Rating: 
Summary: Too much romance, too little mystery
Review: And no wonder. Sarah Booth, our Mississippi broke-but-upper-class private investigator, has three romantic interests in this book: the sheriff, who is married; a wealthy businessman who is pursuing her; and a bad-boy blues musician who is charged with a vicious killing -- he's her client.So -- although there was mystery at the beginning and mystery at the end, most of the middle seemed to be romance. If you like a lot of romance, you'll probably really like this book, but if you're more of a fan of mysteries, you may find all of Sarah Booth's dates and endless soul-searching about who is the man for her, etc. rather tedious after a while. The plot involves racial tensions in the Mississippi delta town of Zinnia. A black man who owns a blues club has been viciously killed, and the white man who is the star musician in the club (they met in the penitentiary) is accused of killing him. The black man's wife hires Sarah Booth to prove that Scott the star musician didn't commit this murder. Scott has an unsavory past as a racist (not to mention the stretch behind bars) and he's belligerant and rude, but Sarah Booth comes to believe that he is indeed innocent and sets out to find the proof. The motive for this murder is the key to solving the crime, if she can only find out why he was killed. Racial tensions are rising in Zinnia, and a lot of people are not happy that Sarah Booth has taken this case, so she is in some jeopardy herself. The dead man's son Emmanuel is convinced Scott killed his father and wants to see him convicted, but Emmanuel is a racist in his own right. I really enjoyed Them Bones, so I picked up this book expecting to be equally delighted. I wasn't. As I said earlier, too much time spent on romances and too little on the mystery. This book could have been shortened by at least 50 pages and would have been improved. I think that the author needs to let the editor edit. I will try another of this author's mysteries to see if this book was the exception, or Them Bones was.
Rating:
Summary: Too much romance, too little mystery
Review: And no wonder. Sarah Booth, our Mississippi broke-but-upper-class private investigator, has three romantic interests in this book: the sheriff, who is married; a wealthy businessman who is pursuing her; and a bad-boy blues musician who is charged with a vicious killing -- he's her client. So -- although there was mystery at the beginning and mystery at the end, most of the middle seemed to be romance. If you like a lot of romance, you'll probably really like this book, but if you're more of a fan of mysteries, you may find all of Sarah Booth's dates and endless soul-searching about who is the man for her, etc. rather tedious after a while. The plot involves racial tensions in the Mississippi delta town of Zinnia. A black man who owns a blues club has been viciously killed, and the white man who is the star musician in the club (they met in the penitentiary) is accused of killing him. The black man's wife hires Sarah Booth to prove that Scott the star musician didn't commit this murder. Scott has an unsavory past as a racist (not to mention the stretch behind bars) and he's belligerant and rude, but Sarah Booth comes to believe that he is indeed innocent and sets out to find the proof. The motive for this murder is the key to solving the crime, if she can only find out why he was killed. Racial tensions are rising in Zinnia, and a lot of people are not happy that Sarah Booth has taken this case, so she is in some jeopardy herself. The dead man's son Emmanuel is convinced Scott killed his father and wants to see him convicted, but Emmanuel is a racist in his own right. I really enjoyed Them Bones, so I picked up this book expecting to be equally delighted. I wasn't. As I said earlier, too much time spent on romances and too little on the mystery. This book could have been shortened by at least 50 pages and would have been improved. I think that the author needs to let the editor edit. I will try another of this author's mysteries to see if this book was the exception, or Them Bones was.
Rating: 
Summary: the best yet in a great series
Review: Carolyn Haines simply gets better with each new book in this series, and this one is superb. The plot is smoothly constructed, with the suspense building steadily throughout. The characters are well drawn, and Sarah Booth remains a fascinating, complex heroine. Having grown up near the Mississippi Delta, I feel like I'm going home every time I read one of these books.
Rating:
Summary: the best yet in a great series
Review: Carolyn Haines simply gets better with each new book in this series, and this one is superb. The plot is smoothly constructed, with the suspense building steadily throughout. The characters are well drawn, and Sarah Booth remains a fascinating, complex heroine. Having grown up near the Mississippi Delta, I feel like I'm going home every time I read one of these books.
Rating: 
Summary: Best of the Series
Review: I really enjoyed this entry in the Mississippi Delta series. It deals with a more serious subject than previous entries - that of a racism that is, unfortunately, still prevalant in some communities.
In this episode, P.I. Sarah Booth Delaney is asked by the widow of a murdered black blues musician to find out who really killed him as she doesn't think the man accused, a white formerly racist bluesman, is guilty.
Sarah Booth must deal with, among the normal problems an investigation brings, a town that is divided along racial lines due to the killing, a son of the murdered man who hates all white people, two biker friends of the accused (also racist), and, of course, Jitty, her house ghost. I must admit that I agree with one of the other reviewers that Jitty can be tiresome as she contradicts herself repeatedly and, for some reason, the author insists on describing her various outfits down to the smallest detail.
Also in the plot is some romance - Sarah Booth is in love with the married sheriff, she is falling in love with the accused, and she has a few dates with a rich northerner who is in town to buy the club that the murdered man owned.
I think that this book is the best of the series thus far - it seems to reach a new level of competence in its style of writing and tackles a very serious subject with sensitivity. For me, it was almost a 5-star book, and would have been even closer to 5 stars if Jitty had been dropped completely or been a smaller part of the book.
Will definitely be reading the next in the series, "Hallowed Bones."
Rating: 
Summary: What Happened....??
Review: Maybe I've forgotten, but where did this love for Coleman come from? I know Sarah Booth had this "relationship" with Harold the Banker.....but I don't remember the sheriff ever being a factor. I thought this was by far the weeakest in the series. I have really liked all of the others, but this one didn't do it for me. I guess, as a Yankee, I really don't get the Daddy's Girl thing. Thank God I'm from the solid Northeast. I would not make a good Southern woman.....and I wouldn't want to be. But I'll still read the books.
Rating:
Summary: What Happened....??
Review: Maybe I've forgotten, but where did this love for Coleman come from? I know Sarah Booth had this "relationship" with Harold the Banker.....but I don't remember the sheriff ever being a factor. I thought this was by far the weeakest in the series. I have really liked all of the others, but this one didn't do it for me. I guess, as a Yankee, I really don't get the Daddy's Girl thing. Thank God I'm from the solid Northeast. I would not make a good Southern woman.....and I wouldn't want to be. But I'll still read the books.
Rating:
Summary: Southern hospitality with a dash of murder
Review: Sarah Booth Delaney is not your typical southern belle. She started a P.I. business to hold on to her family's plantation. She is the last in the line of Delaney's with no sign of a progeny in sight much to the chagrin of a resident ghost named Jitty. Jitty is around to give Sarah Booth a hard time and to add the comic relief. Haines has created a witty, well-written novel rich in southern charm and atmosphere. The character relationships work as well as if not better than the mystery. I was a little disappointed at the conclusion of the book. If the author had not taken the easy way out at the end I would have given the book 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Best "Bones" Yet
Review: Sarah Booth does it again! The "Bones" mysteries are fun, but as a former Ole Miss GDI and sipper of an occasional cocktail, the character of Sarah Booth is what makes this series my favorite. These books are like potato chips - no one can read just one.
Rating:
Summary: Best "Bones" Yet
Review: Sarah Booth does it again! The "Bones" mysteries are fun, but as a former Ole Miss GDI and sipper of an occasional cocktail, the character of Sarah Booth is what makes this series my favorite. These books are like potato chips - no one can read just one.
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