Friday, December 21, 2012

Favorite Reads 2012: Loves Carolyn Haines

A native of Mississippi, Carolyn Haines is the author of over fifty books in multiple genres. She was named the 2010 recipient of the Harper Lee Award and is the recipient of the 2009 Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence.

Bonefire of the Vanities is my 12th book in the Carolyn Haines Bones series. Why do I continue reading every one of these books? Well...when they are so well written and more than interesting...how could I not continue reading them. This latest in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries was no exception.

Sarah Booth Delaney and her BFF Tinkey (and partner PI) have been requested by Madam Tomeeka aka Tammy to guard Marjorie Littlefield from harm. It appears Marjorie is staying with the Westins, Brandy & Sherry, at an estate, Heart's Desire. Heart's Desire has a long history and most of it is quite dark and only getting darker. Sarah Booth and Tinkin set out under the guise of being maids for Marjorie.  How long being a maid will last with Tinkie...your guess is as good as mine!

Despite the wishes of her overprotective fiance, Sarah Booth Delaney can't give up her detective work, no matter how dangerous it becomes. It's too much a part of her. On this case, avoiding danger might be impossible--she's on the trail of a porn-star-turned-psychic operating from a haunted estate on the edge on town. Medium Sherry Cameron promises to reunite grieving family members with their dearly departed, but it seems vaguely suspicious that Sherry will only accept emotionally vulnerable and tremendously wealthy clients.  Aging billionaire Marjorie Littlefield fits the profile perfectly--her daughter died in a tragic accident as a young girl, she's been estranged from her son for decades, and she's planning to leave her considerable inheritance to her cat.

Convinced she's uncovered a scheme to separate a lonely woman from her fortune, Sarah Booth talks her way onto the estate as a maid, where she finds Marjorie and several other wealthy eccentrics ready to commune with the dead. Between chores, Sarah Booth explores the estate, mingles with the other staff...and finds a few dead bodies. But which guest or staff member might be the killer? Even Jitty, Sarah Booth's personal haunt, won't tell until Sarah Booth has uncovered all of Sherry's well-kept secrets.

With spooks and charlatans around every corner, Sarah Booth is the only PI in the southlands who can put an end to this elaborate scam in Bonefire of the Vanities, the charming twelfth entry in Carolyn Haines's sparkling series.

I love going back to Dahlia House and going on another journey with Sarah Booth and Tinkie.  Love this series and appreciate the author taking the time to write such an interesting story with substance rather than churning out one shallow book after another in short order.  Well worth the wait.

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