Amazon.com: Crossed Bones: Carolyn Haines: Books

More About the Author

Carolyn Haines is the author of eighteen novels, including the acclaimed Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. She was honored with the prestigious 2009 Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence. Haines was also 2010 recipient of the Harper Lee Award. Born and raised in Mississippi, she now lives in Alabama on a farm with more dogs, cats, and horses than she can possibly keep track of!

Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best yet in a great series, April 16, 2003

By

Darryl D. James (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crossed Bones (Hardcover)

Carolyn Haines simply gets better with each new book in this series, and this one is superb. The plot is smoothly constructed, with the suspense building steadily throughout. The characters are well drawn, and Sarah Booth remains a fascinating, complex heroine. Having grown up near the Mississippi Delta, I feel like I'm going home every time I read one of these books.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well-written colorful mystery, April 12, 2003

By

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Crossed Bones (Hardcover)

The Mississippi Delta and her home Dahlia House are in Sara Booth's Delaney's blood. She will do almost anything in her power to keep them both, even work as a private detective. Almost anything excludes marrying a man from her social set and letting him take care of her even though Jitty, the ghost of her great great great grandmother nanny, wants the last Delaney married.

Sarah Booth is enjoying the land, her house and her dog when she is dragged into the homicide investigation of the famous blues musician, Ivory Keys. His wife Ida Mae Keys wants Sarah Booth to prove that while blues singer Scott Hampton didn't kill his friend and employer Ivory. The two men met in prison and shared a vision that music could be the bridge between the races. Circumstantial evidence points to Scott as the perpetrator and if Sarah Booth doesn't find the real perpetrator soon, the town of Zinnia will erupt into violence.

CROSSED BONES is a well-written colorful mystery that gives the reader some terrific insight into the workings of a small southern town. The heroine is strong, independent and straightforward, and not your typical southern belle; while her partner is all those things and lends a sense of comic relief to the plot when it begins to boil. Sarah Booth is attracted to the bad boy musician but not enough to give him her heart while the man she really wants reconciles with his wife. Readers will empathize and sympathize with the heroine, hoping she will get the perpetrator and collect her fee.

Harriet Klausner

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sarah Booth tries to solve the murder of a bluesman, April 8, 2003

By

Moe811 (New York USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Crossed Bones (Hardcover)

Sarah Booth is hired by the widow of bluesman Ivory Keyes to prove that his protegee, former white supremacist rapper, now blues guitarist Scott Hampton. Scott doesn't want to be cleared of the murder and at first seems to be guilty. Sarah has problems in her personal life as usual, Coleman has gone back to his wife, again, and Tinkie is trying to set her up with a handsome millionaire. Scott has a fan of his own, crazy Nandy, who was raised to believe that she is the heir to the Scottish throne. Ivory's murder has caused racial unrest among the local population. This isn't helped by the arrival of two of Scott's prison buddies. This case is going to take all of Sarah Booth's talent to solve, even without the personal attacks and the distractions of the "Delaney Womb", and Scott Hampton most definitely is a distraction.

As usual Ms. Haines has produced a funny and gripping mystery. There are many great suspects, and the quirky characters of Sunflower County are as crazy as ever. I can't wait to read the next one.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome book and awesome series!
I highly recommend this book... buy it, you will not regret it! Carolyn Haines is a fantastic author.

Published on October 1, 2009 by Malenda H. Meacham

5.0 out of 5 stars crossed bones
"Crossed Bones" is my favorite entry into the Mississippi Delta mysteries. At first, the plot seemed to be very typical-- a white man murders a black man-- but there is much more... Read more

Published on February 11, 2008 by Sarah Banks

2.0 out of 5 stars Enough already
I have been a faithful reader Ms. Haines, but this time, she did not come through. The main character of the books, Sarah Booth Delaney, has turned out to be too much of a slut... Read more

Published on September 26, 2007 by Betsy C. Smith

2.0 out of 5 stars Series going downhill instead of up - pretty mediocre
Ugh, who cares about Sarah Booth at this point. Where is the mystery? These books can be figured out in nanoseconds. Read more

Published on September 1, 2007 by iiiiReader

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, fast read
Just wonderfully enjoyable reading. This series is quirky (a ghost with a past we have yet to be told), a decaying but well loved southern mansion as background, and an otherwise... Read more

Published on November 10, 2006 by L. Kjonnerod

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Series
I really enjoyed this entry in the Mississippi Delta series. It deals with a more serious subject than previous entries - that of a racism that is, unfortunately, still prevalant... Read more

Published on October 20, 2004 by Louis M. Perdue

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much romance, too little mystery
And no wonder. Sarah Booth, our Mississippi broke-but-upper-class private investigator, has three romantic interests in this book: the sheriff, who is married; a wealthy... Read more

Published on April 26, 2004 by M. C. Crammer

2.0 out of 5 stars What Happened....??
Maybe I've forgotten, but where did this love for Coleman come from? I know Sarah Booth had this "relationship" with Harold the Banker..... Read more

Published on April 23, 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Sarah Booth Delaney does it again!
Sarah Booth is an engaging heroine. She is a PI, and a bit of a slut, and you have to love her and Tinkie, as well as Madame Tomeeka, the recurring psychic; Sweetie Pie, her... Read more

Published on June 6, 2003 by Ellen b

4.0 out of 5 stars Southern hospitality with a dash of murder
Sarah Booth Delaney is not your typical southern belle. She started a P.I. business to hold on to her family's plantation. Read more

Published on May 31, 2003 by A. Christie

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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
MY GREAT-AUNT CILLA WAS FOND OF SAYING that there's nothing like the feel of a blooded animal between a woman's thighs. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sarah Booth, Ida Mae, Scott Hampton, Dahlia House, Ivory Keys, Sunflower County, Sweetie Pie, Bridge Ladnier, Daddy's Girl, Emanuel Keys, Bilbo Lane, Gordon Walters, Nandy Shanahan, Stuart Ann Shanahan, Coleman Peters, Doctor Lucky, Free Scott, Miss Delaney, The Grove, Ole Miss, Doc Sawyer, Marshall Harrison, New Orleans, New York, Connie Peters

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