A Bone To Pick - Charlaine Harris

A Bone To Pick
An Aurora Teagarden Mystery
Charlaine Harris
Berkley Prime Crime

Mystery

There weren’t many mourners at the funeral of Jane Engle. A former school librarian and member of the now-disbanded true crime discussion group Real Murders, Jane mostly kept to herself. No one is more surprised than Aurora (Roe) Teagarden to learn that Jane left Roe everything. ‘Everything’ includes Jane’s house, all the contents, and a hefty bank account.

When Roe goes to Jane’s (her) house with the estate lawyer, she’s dismayed to see that a back window is broken out, and that someone clearly searched the place. At first, she assumes the break-in was some kind of a prank. But the way things were moved, closets emptied, and nothing stolen, paints a different picture. It’s clear that someone was actively searching for something. Never one to pass up a mystery, Roe continues the search. And finds a human skull in the window seat. Clearly Jane left her one last mystery to solve.

I think if Nancy Drew grew up and became a librarian, she’d be Roe Teagarden. This is just the kind of story that started my love of mysteries: A strange inheritance, a house to search through, and a mystery to be solved. Roe uses her smarts to ferret out the clues left behind by a fellow mystery buff. Her personal life isn’t quite as neatly resolved, but that’s realistic. This is a great follow-up to REAL MURDERS.

Rating: 7 ½
February 2008 (reprint)ISBN# 978-0-425-21979-9 (paperback)