THE SKELETON BOX by Bryan Gruley performs a hat trick with
its tightly woven mystery, the deft handling of small town
politics, and the intricate display of family relationships.
Gus Carpenter, editor of the local paper, coach to the
River Rats, the first high school hockey team since his days
on the team
with a chance to go to the state playoffs, and dutiful son who
doesn't know on the best of days how to take care of his
ailing mother. He struggles to put his past mistakes and
past love behind him as he works to solve the Bingo Night
Burglaries. Four homes broken into. Nothing taken. No
evidence left. The only connection is they all happened on
Bingo night.
When Mrs. B, the mother of his ex-girlfriend, is found
murdered in his mother's bathroom, Gus has no choice but to
work with the only woman he's ever loved to find the
truth behind the seemingly senseless crimes.
Mrs. B's dying words point Gus to Father Nilus Moreau, a
pastor at St. Valentine's, but connecting a long dead
priest to the present murder can be difficult when the only
people who remember Nilus have their own secrets to
protect. Gus must sort through the memories and lies for a
truth that might tear his family apart.
The world Bryan Gruley has created in THE SKELETON BOX
perfectly depicts the life and politics of a small town
where intricate circles not only tie the community together but
could potentially break it apart as well. It's a world where
families;
those you're born to as well as those you create, cause hurt as
often as comfort.
It's a world I'll definitely look forward to visiting
again.
Does Gus Carpenter really want to know what’s inside the
skeleton box? In Anthony– and Barry Award–winning author
Bryan Gruley’s gripping new novel, Gus must decide if the
truth is better off dead and buried.
Mysterious
break-ins are plaguing the small town of Starvation Lake.
While elderly residents enjoy their weekly bingo night at
St. Valentine’s Catholic Church, someone is slipping into
their homes to rifle through financial and personal files.
Oddly, the intruder takes nothing—yet the “Bingo Night
Burglaries” leave the entire town uneasy.
Worry turns
into panic when a break-in escalates to murder. Suddenly,
Gus Carpenter, editor of the Pine County Pilot, is
forced to investigate the most difficult story of his life.
Not only is the victim his ex-girlfriend Darlene’s mother,
but her body was found in the home of Bea Carpenter—Gus’s
own mother. Suffering from worsening dementia and under the
influence of sleeping pills, Bea remembers little of the
break-in.
With the help of Luke Whistler, a former
Detroit Free Press reporter who came north looking
for slower days and some old-fashioned newspaper work, Gus
sets out to uncover the truth behind the murder. But when
the story leads him to a lockbox his mother has kept secret
for years, Gus doesn’t realize that its contents could
forever change his perception of Starvation Lake, his own
family, and the value of the truth.
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