Monday, October 14, 2024

Blue Christmas Bones - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads:  Blue Christmas Bones (A Sarah Booth Delany Mystery) by Carolyn Haines

Rating:  Liked It! (3.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Sarah Booth Delaney and her friends can’t help falling in love with Christmas this year, which they plan to spend celebrating the King of Rock n’ Roll at the annual Elvis Festival in Tupelo. The main attraction is an Elvis impersonator competition, drawing impersonators from all over the world to honor the king.

But before the revelry can get underway, a priceless jewel-encrusted replica of a belt once worn by Elvis is stolen from its display case, and Sarah Booth and Tinkie are roped into one of the biggest heists in the history of Mississippi. Soon suspicious minds are lurking around every corner, with one eyewitness even claiming to have seen Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s long deceased and highly questionable manager, prowling around the festivities. Sarah Booth will have to find the devil in disguise or she might just end up singing Jailhouse Rock herself.

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:   The blurb looked really fun and I've been wanting to try the series for awhile.  

My Impression: This is a long running series so since I'm coming in now I'm a bit on the back foot with understanding the relationships and getting up to speed.  It took me a bit longer to get into this book - whether because I'm new to the series or just because the start was slow I can't say for certain.  However, once I got into the story I did really enjoy it.  

This is an ensemble cast with Sarah Booth being the primary focus.  She seems to be haunted by a young woman named Jitty who shows up sometimes to help and sometimes to cause general mischief both of which are pretty fun.  The mystery of the stolen belt gets going pretty quickly and more than a few people have strong motives to steal it - not just for its value but to get revenge against the owner or its creator.  Neither of the two have made many friends or inspired much loyalty.  

This book has a fairly sizable cast and it did take a bit for me to get everything figured out but I did enjoy the read overall.  I have zero interest or knowledge about Elvis or his music but despite that I did find the discussion of him and his music interesting.  Despite the slowish start I did enjoy the read and getting to know the characters.  This is a series I'm looking forward to reading from the beginning.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? I would!  I'm looking forward to going back to the beginning of the series and getting to know all the characters

Would I Recommend this Book? If you like quirky Southern cozies this was a fun read and looks to be a promising series.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

3 comments:

  1. I've read some of this series and enjoyed it. It's been awhile ago though.

    Anne - Books of My Heart

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  2. It sounds like with that many ongoing characters this is a series where you really need to start with the first book.

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  3. Despite the cast and slow start, this looks fun.

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