove them into the nearest open grave? Out of sight, out of mind. We can't have dead bodies in our perfect town.) Sarah never even sees the dead body! Wouldn't want to upset her southern sensibilities.
I'm used to much faster paced mysteries: a murder in the first twenty pages. Besides, that leaves room for more deaths. Most of the first hundred pages of this book was…chick-lit light fluff fiction - and plenty of opportunities for the smug main character to remind you that her fiancé is a handsome Hollywood heartthrob. (Okay, I find out later that he's merely an up-and-comer.) And that they have great sex. (TMI. Ugh.)
Sarah is a private investigator, but she's the saddest one I've ever seen. She freely admits that her partner is the brains and charm of the partnership. Sarah's just the one who tackles the tomatoes-throwers. The whole sum of Sarah's investigation is a few phone calls, ignorance, bigotry, wild guessing, ignoring the obvious and stupidity.
Before the first murder even occurred, I pointed at a person and said 'culprit'. There were a few read herrings that had me questioning my assessment, and the fact that it was so obvious. (Spoiler: Hint: It's not someone Sarah likes.) I thought 'no. It wouldn't be that obvious.' I was wrong. Rather, I was right the first time and before the dénouement I had come back full circle to my original suspect.
(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)
Disclaimer: I didn't buy this book. Honestly, I never would have chosen this book for myself - with the chick-lit cover and the proud proclamation of it being 'Stephanie Plum meets The Ya-Ya Sisterhood' I would have stayed far away from it. But it was a gift. Because of that, I wanted to like it.
We started on shaky ground. The first five pages were told in the present tense and then it inexplicably shifted to past tense. I already had a headache.
Let's start off with the absolute worst thing in the whole book, shall we. Sarah Booth. Sarah Booth is smug. Sarah Booth is cutsie (She named her dog 'Sweetie Pie' and 80% of the time uses fake curses. Thing such as 'Nebuchadnezzar eating a Kit Kat'. And a lot of saint and biblical references. What does this even mean? The other 20% of the time she uses typical curses. For all of her cutsie-ness, she has the worst mouth of everyone in the book.). Sarah Booth is named Sarah Booth and is never called anything else because all good and proper southern ladies must go by their middle name too - forget the fact that her best friend is called Tinkie and her other best friend is Cece. Even her lover calls her Sarah Booth. (I can just hear the passionate exclamations now.) I hate this little naming trend - especially when she's the only one that even seems to have a middle name. It's made even worse in this instance by the fact that Booth is actually Sarah Booth's mother's maiden name. I'm sure after she get's married, her adoring public brainwashed masses friends will star calling her 'Sarah Booth Delaney' all the time.
If I have to read the name 'Sarah Booth' one more time I will scream. Henceforth I shall refer to her as Sarah in a minor act of rebellion.
Sarah is a smug, entitled, superior bitch! Everything she hates in other women is either what she is or is catty jealousy. She hates Olive Twist because she has bad fashion sense. Bad fashion sense such as a high collar button up shirt and a black pencil skirt. I'm sorry, I think she sounds nicely dressed. She hates Olive because she has big feet. How dare you? My feet are bigger than normal for a woman of my size. I have an aunt that has size ten feet and she has a difficult time finding shoes to fit. Olive's feet have to be 'at least size fifteen'. Then she makes a joke about Olive wearing boots in the heat and the fact that she'll develop athlete's foot and her toes will fall off. I'm sorry, did you just... She did. Honestly I've never heard a grown woman acting so petty before in my life. (That explains it: A couple cases ago I just bet being visited by the ghost of a former slave broke something in Sarah's mind and she regressed into a horny fifteen year old. Problem solved.) Oh, and don't forget the fact that if Olive would 'turn sideways, she'd disappear'. It's not her fault, Sarah, that you'd rather pig out on cake and pinch your fat in hopes it will go away.
Yes, I'll admit that Olive is a bigot. I don't deny that, but that's given much less screen time as a reason to hate her than all of Sarah's mindless, petty problems. Sarah is a reverse snob and hates Olive because Olive has book learnin. Humor's fine as long as Sarah is the one being funny. If anyone else cracks a joke, she's all business - and the joke's probably beneath her anyways.
The next problem I had was something that might have been remedied if I'd started with the first book of the series. I cannot picture anyone. Why? Because hardly anyone is described. By the end of the book, I knew the hair color of four people - two of whom were first introduced in this book and a third that probably was. The fourth was the main character. How about eye color? Are eyes even mentioned? Honestly, most conversations were talking heads. No, disembodied voices. Yeah, that's it.
Graf, the fiancé, is handsome - as you're reminded repeatedly. Okay. What color is his hair? Or is he bald? (Page 159: no, not bald. We find out later that he had 'dark chest hair' - so he's probably not too fair haired either.)
Tinkie? Cece? Oscar? Buford? Harold? Coleman? Millie?
No clue what they look like.
The most I can tell you about Sarah is that she has long chestnut hair. Of course, I could have guessed that from the quirky cover illustration. But then again, that's probably not Sarah because she's never described as wearing glasses (no one is, in fact) or a skirt. Ironed jeans, yes. A skirt, no.
Now, this is a mystery book, so, how was the mystery?
On the back cover it says 'Sarah Booth discovers a present-day dead body'. That statement is wrong.
Someone is killed and Sarah is called in because the prime suspect wants her to prove said suspect's innocence. When she arrives at the crime scene, the sheriff (who called her) is already there - along with a hearse. (? Do they actually do that in Mississippi? Where I'm from it'd be an ambulance, even if the person is DOA. A hearse is used, says an expert 'to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to the cemetery'. So… We stuck the victim in a coffin and will now go an shove them into the nearest open grave? Out of sight, out of mind. We can't have dead bodies in our perfect town.) Sarah never even sees the dead body! Wouldn't want to upset her southern sensibilities.
I'm used to much faster paced mysteries: a murder in the first twenty pages. Besides, that leaves room for more deaths. Most of the first hundred pages of this book was…chick-lit light fluff fiction - and plenty of opportunities for the smug main character to remind you that her fiancé is a handsome Hollywood heartthrob. (Okay, I find out later that he's merely an up-and-comer.) And that they have great sex. (TMI. Ugh.)
Sarah is a private investigator, but she's the saddest one I've ever seen. She freely admits that her partner is the brains and charm of the partnership. Sarah's just the one who tackles the tomatoes-throwers. The whole sum of Sarah's investigation is a few phone calls, ignorance, bigotry, wild guessing, ignoring the obvious and stupidity.
Before the first murder even occurred, I pointed at a person and said 'culprit'. There were a few read herrings that had me questioning my assessment, and the fact that it was so obvious. (Spoiler: Hint: It's not someone Sarah likes.) I thought 'no. It wouldn't be that obvious.' I was wrong. Rather, I was right the first time and before the dénouement I had come back full circle to my original suspect.
(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)
January 20, 2025
I enjoy Sarah Booth Delaney most when she can stay out of her own head and enjoy the friends of the Delta around her. The author does a great job of evoking and honoring the Old South and I can picture the land she describes. A bonus in this book though is that while written over 10 years ago, the subject matter is relevant today. The crazies have climbed out from under the rocks. The mystery was solid.
October 16, 2024
I find it ironic to have some much woke stuff by an author that writes such outdated stuff.
June 5, 2013
4.5 stars. Smarty Bones is the 13th book in the Sarah Booth Delaney series that takes place in the fictional town of Zinnia, MS. Dr. Olive Twist, comes to town from Maine to gather research for the book she is writing about the Lady in Red, the perfectly preserved young woman whose coffin was accidentally found on a plantation in 1969. Dr. Twist has allegedly not only found out the identity of the woman, but also that she had ties to the Lincoln assassination and even worse, that she is related to some of the elite families still in town. The kind of ties and family secrets that could destroy the reputation of all parties involved. A friend of Sarah Booth's mother talks her into finding out what exactly Dr. Twist knows, and to stop her from ruining a few lives with her accusations. Soon after, Dr. Twist's assistant is murdered and it is revealed that the poisoned coffee he drank was not intended for him, but for Dr. Twist. Sarah Booth must get to the bottom of who tried to poison the professor and the revelation of the whodunit shocks even her.
Smarty Bones is a great addition to the series with the usual humor and well-written mystery, but meeting Olive Twist(get it?) was an entertaining surprise. Her obnoxious and rude attitude toward the locals and southerners in general, made her someone you love to hate. Although, I mostly enjoyed the inclusion of the true story of the Lady in Red, who was found remarkably preserved in a fitted, glass topped, cast-iron coffin filled with alcohol on April 24, 1969 on an Egypt plantation near Lexington, MS. Based on the style of her clothing and the way she was preserved, it is assumed she died in the 1830s. To this day, no one knows the identity of the woman or the circumstances of her death. But it is believed she was hurriedly buried in her shallow three feet grave in an unmarked location because of fear she was contagious due to the unknown fever(possibly yellow fever) that took her life while she was a passenger on a boat nearby. Another theory, slightly less believable, is that her coffin fell off a wagon that was en route to a final resting place. It's a true shame, especially for us mystery book fans, that we most likely will never know.
Smarty Bones is a great addition to the series with the usual humor and well-written mystery, but meeting Olive Twist(get it?) was an entertaining surprise. Her obnoxious and rude attitude toward the locals and southerners in general, made her someone you love to hate. Although, I mostly enjoyed the inclusion of the true story of the Lady in Red, who was found remarkably preserved in a fitted, glass topped, cast-iron coffin filled with alcohol on April 24, 1969 on an Egypt plantation near Lexington, MS. Based on the style of her clothing and the way she was preserved, it is assumed she died in the 1830s. To this day, no one knows the identity of the woman or the circumstances of her death. But it is believed she was hurriedly buried in her shallow three feet grave in an unmarked location because of fear she was contagious due to the unknown fever(possibly yellow fever) that took her life while she was a passenger on a boat nearby. Another theory, slightly less believable, is that her coffin fell off a wagon that was en route to a final resting place. It's a true shame, especially for us mystery book fans, that we most likely will never know.
June 28, 2016
I never want to miss one of this "guilty pleasures" treats, featuring Sarah Booth Delaney and her inimitable crew. "Smarty Bones" is one I'd like to have in my own library, though I enjoyed the one from our local Carrollton, Miss., library! The "Lady in Red" topic was a winner for me. As a summer intern at the Greenwood newspaper in the late 1960s I tagged along with the "boss" Jane Biggers, as she got a call to Egypt Plantation about the unearthing of "the lady in red" while a backhoe was being used there. Jane had me take a picture, but this was one of her big features in a series. When I returned to this area in the mid to late 1980s, I picked up on this as a sort of looking back feature, which was run in "Mississippi Magazine."
October 23, 2013
There's just so much going on in this one that it was a bit hard to keep everything straight. And I'm not fond of cliff hanger endings although it opens up so many possibilities for the next book. Oh, and Anyone who has known cats would know that a cat would never stoop to acting like a dog and follow directions!
November 10, 2014
I have read some earlier books in this series and they were okay. This book however was downright tedious. The main character Sarah Booth Delaney came across as the dumbest, most tiresome woman on the planet.
May 28, 2013
I am glad it was set back in Zinnia and had all the characters I like and that Jitty was scattered throughout the book--leaves you waiting for the next book.....
April 24, 2021
How I love a writer who creates a character so loathesome that I want to reach inside the book and smack the character upside the flat part of the cranium with a castiron skillet. I already want to be friends with Sarah Booth and Tinkie and Cece. Wander the town of Zinnia Mississippi and ride the horses and pet Sweetie and Pluto. The characters and the setting are superbly done. But to write that loathesome creature who appears in this book....Carolyn did this one up in Aces.
There are irritating characters, pleasant huggable ones too. I love this series.
I liked that I found out more of Sarah Booth's past. We get it in little bits every so often and it fills in gaps that I didn't know I needed to know until I read them.
I want to see Sarah Booth happy. She gets moments of it and I know she treasures them. She has the best fiance who loves her, her private investigator business is basically thriving, she has friends, her house she grew up in is hers, she has her own ghost who helps her if a bit infuriatingly so.
But life isn't always kind and she suffers because her loved ones suffer for what she feels is because of her. She cares for them so much that she does things on her own so as to protect them.
She is a bit more anguished and dramatic in this book, but there's a lot going on and I can see why she'd be the way she is throughout. She's braver and stronger than me for sure.
I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
There are irritating characters, pleasant huggable ones too. I love this series.
I liked that I found out more of Sarah Booth's past. We get it in little bits every so often and it fills in gaps that I didn't know I needed to know until I read them.
I want to see Sarah Booth happy. She gets moments of it and I know she treasures them. She has the best fiance who loves her, her private investigator business is basically thriving, she has friends, her house she grew up in is hers, she has her own ghost who helps her if a bit infuriatingly so.
But life isn't always kind and she suffers because her loved ones suffer for what she feels is because of her. She cares for them so much that she does things on her own so as to protect them.
She is a bit more anguished and dramatic in this book, but there's a lot going on and I can see why she'd be the way she is throughout. She's braver and stronger than me for sure.
I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
October 19, 2022
I recently was reminded that I enjoy spending time in the Delta with Sarah Booth and all of her friends. Sarah Booth and her best friend Tinkie run Delaney Detective Agency. When a high society woman asks for her help to stop an Historian from digging up the body of The Lady in Red, she starts to investigate. This novel involves several mysteries that intertwine and make solving things much harder than usual. And when Sarah Booth’s fiancé is kidnapped, she will do anything to find him. This story involves family secrets, hidden hate groups, and murder. This story addresses so many things that we are struggling with in our society today even though it was written in 2013. I enjoyed it. And now, I will need to read the next book in the series to find out what happens next.
I found it interesting that the author based this story, though fiction, on the actual Lady In Red whose mystery is still unsolved.
This series gives a strong sense of place. Sarah Booth is tied to the land and the Delta in summer can be sweltering. If you read by the season, make this a summer read.
I listened to this on Audio via Hoopla from my local library. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I found it interesting that the author based this story, though fiction, on the actual Lady In Red whose mystery is still unsolved.
This series gives a strong sense of place. Sarah Booth is tied to the land and the Delta in summer can be sweltering. If you read by the season, make this a summer read.
I listened to this on Audio via Hoopla from my local library. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May 12, 2023
I just recently picked up the Sarah Booth Delaney series again. I couldn't remember why I decided to stop reading. I have always enjoyed her writing style and I love to add the accents to her works. I quickly remembered why I stopped with the series. For a series thats based in the South Haines is very against one of the most basic ways a family provides food. She has hunting in this book in particular as something only men who are reviled and disgusting do because they are lacking in life. In truth, many southern men and women hunt to fill their freezers. The icing on the cake is how Sarah Booth describes how she would love to kill or maliciously harm someone because she feels like they are stupid or wronged her. It's the hypocrisy for me. I am almost finished with this book, and I will finish it because I really don't like adding books to my DNF list (I've paid for it so I might as well read it) unless it's an utterly ridiculous read. I didn't hate the book and I really do love Tinkie and Cece, they're real and don't sugar coat but aren't written as hypocrites.
September 25, 2018
This is my first Haines mystery and it won't be my last. The cute cover caught my eye and the plot synopsis was intriguing so I brought it home.
This book has it all: a ghost, a love affair, good friends, issues of the day, and a cat who follows its owner through the woods chasing a bad guy. Frankly, as a cat owner, I found the ghost more believable than the cat but that just made the book more fun.
The serious, unfettered look at the issues (racism, transgender living, misogamy) was nicely balanced against plenty of humor. I applaud Haines for tackling this issues while weaving them into a good, solid mystery. There are plenty of quirky, likable characters and Haines provides us with an explanation of why the bad guys went bad so we can disapprove without hate. Well done.
This book has it all: a ghost, a love affair, good friends, issues of the day, and a cat who follows its owner through the woods chasing a bad guy. Frankly, as a cat owner, I found the ghost more believable than the cat but that just made the book more fun.
The serious, unfettered look at the issues (racism, transgender living, misogamy) was nicely balanced against plenty of humor. I applaud Haines for tackling this issues while weaving them into a good, solid mystery. There are plenty of quirky, likable characters and Haines provides us with an explanation of why the bad guys went bad so we can disapprove without hate. Well done.
April 20, 2020
A pain in the anatomy for a "client" that keeps putting off signing a contract or paying the retainer? Yep. A Civil War era heroine died from unknown cause(s), buried, discovered by accident nearly a century later, reburied, exhumed for research to prove an unprovable theory advanced by the "client? Yep. A group of malcontents that wants to insert like minded malcontents to the state supreme court? Yep. Murder of a minor character? Yep. Solved by Sarah Booth and Tink? Yep. A slightly wacky woman as the actual danger, once discovered to be a kidnapper? Yep.
Many could try to write a story with all those characters and motives, but fail to keep it coherent. Not so with Carolyn Haines. Thoroughly enjoyable and all loose ends tucked into tale told.
Many could try to write a story with all those characters and motives, but fail to keep it coherent. Not so with Carolyn Haines. Thoroughly enjoyable and all loose ends tucked into tale told.
Read
August 23, 2019I am working my way through the Sarah Booth Delaney series by Carolyn Haines and recently finished Greedy Bones, Bone Appetit, Bones of a Feather, Bonefire of the Vanities and Smarty Bones. I am really enjoying this series. The characters are fun with a few surprises, the plot keeps you guessing, and as you finish one book, you will want to pick up the next and start right in. I rarely read paranormal stories, but this one is so much fun. My library doesn’t have any of the novellas, so I have requested they get them, as I am sure they are as good as what I’ve read so far.
November 15, 2021
Horrible. I have been listening to this series because some friends have continued to say how great it is and I just need to keep going but I've reached my limit. This story was pure garbage. The new characters were unlikable and hideous stereotypes and the existing characters need therapy-and a lot of it. If Graf is smart, he'll dump Sarah Booth immediately and run back to Hollywood. Awful from beginning to end.....and yet ANOTHER story where Sarah Booth & Tinkie don't get paid for their "work"; such pathetic "private detectives". Ugh.....
September 4, 2018
Very happy to have the gang back in Zinnia. I love the fun backdrop of Mississippi, Jitty popping up all the time with words of wisdom, and I love most of the characters. I really think the series went downhill with the introduction of Graf and the whole Hollywood/acting plot change. I think it's kind of ludicrous and Graf and Sarah Booth are a bad match. Kind of hoping Graf will hit the road now and we can get back to the series and characters the way they were in the beginning.
May 29, 2019
Dead for 150 years, a beautiful, mysterious redhead buried in a red velvet gown manages to stir up a lot of trouble when her body, which had been preserved in alcohol until a backhoe hit her casket and cracked it, decayed instantly once the protection the alcohol provided was gone.
Once again, Sweetie Pie and Pluto the cat earn their kibble. How many times have they saved Sarah Booth's life so far?
Once again, Sweetie Pie and Pluto the cat earn their kibble. How many times have they saved Sarah Booth's life so far?
December 12, 2019
Smarty Bones by Carolyn Haines (aSara Booth Delaney mystery) (Rb Digital Audiobook library loan) When an academic from you North comes to town demanding that the local mysterious legend the lady in red exhumed, controversy reigns and Sara and her friends dragged right in the thick of it. It’s got everything I have come to expect from one of Sara’s adventures. It’s a good story but not my favorite.
April 4, 2020
Enjoy the Bones mysteries but...
I enjoy the Bones mysteries but this was not my favorite. I admit I’ve gone backwards on the books having read some of the earlier and all of the latter ones. Somehow this story seemed off. It was complex and multilayered which I love but there was a disconnect with the characters I love. This certainly does not deter me from reading other books in the series.
I enjoy the Bones mysteries but this was not my favorite. I admit I’ve gone backwards on the books having read some of the earlier and all of the latter ones. Somehow this story seemed off. It was complex and multilayered which I love but there was a disconnect with the characters I love. This certainly does not deter me from reading other books in the series.
February 17, 2021
Every book, I have read in this series, including this one, has been outstanding. Books about family, whether they are blood kin or not, will always find a place in my heart. The main characters are both fun and worrisome. The plot is usually straight forward and easily followed with all the turns and switchbacks of any good mystery. The ending is always satisfactory and this book is no exception. I highly recommend this book and all the others I have given reviews on, in this series.
June 4, 2022
I haven’t read a book in this series in a while. I so believe this is the last one I will read though. The main character is ridiculous in talking about ‘her man’ but then is all hung up on every other guy in the book as well. I was not impressed, it was a good thing I was listening to an audiobook instead of reading bc I would have never made it though the book. Last one of this series I will pick up.
April 6, 2024
ATY 2024 #2 A book related to something you read in 2023
Sarah Booth is engaged to Graf. A carpetbagger has arrived and plans to stir up trouble by digging up a corpse from Civil War days, doing a DNA test, and then publishing scandalous stories about her connection to two local families. Then her assistant is murdered. Who did it and why? Are her claims accurate? And what is going on with Oliver's cousin and CeCe's brother?
Sarah Booth is engaged to Graf. A carpetbagger has arrived and plans to stir up trouble by digging up a corpse from Civil War days, doing a DNA test, and then publishing scandalous stories about her connection to two local families. Then her assistant is murdered. Who did it and why? Are her claims accurate? And what is going on with Oliver's cousin and CeCe's brother?
September 4, 2017
I always give a book a 5 if I can pass it along to my 86 year old mother. This book has interesting characters, is well written and easy to read, keeps you engaged, story plot believable and suspense created at right moments, and it feels as if these are real people with real problems. Did I mention the ghost? She adds the right about of spice.
February 24, 2018
Sarah and Graf are both in Zinnia when Professor Olive Twist arrives in town to stir up old stories and hurts among the people. She wants to dig up the grave of the Lady in Red who is a mystery. Sarah and Tinkie are sorta hired to protect/help Olive but it is hard to do when she is so nasty to everyone. The book was a quick easy read.
January 19, 2020
It has been a while since I read a mystery by Carolyn Haines and I had forgotten how much I enjoy her books.
This one didn't disappoint, it was filled with a good balance of country side descriptions, life in the south, some history and an engaging mystery.
Really enjoyed getting reacquainted with Sarah Booth and her friends as well as Jitty !
This one didn't disappoint, it was filled with a good balance of country side descriptions, life in the south, some history and an engaging mystery.
Really enjoyed getting reacquainted with Sarah Booth and her friends as well as Jitty !
September 13, 2017
This was my first experience with Smarty Bones - I found it interesting - Many characters to keep up with - fun cat & dog - even ghosts - a cozy mystery book has interesting characters- is well written - story plot believable and suspense created at right moments,
July 18, 2020
I really like this series but this one not a s much as the others. Sarah Booth seems more whiny and less tough (which i totally understand we all are some times, especially these days). I also kept mixing up the history so maybe this one would be better read than listened to.
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