A Bone To Pick
Charlaine Harris
Berkley, Feb 2008, $7.99, 272 pp.
ISBN 9780425219700

Lawrence, Georgia is usually a quiet little southern town except when Aurora "Roe" Teagarden has A BONE TO PICK; which to the locals seems too often. Trouble follows her like a magnet but when she goes to the funeral of Jane Engle, her lawyer has some good news for her. Jane left Roe her entire estate which includes her house and half a million dollars. The lawyer hints that Jane has something she wants Roe to fix.

As Roe inspects her new house looking for a hiding place, she spots the window seat carpeted to look like a piece of furniture. When she opens it, Roe finds a skull and since she doesn't want to take it to the police, she wraps it inside a blanket and takes it to her mother's house. She later finds inside a book a note in Jane's handwriting saying she didn't do it. Relieved, Roe has to figure where the skull came from and who killed that person.

Charlaine Harris's second Aurora Teagarden mystery is a charming delight populated with eccentric lovable Southern characters. The mystery is well thought out with enough suspects to keep readers turning the pages to find out who lost their head, why that person was beheaded, and why the head is with Jane while the body remains in parts unknown (pardon the pun). A BONE TO PICK is a classic reprint from 1992 that stands the test of time.

Harriet Klausner