2012: #32 – A Bone to Pick (Charlaine Harris)

Title: A Bone to Pick
Author: Charlaine Harris
Series: Aurora Teagarden #02
Format: Audio
Audiobook length: 6 hrs 7 min
Approx. Word Count: 81,600 (2012 total – 2,495,314)
Release Date: November 1992
Publisher: Walker & Co
Categories: cozy mystery
Source: personal copy
Rating: 3 out of 5

Back of the book:

Aurora “Roe” Teagarden’s fortunes change when a deceased acquaintance names her as heir to a rather substantial estate, including money, jewelry, and a house complete with a skull hidden in a window seat. Roe concludes that the elderly women has purposely left her a murder to solve. So she must identify the victim and figure out which one of her new, ordinary-seeming neighbors is a murderer- without putting herself in deadly danger.

My thoughts:

I didn’t like this one quite as much as the first one. I still liked Roe, and her inheritance does make for some interesting plot twists, but the basic plot just didn’t connect with me. I think the problem is that if I were to inherit a house, snoop around, and find a skull hidden somewhere, my thoughts wouldn’t immediately jump to “murder!!!”. I’d think, “Cool, I wonder where they got that?” Unless, of course, there was a big ole knife sticking out of it or something.

My like of Roe is what pulled me through. She’s found that her love life has taken a couple of unexpected turns. I’m interested in seeing what new adventures her inheritance allows her to undertake.

Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | WorldCat

Other reviews:

• “In terms of mystery books, this one was a real dud.” — The Novel World
• “This book deviated from the normal murder Mystery, in the fact that no one was actually killed during the span of the story.  I have to say, as demented as it sounds, that was a little disappointing for me.” — Cozy Book Reviews

Past reviews:

2011: The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
2010: Definitely Dead (Charlaine Harris)
2009: For a Few Demons More (Kim Harrison)
2008: Exit Music (Ian Rankin)
2007: Dark Angels (Karleen Koen)
2006: Survivor in Death (J.D. Robb)
2005: We’ll Meet Again (Mary Higgins Clark)