If you enjoyed the humor of Tamara Berry’s Buried in a Good Book, you might want to catch up with the adventures of that quirky cast in On Spine of Death. Thriller writer Tess Harrow and her fifteen-year-old daughter Gretchen are digging themselves into the life of Winthrop, but someone else already wrote a story for them to uncover.
In fact, Tess is tied up in the basement of her grandfather’s old hardware store, working on a plot for one of her thrillers when Gertrude takes a sledge hammer to the floor. Tess has plans to turn the old store into a bookstore called The Paper Trail in the Old West-themed town. But, several blows of the sledge hammer sends bones into the cellar where Tess is sitting. First it was flying body parts. Now, Tess is buried in old bones.
It’s going to be up to Sylvia at the morgue and Sheriff Vincent Boyd to decide if those bones mean a crime was committed. It seems likely since the bones have hatchet marks on them, and someone put them in Tess’ grandfather’s store. But, she’s not willing to believe her grandfather killed people and hid the bones in his own store. Tess does have an author friend, though. Peter Oblonsky writes horror novels, and he’s a hatchet expert. Boyd and Sylvia are fans, so they’re excited to have Peter visit to examine the bones. But, the bones are stolen from the morgue before Peter can check them out.
Peter is curious about everything, though, and the whole story of bones and theft reminds him of a book called “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.” He reminds Tess she once blurbed it, but she never read it. Now, as she pours over it, the town, and the story of missing women and bones sounds as if it was set in Winthrop. She’s just afraid to tell Sheriff Boyd about the book, because his older sister was one woman who went missing, and was never found.
Berry manages to squeeze FBI agents and an ongoing investigation into this story in which everyone is a suspect. Once again, there’s a cast of quirky characters, fast-paced appearances and disappearances, and an unexpected killer. It’s a humorous cozy for those who enjoy the Keystone Cop type of action.
Tamara Berry’s website is https://tamaraberry.com/
On Spine of Death by Tamara Berry. Poisoned Pen Press, 2022. ISBN 9781728248639 (paperback), 384p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I read a galley for a journal review.
