Böcker av Carolyn Haines

In rich, atmospheric mysteries set against the backdrop of modern-day Mississippi, Carolyn Haines has given the southern belle a brilliantly hip makeover. Now Haines and her unforgettable heroine, Sarah Booth Delaney, are back with a tale about skeletons in closets--and elsewhere.Crossed BonesSarah Booth Delaney is no ordinary P.I. A born-and-bred Mississippi belle, she struggles to hold on to her family's plantation and keeps up a running conversation with the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny, a busybody who decks herself out in a stunning new outfit every day--and schemes to save Sarah Booth from spinsterhood. Not one to wait around for a white knight, Sarah takes on the kind of cases no one else will touch. Like trying to exonerate a man accused of murdering Sunflower County's most popular musician.The two men met in prison: Ivory Keys, a gifted black blues pianist, and Scott Hampton, a rich white boy turned racist. Somewhere between the two men, a spark was lit. And by the time he came out of the joint, Scott Hampton had not only renounced his racist ways, he had learned to play a blues guitar that made grown women go weak in the knees. So why did Scott plunge a steel shank into his mentor's chest? Ivory's widow doesn't think he did, and she's paid Sarah Booth to prove it. No easy task, especially since the delicate racial harmony of Sunflower County is threatening to come undone under the heat of Sarah Booth's investigation.For a woman feeling a little heat of her own--navigating between a rich, available businessman, a married lawman with a waffling heart, and the sexy bluesman who is angling to become much more than her client--this case is taking dangerous twists. A town's slumbering passions have awakened with a jolt, a matchmaking ghost is dressed up like Jackie O, and Sarah Booth is caught between her need to know the truth and the consequences it will have on her town--and on her life. With riveting suspense and a sparkling cast of unforgettable characters, Carolyn Haines has woven a rich portrait of a part of America grappling with its past, its illusions, and its hopes. Crossed Bones is the most dazzling work yet from a uniquely gifted writer.

The latest novel in the series that Kirkus Reviews characterizes as "Stephanie Plum meets the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" featuring sassy Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney.Delaney Detective Agency gets a taste of the spotlight when they are called to a case on a movie set in Greenville, MS, right on the Mississippi River. Marlon Brandon, heir to a wealthy and influential political family, has brought a film crew to town to film a drama about the 1927 flood that submerged a great deal of Greenville. Marlon wants the world to know the story of the flood-and the heroic role the Brandon ancestors played in rescuing dozens of local residents from drowning.Or at least that was the plan until he disappeared. If that weren't concerning enough, the situation appears even more dire when a severed foot is discovered in the Mississippi River, and clues indicate that Marlon may have fallen victim to a freak bull shark attack. But as rumors swirl around the Delta, about Marlon's motives for making the film, Sarah Booth and Tinkie have to wonder whether a shark is to blame, or an equally ferocious human offender. The show must go on, and Sarah Booth and her crew will have to investigate all manner of creatures, over land and sea, in order to solve the mystery and save the day.

Conflicts in a small Southern town bubble to the surface in this tale of repression and prophecy, the second book in The Jexville Chronicles trilogy. Sixteen-year-old Mattie comes to Mississippi in the summer of 1926 as a mail-order bride and finds a quiet, deeply religious community wrapped in rigid views of a woman's proper role. When Duncan McVay, the nine-year-old daughter of Jexville's most controversial woman, is struck by lightning while dancing, the townspeople are horrified when she doesn't die but survives-and is given the gift of prophecy. Abused and mistreated by her handsome husband, Mattie defends Duncan. She finds comfort in her friendship with JoHanna and the McVay family, but defying the town has consequences. When a hurricane lashes the area, the townspeople blame Duncan. Action leads to tragedy. For both Mattie and Johanna, the future holds heartache, but ultimately a long-awaited and stunningly executed revenge.

Carolyn Haines's Tell-Tale Bones marks 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 and her partner Tinkie are in Sheriff Coleman Peters's office, consulting Coleman about cold cases, when Elisa Redd storms in with a case of her own. She wants Coleman to reopen the investigation of her missing daughter, Lydia Redd Maxell, the heiress to a large fortune who disappeared along with her friend Bethany nearly seven years ago. Lydia and Bethany were rumored to be working as human rights organizers abroad, but Elisa suspects Lydia's problems might have stemmed closer to home. Now Lydia's husband, Tope, is set to inherit the fortune, and Elisa believes he's behind the disappearance.Sarah Booth and Tinkie soon connect the case to a series of mysterious disappearances over the years, as well as to a perplexing recurring dream. With another woman's life at stake, the friends follow an increasingly twisty trail all over Sunflower County, leading them to a tree and an empty grave in the county cemetery. A grave that's said to be haunted...

The next charming mystery from Carolyn Haines is Game of Bones, featuring spunky southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney. Will her latest case leave Sarah barking at the moon?When a ritually murdered corpse is discovered at a Native American temple site smack in the middle of Sunflower County, Mississippi, the archeology crew on the dig is immediately under suspicion-with particular focus on its easy-on-the-eyes, charismatic leader, Dr. Frank Hafner. So when Sheriff Coleman Peters closes in on him, Hafner hires the Delaney Detective Agency to clear his name."Appealing...distinctive...atmospheric...Fans and newcomers alike will be satisfied." -Publishers WeeklyRumors swirl around the Mound Salla burial mound, where more dead bodies are turning up. Sarah Booth and her partner, Tinkie, have too many likely suspects to whittle down the list. It's a race against time once Sarah Booth's resident ghost, Jitty-in the guise of various Native American warrior women-points to the waxing of the coming Crow Moon as the time of maximum danger. As history and mystery cloak the site, Sarah Booth isn't sure what to believe, or whom. Can she dig up the truth before she herself ends up six feet under? "A dark mystery, effectively framed by its well-drawn Mississippi Delta setting."-Booklist

USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Haines will once again delight readers with Charmed Bones, the next sparkling Sarah Booth Delaney mystery.Zinnia, Mississippi is rife with quirky characters, but the arrival of three sister witches-and their intention to open a Wiccan boarding school-sets the small town on its ear. And bodies begin to accumulate as a result. Faith, Hope, and Charity Harrington are sexy and smart. They're setting up their boarding school in an old dairy-a piece of property with tremendous development potential. And they're standing in the way of "progress," according to some in the town.When young Corey Fontana goes missing, Delaney Detective Agency is hired to find the youth-who's well known as a local hooligan. His mother, Kitten Fontana, who is married to the king of land development, believes the witches have abducted her son and makes no bones about it. She's willing to pay hard cash to find her son, especially if she can implicate the witches in his disappearance.When Sarah Booth Delaney and her partner, Tinkie Richmond, find Corey, unharmed, it is only the beginning of a series of events that include midnight dances under a full moon, love potions, and murder. Are the sister witches criminals... or victims? Do they truly have magical powers, as they claim? Sarah Booth and Tinkie must find the answer before more people are harmed. "A sure pleaser in both the mystery and the romance department...A satisfying cozy Southern whodunit."-RT Book Reviews

Aine Cahill has escaped her troubled past through her studies. A graduate student researching Henry David Thoreau, Aine has a secret. One that may bring her fame and a guaranteed job.The notoriously reclusive Thoreau had a companion at his Walden Pond retreat. Aine's aunt Bonnie, a woman ahead of her time in many regards, lived with Thoreau in his small cabin-and Aine has her aunt's diary to prove it.Aine's dissertation will blow a hole in the legend of Thoreau, but as Aine wanders the wooded Massachusetts land near Walden, she discovers a much darker, and far more dangerous secret. Someone is following her. A young girl who disappears without leaving a trace. Who is this child and what does she want?The Cahill family, with a long and bloody past of piracy and whaling, has left Aine a legacy. One she doesn't want. When tragedy strikes the town and Aine becomes the prime suspect, she must discover the truth of her "gift," the young girl, and the diary. Is any of it real, or is Aine losing her mind?

Berta and Bob Henderson have plenty of love for their children-and enough even for a foster child. When Annie, a young amnesiac found wandering the streets of a nearby city, comes into their home, bad things begin to happen.Mimi Bosarge, the live-in tutor, has a deep love for Coden, Alabama, which in the 1940s was a hideaway for movie stars and the wealthy. By 1976, Coden has been long forgotten. Bob's plans to renovate the old hotel on the Mississippi Sound would bring new life-and returned glamour--to the small, isolated community.As Mimi prepares lessons, she begins to see another child on the grounds. One that looks eerily like Annie at times-but at other times mimics the physical traits of the other children. It becomes clear, this creature, whatever it is, is stalking the Henderson family.Annie begins to display a sophistication beyond her years, and as tragedy strikes the family one by one, Mimi carries the burden of protecting the children.Mimi believes Annie's innocent beauty is a sham, but how reliable is Mimi? For the children, the truth is the only thing that can save them.

BLOOD IS THICKER... Sometimes a unique talent is inherited-and such is the case for Trouble, son of Familiar the black cat detective. Trouble's rather indolent life in the sleepy town of Wetumpka, Alabama is upended when a serial killer arrives on the scene. Trouble begins to apply the skills he learned from his dad and his hero, Sherlock Holmes. When local bookseller Tammy Lynn is attacked at the site of an impact crater, Trouble realizes he must protect his human and solve the mystery of the Silk Stocking Killer. Aiden Waters, a local deputy, has tracked the SSK to Wetumpka. Since his wife's murder, Aiden won't risk romance, but when Tammy is endangered, everything changes. Especially their hearts.