Carolyn Haines' second Sarah Booth Delaney novel is as hilarious as the first. A mystery from a famous author's past seems to be the cause of his death and Sarah Booth is hired to find out who killed him. The resident ghost Jitty is not as essential to the story as in the previous novel, but she is just as funny. This is a definite must read.

Once again, Carolyn Haines has delivered a thoroughly entertaining and intelligent mystery. The novel's main character, Sarah Booth Delaney, is a real steel magnolia. The author's take on "Daddy's Girls" and the Southern culture that she and her main characters are part of, makes these mystery novels richer in theme as well as content. If you haven't read the first installment of this series, be sure to check it out. I have read that the author has a three book contract with her publisher, but hope this will not deter her from continuing her Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. The descriptions of the main character, Sarah Booth, and her day-to-day dealings with trying to keep her old family plantation, her Southern way of life, deal with her great granny's nanny's ghost, plus continue her PI work, are witty and enthralling. Please keep up the good work, Ms. Haines and take comfort in the fact that even a Yankee woman (with Southern roots) loves your mysteries.

She stole her friend's Yorkie and then pretended to find the dog in order to establish her credentials as a top-rate private investigator. The case paid so well that Sarah Booth Delaney was able to save Dahlia House, her Mississippi family home from a forced sale. The house has been in the Delaney family for generations and comes with its own resident ghost Jittey, an ancestor's nanny.

Sarah's reputation as a detective has become very strong at least in the small Mississippi Delta town. Thus, it is not surprising when the lover of now-deceased Lawrence Ambrose hires Sarah to uncover the identity of the individual who killed him. Sarah's new client believes the town's malicious vamp, Brianna, killed Ambrose. Sarah thinks otherwise especially since the victim publicly announced that he was writing a tell-all biography where many of the townsfolk's secrets are revealed. Sarah is up to her eyeballs in suspects and can only hope that she finds the murderer before she becomes corpse number two.

BURIED BONES is a par excellence regional mystery that is loaded with local color, atmosphere, and describes the lifestyle of a small post antebellum southern town. The likable characters are well drawn, especially the heroine, who refuses to conform to tradition and roots. The ghost is a delightful player whose soliloquies and overall advice leaves the audience laughing. No one can guess the killer's identity until Carolyn Haines shakes the bones enough to allow the audience to know who did it. That shocker adds zest to a great paranormal mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Through Ms. Haines' descriptive powers, you can literally feel the heat of 1920's rural Mississippi in this exquisitely suspenseful tale. Racial tension and small-town suspicion simmer beneath supernatural overtones that hang over the tale like the humidity of the deep south.

This story is told from a feminie viewpoint, and I've walked the landscape of Carol Haines'"Jexville" through the memories of my own mother on many occassions. Born in southern Mississippi and raised in the deep south by a woman who lived that time and place, I found humour, insight, compassion, and courage in the characters, and a reality that is perhaps more palatable when wrapped in the threads of mystery and the supernatural.

I loved it!

Touched is one of the most amazing books I have ever read! From the first page of this book I was drawn into Haines' mysterious, twisted Southern town of Jexville. A constant sense of tension pervades as the story unfolds, petal by petal, and the pages literally begin to turn themselves. The characters are wonderful, endearing people, and the intense relationships they share with one another are multi-dimensional. The twists and turns of the plot would cause me to freak out, then cry, then laugh, all in one chapter. This story gets under your skin in a way that will have you thinking about the characters while you are away from your book. I enjoyed Haines' other book, Summer of the Redeemers, but I thought that Touched was even better. In one word, "intense" best describes Touched. It has been three days since I finished reading it, and the world of Jexville is still in the forefront of my thoughts.

I had read some of Mr. Walter's whimsical poetry some years back, but until I discovered this collection, I never knew just how talented and versatile the man truly was! This was an incredible collection of essays, stories, and everyday remembrances written by an amazingly talented and diverse group of writers such as Pat Conroy, Charles McNair, and British author Virginia Adair. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I am a reader. I read at least three books a week and you can imagine what a joy it is for me to find something new and refreshing in a book! Especially a mystery! The characters are wonderful, and so is Jitty, the ghost, who has a knack for annoying, being helpful, entertaining, and coming up with the right idea when needed. She is also quite a snappy dresser! I laughed outloud several times. The bonus was, I did not figure out 'who dunnit' right away. An all around great book. I just orded the second mystery, 'Buried Bones' and I do not believe I will be disapointed.

I wasn't too sure I was going to like this book--many of the mysteries I have read try too hard to be cute or funny, and I thought perhaps the idea of the ghost was just another one, but this book was truly a hoot! And the ghost Jitty's conversations with Sarah Booth had me laughing out loud. The characters were fully developed and the actual mystery was just that for me, almost to the end before I figured it out. Sarah Booth Delaney and Jitty are welcome on my reading list any time.

I decided to try this series based on the reviews of other readers and am glad I did. I too thought this might turn out to be another attempt at the zany humor so many try, but few accomplish (Janet Evanovich and Nancy Bartholomew being the few exceptions). The conversations between Jitty and Sarah Booth are funny at times, but what I like the most is being able to not only feel Sarah Booth's love for her home, which goes deeper than just a place to live, but also that there probably really is a Zinnia with people just like that. I read someone comparing Sarah Booth to Sharon McCone and, I agree -- a softer cousin maybe. The second in the series is just as good and I'm looking forward to reading the 3rd.

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 dog; and Reveler, her horse. Jitty, the resident ghost, is a bit of a pain, and rather tiring, but all in all, this was a well-written cozy. You can just feel the delta heat burning!! I'll be back for more.

Sarah Booth Delaney is not your typical southern belle. She started a P.I. business to hold on to her family's plantation. She is the last in the line of Delaney's with no sign of a progeny in sight much to the chagrin of a resident ghost named Jitty. Jitty is around to give Sarah Booth a hard time and to add the comic relief. Haines has created a witty, well-written novel rich in southern charm and atmosphere. The character relationships work as well as if not better than the mystery. I was a little disappointed at the conclusion of the book. If the author had not taken the easy way out at the end I would have given the book 5 stars.

Sarah Booth does it again! The "Bones" mysteries are fun, but as a former Ole Miss GDI and sipper of an occasional cocktail, the character of Sarah Booth is what makes this series my favorite. These books are like potato chips - no one can read just one.

Of the three Sarah Booth Delaney mystery novels, "Splintered Bones" is hands down my favourite book in the series. Perhaps it is because I really liked the plot of this novel, or because by now, the recurring characters in this series having taken on a life and endearing traits of their own, but I have no problem with recommending this book as a fun and engrossing read.

Sarah Booth Delaney (half owner of the Delaney Detective Agency) is in the middle of planting a new herb garden when she receives news that an old school friend, Lee McBride, has confessed to killing her unpleasant and violent husband, Kemper. Lee enlists Sarah's help by asking her to dig into Kemper's past, in order to find evidence against him that would bolster her claim that Kemper deserved killing. That, to Sarah's dismay is Lee's grand plan: to claim that Kemper derserved killing because of his violence against her. Almost from the very first however, Sarah suspects that Lee is lying, and that she covering something or for someone. Lee's story has too many loopholes for Sarah's peace of mind. But whom is Lee protecting and why? Sarah is firmly resolved to helping Lee beat this murder rap, in spite of Lee's wishes. And with the help of her socialite friend Tinkie ( and the other half owner of the Delaney Detective Agency), and Cece Dee Falcon, the society page editor of The Zinnia Dispatch, Sarah has every hope in succeeding. But the evidence that these women come across seems to implicate Lee more than ever. Exactly what kind of game is Lee playing?

This is one mystery novel that will really keep you guessing about who-did-what-and-why to the very end. There are just a host of suspects and motives! From Lee; to Lee's troubled daughter, Kip; to the shady characters in Kemper's past... There were quite a few twist and turns to "Splintered Bones," and before I knew it, I had spent have the night following every snarl until I had finished the book! I enjoyed reading "Splintered Bones" very much. Although, I'll admit that I found Jitty (Sarah's tame family ghost)'s contant nagging at Sarah to hurry up and get pregnant, a little irritating after a while. These interludes with Jitty, amusing at times though they were, did interfere with the smooth flow of the mystery storyline. And that was a shame. On the other hand, I thought that Carolyn Haines did a wonderful job of juggling all the different suspects and motives, without losing steam, thus making this a really engrossing and absorbing read.

Sarah Booth gets a phone call from her old friend Lee. She is in jail after confessing to the murder of her husband. Apparently, he needed killing. She doesn't want a lawyer, but she does want Sarah to take care of her wild 14 year old daughter Kip. Lee owns a very successful horse farm, and her husband was gambling away all the horses and profits. He's even sold her best stallion to the hated Carol Beth, even though Lee owned all the horses outright. Shortly before, he sold Kip's beloved horse, Mrs. Peel out from under her. Clearly he deserved to die, but Sarah Booth knows that Lee did not kill him. Who is she covering for?

Sarah Booth and Aunt Jitty( the ghostly nurse of her ggggrandmother) are hysterical as are Sarah's best friends Tink and CeCe. Together, and with the help of the other Daddy's girls the mystery developes quickly. I couldn't put this book down and didn't until I finished the last page.

In Zinnia, Mississippi the old code of the south still reigns supreme. "Daddy's Girls", those females who grow up the daughter of a rich man and learn all they can to marry a wealthy man are in plentiful supply. Sara Booth Delaney started life as a "Daddy's Girl" but when her parents died in a freak accident, she had to grow up in a hurry. Although she wants to keep the family estate of Dahlia House, she wants to pay off the family promissory notes by using her salary as a private detective.

Her partner in the agency is Binky, an intelligent Daddy's Girl (oxymoron?) with their office being Dahlia House haunted by Jiltty, the ghost of Sara's great-great grandmother's nanny. Sara's latest case is heartbreaking as Lee McBride confesses to the murder of her abusive husband Kemper but nobody believes she did it. Although the prime suspect is Lee's daughter, there are a lot of other people who wished him dead. Sara Booth has plenty of suspects with viable motives but the one thing she lacks is what she desperately needs: proof.

Carolyn Haines is a colorful and creative writer who captures the atmosphere of the old south (or at least one aspect of it) to perfection. The heroine's interactions with the ghost are hilarious and add comic relief to a very fast paced, angst-laden plot. SPLINTERED BONES is a unique mystery that will be enjoyed by those fans wanting something different in their mystery reading material.

Harriet Klausner

I bought this book at a remaindered book sale and I can see why it didn't sell. I am a huge fan of southern authors, but this book is far below the quality of people I'm used to reading - Ellen Gilchrist, Richard Ford, Bobbie Ann Mason, etc. I thought t was forced - at times Bekkah sounded 12, at other times 35. The characters were very unrealistic. Effie, for instance, varied between being a mindless piece of fluff to a responsible, enlightened citizen with a social and moral conscience. Nadine, Alice, Greg were so stereotypical as to be one-dimensional. I only finished this because I wanted to find out the ending. The mystery was alluded to on the first page and resolved at the end, but lots of what went on didn't further the story or heighten the mystery. I suppose this is intended to be a coming of age story, but it's been done so much better by so many others - Carson McCullers, for instance.

I am from the small town of Lucedale, Mississippi ( the town on which I believe "Jexville" is based), and after reading "Summer of the Redeemers," I have to say that not even Anne Rice or Stephen King could make the hair stand on the back of my neck like Carolyn Haines does.

Her writing is exquisite, her characters real and believable and the subject matter hits so close to home that it makes her stories all the more believable and realistic to someone who has grown up in a Southern small town.

I do not want to spoil the book for anyone, but "Redeemers" is definately something to get now ( I see that at least the hardcover edition is out of print), before it is too hard to find. Luckily enough, I bought all of the existing Haines books for my mother a couple of years ago as a Mother's Day present, and am just now getting around to reading them.

Believe me...it was worth the wait. I'm ready to read "Touched," and then move on to the "Bones" series.

I think Mrs. Haines did a great job. I am a Mississippi teen, and can really relate to this book. It kept me interested all the time---there wasn't a dull page! I read a lot, and I really enjoyed this book better than most! It was really an enjoyable read!!!