ODE TO THE BONES by Carolyn Haines

Sarah Booth Delaney stars in the thirtieth novel of this southern crime series. The Mississippi Delta is sultry in ODE TO THE BONES and heading for a summer hot enough to scare the farmers. Many of the community near Zinnia in Sunflower County are heavily indebted.

Sarah starts by spotting a woman in white on the Tallahatchie Bridge – who vanishes. This keeps happening, and it actually got annoying, to everyone, as search and rescue are put on the spot, some people fear ghosts or think women are distraught enough to jump, while probably unfounded rumours start over who might have guilty consciences.

The wetter spring than usual washed away fertiliser and seeds, while a sudden hot spell looks to start a relative drought. Burdened with debt and attracting the attention of predatory land buyers, a strong young farmer, Danny Anderson, goes missing. Perhaps he was distraught, or perhaps he is just hiding to avoid foreclosure, or trying to gain money illegally. Private investigator Sarah Booth and her partner Tinkie Richmond are hired by Tinkie's husband Oscar, who is president of the Zinnia bank. He’s the one providing loans to farmers to buy seed and equipment, and he feels as concerned as anyone, even though the weather isn’t his fault.

Coleman Peters, the Sunflower County sheriff, cooperates with the sheriff from the neighbouring county to search for Danny, while trying to investigate a sudden minor crime wave. Sarah, with her cat and dogs, and sometimes friends, goes out to the river, driving, walking and in small boats, to find anywhere Danny could be hiding – or a body could have washed up. I felt I was there. She passes that Tallahatchie Bridge many times and discusses it with her house’s resident ghost, Jitty, who likes to appear as a historical figure and confuse poor Sarah with strange observations. The ghost part has never sat well with me in these stories. I understand that the author Carolyn Haines is showing us the Delta land is built on the shadow of the past. But the ghost is never helpful in crime- solving, sometimes seems malicious and vague, and Sarah has to keep it a secret, putting a strain on her relationships. For instance, her relationship with Coleman Peters, her gentleman friend at this time.

ODE TO THE BONES is a modern crime story with plenty of allusions to the grimmer past of the Delta. Carolyn Haines appears to suggest that the future may not be much brighter unless farmers band together and make financial arrangements, or the weather conditions improve.

The next novel in the series that Kirkus Reviews characterizes as “Stephanie Plum meets the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” featuring sassy Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney.

Private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney returns to her Mississippi Delta roots, hoping that long drives through cotton fields and the companionship of her dogs will ease her restless spirit. Instead, she’s confronted by a ghostly vision of a woman in white on the Tallahatchie Bridge, who disappears before Sarah Booth can investigate further.

When the local bank president hires her to find a missing farmer, Danny Anderson, Sarah Booth is forced to shift her focus back to the land of the—hopefully—still living. Danny is about to lose his family’s generational farm to foreclosure and is rumored to be entangled in a secret affair with a preacher’s wife. As Sarah Booth and her feisty partner Tinkie dig deeper, they uncover a web of gossip, ghost sightings, and a shadowy land buyer snapping up vulnerable farms.

With the help of her resident ghost-turned-spiritual-guide, Jitty, and her own unrelenting instincts, Sarah Booth must unravel the mystery of Danny’s disappearance, confront a town full of half-truths, and decipher the cryptic clues left behind—including those wrapped in lyrics and riverwater. But someone is watching her every move, and if she isn’t careful, she may be the next body swept away by the Tallahatchie’s current.