Blue Christmas Bones

September 1, 2024

It sounded like the perfect vacation: enjoying the Christmas Elvis Festival held in Tupelo, MS, the birthplace of the King. However, soon after Sarah Booth Delaney and her crew arrive, they find themselves on a working holiday instead. Someone has boosted a jewel-bedazzled belt (a replica of one once worn by Elvis himself), shortly after Sarah and her friends had been admiring it. Now with no shortage of suspects--and a plethora of Elvis impersonators providing distractions of their own--Sarah and company need to retrieve the belt and ensure that Christmas won't be blue for the people of Tupelo. With 28 entries and counting in this popular series, Haines knows what her fans crave (including a cast of endearingly quirky characters, writing leavened with plenty of Southern-flavored sass and charm, and a mystery plot that functions in many ways as a love letter to all things Elvis), and she delivers it with great gusto. VERDICT Fans of character-driven mysteries with madcap plots will find they can't help falling in love with Haines's latest (after Lights, Camera, Bones).--John Charles

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September 15, 2024
A Christmas vacation for a pair of southern belles with backbones of steel becomes a working holiday. Sarah Booth Delaney and Tinkie Bellcase Richmond, partners in the Delaney Detective Agency, have joined their pals Millie Roberts and Cece Dee Falcon for a trip to Tupelo, Mississippi, to compete in an amateur Elvis Presley impersonator festival. On display at the Arena Center is a magnificent replica of Elvis' bejeweled Las Vegas belt created by artist Sippi Salem; it belongs to Grace Land, a wealthy local woman who made a fortune starring on a reality TV show calledBoyfriend Boot Camp. When the belt is stolen, the volatile Grace offers Sarah Booth and Tinkie big bucks to recover it. They soon learn that their beautiful client is a widely disliked inveterate liar, making it difficult to narrow down the list of suspects. Surrounded by sexy Elvis impersonators, the ladies are delighted when their men arrive. Sarah Booth's lover, county sheriff Coleman Peters, is especially welcome because Tupelo police chief Yuma Johnson, a suspect himself, is freezing them out. It turns out there's no insurance on the $3 million belt because the insurance agent hates Grace and didn't remind her that her payment was late. Between shopping, competing, and winning, the ladies still find time to investigate a large cast of dubious characters, one of whom is out to kill Grace. A mystery with plenty of humorous suspects and a treasure trove of trivia guaranteed to delight Elvis fans.

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