Title: A BONE TO PICK (#19)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Date Published: November 1992
Series: Aurora Teagarden #2
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Rating: C
ISBN: 978-0-425-21979-9

Back of Book:
In New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's Aurora Teagraden series, a small-town librarian feels like life is passing her by, while, at the same time, death comes calling…

Going to two weddings-one of a former lover-and a funeral for a member of her disbanded crime discussion group keeps Aurora "Roe" Teagarden quite busy for a few months. Unfortunately, her personal life seems to be at a standstill-until her fortunes unexpectedly change.

After the funeral Roe learns that Jane Engle, the deceased, has named her as heir to a rather substantial estate, which includes money, jewelry, and a house complete with a skull hidden in a window seat. Knowing Jane, Roe concludes that the elderly woman has purposely left her a murder to solve. So she must identify the victim and figure out which one of Jane's ordinary-seeming neighbors is a murderer-without putting herself in deadly danger.

This series has really yet to grab me, but I much preferred the first book (REAL MURDERS) to this second installment in the Aurora Teagarden series.

There wasn't much mystery-solving going on. The question of the skull pretty much solved itself rather than requiring any investigative work on Aurora's part.

The secondary storyline of Aurora's ex from book 1 was all right, and it was nice to see that there was a cause and effect from the goings-on in REAL MURDERS (her father and step-mother have moved across the country, taking her half-brother with them to get as far away from what happened as they could).

Perhaps this book is a stepping-stone to something, but I just found the book rather dull. It certainly wasn't bad and there were entertaining qualities to it. I just felt the mystery was lacking and it's supposed to be a mystery! A first for me when reading anything by Charlaine Harris.

©Susan Falk and phantomroses.com