Smarty Bones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery, Carolyn Haines

? ? ? 1/2

I am adding 1/2 star because I was able to glean a bit of very interesting trivia regarding The Lady in Red.

http://cemeteriesofdancingrabbitcreek.blogspot.com/2009/03/odd-fellows-cemetery-...


A very nasty college professor is staying in town intent on exhuming The Lady in Red and digging up dirt on two of the local prominent families to whom she might be related, both of those families are Sarah Booth's closest friends. When the professor's Assistant dies by poison (meant for the professor), the professor hires Sarah Booth & her partner Tinkie to find out who the murderer is & to protect her.

Also in the story are two unsavory up to no good relatives of those two families, they are hoarding guns and intent on causing general havoc.

Jitty, the resident "Haint" of Sarah Booth is popping in & out as wont to do dressed as famous cartoon characters giving Sarah Booth unsolicited & often enigmatic advice on her life. Sarah Booth's dog, Sweetie, is there as always helping to protect Sarah Booth.

I find these books to be light and entertaining reading. I do not understand the part Jitty plays, nor do I understand the point of her veiled double entendre dialog w/ Sarah Booth. ( )

Excellent book. One of the best in the series. Enjoyed the quirky characters and the southern setting. I love these books, but I really enjoyed this one. ( )

Wow, this book was busy! It's like the author had three different novella-length stories she wanted to tell and compressed them all into the same plot line/book. But I don't mean that as a bad thing. It was just a very busy storyline - which I can see a lot of people not enjoying, but it kept me on the edge of my seat for the last half of the book. I love how Ms. Haines brought Sweetie and Pluto into the storyline and made them active characters - a true animal lover will appreciate it.

I really enjoyed the Lady in Red storyline. I was really intrigued by the role she played in the Civil War and the possible solution to the troubles that she hoped to forward. The modern day storyline revolving around her, however, I have to admit to finding hard to swallow - it felt a tiny bit over-the-top. But I still enjoyed the hell out of this book! ;)

Ms. Haines hints throughout the story that she might be shaking things up again in Sarah Booth's life. As I've always been a fan of Coleman's, I sort of hope that's true. I'm looking forward to the next book to find out what happens. ( )

Olive Twist is just too much of a caricature to be believable. From the description given, I kept waiting for her to be outed as a trans. Sarah spends too much time running around and not enough thinking. Sweetie is beginning to be a wonder-dog. ( )