Wishbones

From BooklistPrivate investigator Sarah Booth Delaney, Haines’ popular series lead, returns to solve another crime. This time, though, she is not supposed to be solving crimes; she is supposed to be off in Costa Rica, starring in a remake of the steamy movie Body Heat. Her costar, Graf Mileau, is also a former love interest, and Sarah figures she’ll have a nice adventure, making a movie and rekindling an old romance. What she gets instead is a murder, a series of suspicious incidents, and a lot of people depending on her to unmask a killer. Fans of the Delaney mysteries will settle right in, but newcomers to the series may be a bit put off by the flimsiness of the premise: the idea of a private investigator picked to star in a high-profile movie seems a little forced, perhaps too obviously a gimmick, a way to take the hero to unfamiliar climes. Still, the book is lively, as always, and Sarah remains a likable protagonist. --David Pitt

Review“Funny, ingenious...and delightful.”—Dallas Morning News

“Light, breezy, and just plain fun. Call Haines the queen of cozies.”—Providence Journal-Bulletin

“Stephanie Plum meets the Ya-Ya Sisterhood! Non-Southerners will find the madcap adventure an informative peek into an alien culture.”—Kirkus Reviews