Them Bones: A Mystery from the Mississippi Delta (Sarah Booth Delaney)

After reading the reviews here, I bought the first 4 books in the series hoping for a good summer series. I pushed my way through 3/4 of this first book, but I just could not like the characters. Our heroine is an idiot who makes terrible choices and thinks it’s totally fine that the men are as likely to assault her as kiss her. She has no backup and walks stupidly into danger despite repeated warnings from everyone in her life. She finds one potential murderer ‘passionate’ and ‘virile’ after he attacks her and leaves massive bruises on her body. No thanks.

The book has so much literary merit, that it could be placed among the novels. However, the excellent mystery plot also wins it a place among the mysteries. Haines creates characters who are memorable and vivid and places them in the Mississippi Delta town of Zinnia (I'm kind of reminded of the movie "In the Heat of the Night"). Sarah Booth is living in the ancestral home -- she is an orphan and an only child, the last of the Delaneys -- but is about to lose it, because she is destitute despite her social credentials. Her only company at Dahlia House - the antebellum house -- is the ghost of a slave, who appears in a variety of outfits and "encourages" Sarah to get to work reproducing.In an attempt to earn some money, Sarah takes on the task of trying to get to the truth of a scandal from 20 years ago in which first a leading citizen and then the leading citizen's wife die in some very questionable accidents. THe two young offspring are whispered to have something to do with it, and Sarah's client wants to find out if Hamilton the Fifth is as bad as rumors have it. Hamilton the Fifth is a romantic interest worthy of Evanovich -- and did I mention the book is often funny?Sarah is stirring up some dangerous memories and some deaths start to follow. I really loved this book and can hardly wait to read the next in this series and discover what happens to Sarah.

I decided to try this series based on the reviews of other readers and am glad I did. I too thought this might turn out to be another attempt at the zany humor so many try, but few accomplish (Janet Evanovich and Nancy Bartholomew being the few exceptions). The conversations between Jitty and Sarah Booth are funny at times, but what I like the most is being able to not only feel Sarah Booth's love for her home, which goes deeper than just a place to live, but also that there probably really is a Zinnia with people just like that. I read someone comparing Sarah Booth to Sharon McCone and, I agree -- a softer cousin maybe. The second in the series is just as good and I'm looking forward to reading the 3rd.

I am a reader. I read at least three books a week and you can imagine what a joy it is for me to find something new and refreshing in a book! Especially a mystery! The characters are wonderful, and so is Jitty, the ghost, who has a knack for annoying, being helpful, entertaining, and coming up with the right idea when needed. She is also quite a snappy dresser! I laughed outloud several times. The bonus was, I did not figure out 'who dunnit' right away. An all around great book. I just orded the second mystery, 'Buried Bones' and I do not believe I will be disapointed.

Sara Booth Delaney is the type of character that you know you're going to like as soon as you begin reading this book. She's returned to Mississippi to try to save the old family plantation, but without success. Her only companion in the big old house is the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny, Jitty. Jitty is a kick, and the bane of Sarah Booth's existence, though of course, only Sarah Booth can see her. Another complication is the Delaney women's penchants for madness and mysterious "womb" disorders - which can be interpreted anyway you like - and which seem to be well-known in the community. Know only that Sarah Booth's biological clock is ticking very loudly.Sarah Booth decides on dognapping as the quickest way to raise money, holding her best friend's dog for ransom. Problems ensue when this same friend asks her to investigate an older murder, stirring up things that probably should have been best be left alone. There's also the complication of her attraction to two different men - one who wants to marry her and get her out of her financial difficulties, and one who may have been a murderer and seems to be just passing through her life.This was a very enjoyable book - well-written, sexy, and funny. The Deep South setting is interesting, and Ms. Haines describes that society with amusement and affection, and makes it an integral part of the story. If you're a fan of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, you'll like this book. The storylines and characters are different but there are some basic similarities - an amusing woman who thinks she sees herself clearly yet who can't really understand her own appeal, a surfeit of handsome and sexy men, and uniquely amusing secondary characters.