Blue Christmas Bones : A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery by Carolyn Haines

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The recipe review and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing.

Blue Christmas Bones
Sarah Boothe Delaney Mystery
Carolyn Haines 
Minotaur Books

This is number 28 in the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. Sarah Booth is half of Delaney Investigations agency, the taller sassier half. Her dedicated daddy’s girl bff Tinkie Richmond is the other half. Together with their family, friends, and loves; they are the best Southern sleuths you may ever encounter. I have been reading these slightly sharp cozies (a little swearing and a little sizzle) for over 15 years and they do not disappoint. Sarah Booth is an amazing character and from the series starter to now, she has undergone such a range of emotions, suffice it to say that she “has come a long way, baby.” Do not worry if you are just now giving this series a try, all of the books offer plenty of backstory so you will never feel lost. You will want to be like me and go back and start at the beginning to see how it all started, with a family plantation in need of repairs and mortgage payments in arears and the kidnapping of a little dust mop dog named Chablis.

It is Christmas in the Delta and the sleuth crew of Sarah Booth, Tinkie, Millie, and CeCe are headed to Tupelo, Mississippi for the first annual Elvis Christmas event. Not even Vegas has as many Elvis’s and the girls are just wanting to have fun. Their guys and pets will meet up with them in a few days but not before the detective agency is hired to locate a $3 million dollar Elvis inspired belt. This isn’t the first time that the ladies have their holiday/vacation plans hijacked for a case, but usually it involves murder. While I have not read all of the books in the series, this is the first one that I have come across that did not involve a dead body. Not that there aren’t plenty of near misses, threats of bodily harm, and sketchy suspects to keep you turning pages. 

The mystery is well spun and the suspects are quirky and all share one thing in common, they have love/hate relationships with the owner of the belt, one Grace Land. Yes that is her name given to her by her mom, not an awkward name to saddle a kid with at all…There is an Adonis of an artist who made the belt, the insurance agent who wrote the policy for the piece, the assistant mayor who has dreams of being a Vegas Elvis, a fellow Hollywood show star with pugs, the Sheriff, and possible participants from Grace’s reality show. The only one who seems to have anything good to say about Grace is a mechanic. Even Sarah Booth is ready to quit this gig when she suspects that no one is being honest with them, especially Grace. 

All in all this was a light-hearted Christmas mystery with a fun location/event incorporated into the story line. The red herrings had  me going in so many directions that I just wasn’t sure who the crook was/were until the big reveal. This was an enjoyable story that made my Christmas season bright, so to Ms. Haines I say, “thank ya, ah thank ya very much.”