Sarah Booth Delaney stars in her twenty-fifth outing as a case arises near Christmas. Bay St. Louis is a coastal Mississippi town decked out with all the glitter, holly wreaths, and trees, and some unique versions too. BONES OF HOLLY also introduces us to local writers Sandra O’Day and Janet Malone. Sarah and her partner Sheriff Coleman Peters have driven down for Christmas this year, so Sarah can participate as one of the judges for the library Christmas tree decorating contest. Sandra and Janet, also invited judges, are apparently best frenemies who think nothing of bawling insults and accusations of plagiarism at each other on the street in full view of vloggers.
Al Capone, the 1920s gangster, is one of the Bay St. Louis claims to fame. He retired here and built a splendid home for a movie actress he’d first met when she was steering her family fishing boat, filled with illicit rum, to shore. Helene Buntman may have lived handsomely, but she paid a heavy price, isolated and unmarried. Rumours of a treasure buried on the property are enough to interest the private investigator Sarah, but she is just here to enjoy the holiday season – until Sandra O’Day and her assistant Daryl Marcus go missing from a house party. Traces of blood indicate they did not go willingly. The police are unsure if this is a crime, a non-crime, or a publicity stunt. Janet realises that her rival was digging into the background of Al Capone and the families who used to work for him locally. Maybe the research upset someone.
Sarah takes on the hunt but has a lot of ground to cover, with historic homes, sandy shores, and the changes wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Some locals are willing to talk and some are not, but they all serve mouth-watering seafood. I definitely feel a sense of place is the strongest element of this story, with many characters contributing views or historical tales. Even a ghost gets in on the act; Sarah is followed by a ‘haint’ who is harmless but passes oblique messages, nicely evocative of New Orleans and the surrounding area. Living residents are rather less harmless.
Author Carolyn Haines notably includes animals in her stories. BONES OF HOLLY has no horses but several rescued cats, adding depth to one of the characters. I love the wealth of details fleshing out the BONES OF HOLLY – a Christmas mystery with a twist.
Sarah Booth and Tinkie, along with baby Maylin, are in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi for Christmas this year, as judges for the annual library tree decorating contest.
The other two judges are writers Sandra O’Day and Janet Malone. They’re bestselling Mississippi authors, but bitter competitors. In fact, the feud between them is the stuff of legends. For years, they’ve brawled, their sales skyrocketing with each cat fight. Sandra’s most recent true crime book documents the 1920s rum-running era of Al Capone, who built a mansion in BSL and a distribution network for his liquor. Janet’s book, scheduled to be published in January, is a fictional account of the same material—which only heightens their bitter rivalry.
Sarah Booth and Tinkie are shopping with little Maylin when they see Sandra and Janet outside a bookstore, fur flying, and when Sandra vanishes from her own gala later that night, suspicion turns to Janet. Janet accuses Sandra of attempting to manipulate the media by a fake disappearance, but is it a stunt, or is something more sinister at play?
Sarah Booth and Tinkie will have to dive deep into the history of Bay St. Louis, and even Al Capone himself, to get to the bottom of this case. But the trail in fact leads them back to several prominent families still residing in the area. Families who may not want their secrets known…
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