Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Mystery of the Bones
SERIES: Snow & Winter, #4
AUTHOR: C.S. Poe
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 24, 2019
BLURB:
It’s been a full year since the mystery that brought antique shop owner and part-time amateur sleuth Sebastian Snow together with NYPD homicide detective Calvin Winter. Patience, sanity, and their very lives have been put to the test, but love has persevered. Although Sebastian is now New York City’s best-known busybody, he’s done solving crimes and wants nothing more than to plan a romantic budget wedding.
Then Snow’s Antique Emporium receives a decapitated human head in the mail and the holidays are gory once again. Sebastian patently disregards the mystery of a lifetime because he is done with death and danger—but the killer escalates. Before Sebastian knows it, his closest friends and family are dragged into a series of horrific murders with antiquated clues hinting to the infamous Victorian American Bones Wars.
The clock is ticking to recover a long-lost artifact linked to paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope and to capture a murderer. But it’s not Sebastian who may become the next target—it’s Calvin.
REVIEW:
Sebastian and Max are minding their own business at the Emporium during the busy holiday season. Seb is trying to plan his wedding – although he truly doesn’t know where to start and given that all the guidance seems to be geared to “brides” he’s as befuddled as ever. But he’s vowed to give Calvin a wedding, so he is pushing ahead. But then a severed head arrives at the Emporium via courier. He calls the police, but he has vowed to stay out of any more mysteries after being shot earlier in the year. Between his and Calvin’s injuries in the course of solving a series of grisly murders since they met, Sebastian’s had enough. And the cops aren’t all that happy to see him again either.
It turns out Seb isn’t the only one receiving body parts and mysterious requests to find a long lost skull. And as more people go missing and Calvin becomes worried that Seb is the next target, things go from bad to worse – as they are wont do whenever Sebastian gets entangled in a murder investigation. With police protection in place though, Seb keeps his promise to stay out of it, even though he’s itching to try to figure out who is this mysterious “collector” that keeps sending packages and parts.
I don’t want to say much more about the plot, because I don’t want to spoil the mystery which I think the reader should be able to discover on their own. Let’s just say that Sebastian is VERY motivated to figure out who the collector is and what it is they are really after. There are a lot of potential players and red herrings, but the list keeps dwindling as more suspects and persons of interest end of up dead. Turns out that Sebastian really is up against the clock to get this figured out or he might not survive the consequences.
From my perspective, this was a fitting send-off to the Snow & Winter series. The Bones Wars story was one I had forgotten all about, quite frankly, but it made for a creepy and creative catalyst for this book. I enjoyed that little history lesson almost as much as the story in the previous book in this series, which up til now had been my favorite. I will say it again, I feel like each book in this series has just gotten stronger. I absolutely loved everything about this one. From Seb’s relationship with his employee Max Ridley, to his much improved relationship with his ex, CSU officer Neil Millett, to Calvin’s partner Quinn Lancaster and even the crazy and nosy and sometimes helpful (although mostly unhelpful) Beth Harrison who owns the bookshop next door, we get the full picture of Sebastian world. Seb’s dad once again proves his love for his son and his partner. We even get a glimpse of Calvin’s family. I liked that I really was guessing until nearly the end as to who the true culprit was in this one. I especially loved the closing of the book because that couldn’t have been more perfect for this couple who have been through so much. I’m sad to see them go, but I do hope that we will glimpse them in another story, hopefully centering on the new and improved Neil Millett. Neil completely turns it around and hopefully can find someone in a future book (hint, hint).
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] Read More » […]