Toni L. P. Kelner

Um. I love this series with a passion bordering on fangirl.

Despite this, I have, for some reason, never felt inclined to write, or been able to formulate, a review for any of these books.

Come to think of it, I find this happens often with books I love beyond all reason.

Maybe because I feel like no review could ever do the books justice?

Or, I feel like somehow their magic may dissipate if I share my passion for them with the world?

Or maybe it's simply the fact that everything I say about them show more will sound trite and boring ("great characters, great world, great writing, great editing, well-thought-out story") because there is nothing wrong with them?

Or, perhaps I fear that thinking about the book too critically will expose some flaw I missed in the past that will ruin the book for me, like when I reread Harriet the Spy (a childhood favorite) after twenty years and realized I despised it. Books are like friends to me, and so realizing you no longer like them or can relate to them is a little sad.

Whatever the reason, a little bit of weirdness has finally coaxed me into writing something up about with this series.

First, though, I want to talk about why I love these books so much:

- Consistent in their quality

- Protagonist is actually a strong woman (I could write a whole separate post on the issues I have with "strong" women these days, especially in the young adult genre, but I digress)

- Character growth is believable and healthy

- Personalities feel genuine in their identities, quirks, and faults, which makes them feel real instead of like cardboard cutouts of personality types with superficial attributes that were assigned to them in a Scrivener file that the author is constantly referencing

- Mysteries tend to happen around real-life issues that are relevant to society today (examples include lgbtqia+, online art theft, plagiarism, sexual harassment, ethics in academia, prescription drug abuse, SAT cheating, and internet bullying), but in a way that isn't preachy, offensive, or takes away from the "cozy" feeling

- Author might follow a formula (as we know, cozy mysteries are formulaic and that is an expected part of their nature), but it is never so obvious that it is overbearing or painful

- Paranormal but without the typical ghosts, witches, vampires, or magical cats

- Author is a very "clean" writer and the books are thoroughly edited to boot

- I've never found any loose ends to the mysteries, clues, or red herrings

- Intricacies in the plots are never over-the-top or senseless

- World is simple but well-built

- I like the theme of her adjunct professorship, which is a nice change of pace from all protagonists who own a shop

- Protagonist isn't an orphan and hasn't suffered through some trauma that she needs to be healed from

- Narrator for the audio versions is always the same lady (it is very jarring when the narrator is not the same) and she is a seriously talented voice actress

I have listened to the books from this series so many times I have lost count. One part of me I wishes these stories would come out more quickly or that the author would start another series, but the other part of me is SO glad neither of these things has ever happened because I would be heartbroken if this series suffered the fate of so many other cozy mystery series: quantity versus quality.

I have one weirdness to mention about this particular book in the series because I have noticed a discrepancy when listening to it and finally remembered to make a note of it. Near the end when people are rehashing what happened in their individual escapes from the fire, Georgia thinks to herself:

Charles might believe that Judy had rescued herself, but I knew it had to have been Sid...

The reason this is odd is because Charles knows that Judy didn't rescue herself because they had just talked about how Charles found Judy outside the building where Georgia had left her after finding her passed out in one of the downstairs offices and rolling her outside the front door to safety using a desk chair. This sentence is supposed to say "Jen," who was rescued by Sid when he wrapped her in a tarp, then jumped out an upper-level window and kept her safe during the landing. Everyone thinks Jen did this herself, except Jen who concludes the "spirit" of their dead MMORPG party member saved her—only Sid, Georgia, and Madison know the real truth.

I am not sure what happened because, when I went to consult the Kindle version to find this quote to include in this post, that version does say "Jen" there instead of "Judy." So, perhaps the narrator got confused with the J-names and it wasn't caught in final editing for audio or it was an error the publisher/author/editor found in the written version and they were able to fix the Kindle version, but it was too late to fix the audio version? No clue. Either way, just a thing a noticed and it isn't even really an issue because the Kindle version seems fine, so this series continues to be intact for me as one of the finest examples of cozy mystery series available. show less

Sid’s skull, part of the family skeleton is in Madison’s school locker because she is going to use him as a prop in her school’s presentation of Hamlet. But she is running late and forgets to pick him when she goes home. So Sid hears a murder going on. He can’t see who is murdered or who the murderer is but he is sure that it happened!

Leigh Perry creates a delightful cozy with Sid, Georgia Thackery, adjunct professor and her daughter Madison. The star is Sid. Since he is purely a show more skeleton, he is a rather unique character. He doesn’t need to sleep so he can stay up all night with the Internet. He doesn’t need to eat or drink, the stuff would just go through him and then he would need a cleanup. He is rather old and his favorite hobby is gossip. Byron, the Akita eyes his bones with a feast in mind. There are loads of bone jokes.

Georgia cannot just report the murder to the police when she doesn’t know who was murdered or who the murderer was so the investigation is underway to get more information. I am not used to skeletons who can talk, move and think! But Leigh Perry makes it work in this funny cozy. The mystery is complex and interesting with SAT tests and a mysterious Foundation willing to pay the way for graduate students to attend conferences. Georgia and Madison are great characters too so this cozy series is already a gem after only two books.

I highly recommend this cozy for all cozy lovers. show less

Adjunct English professor Georgia Thackery has a new job teaching at Falstone Art and Design University, known as FAD to its students and faculty. It's lonely isolated in a borrowed bungalow during a winter of record-breaking snow, until, that is, she receives a package with the body of her best friend, Sid. Sid is a walking, talking skeleton who has lived with the Thackery family since Georgia was six. She's used to the oddities of having an ambulatory bag of bones as a best friend, but for show more him to mail himself to her is unusual, even for Sid. It turns out that Sid, who normally lives with Georgia's extremely busy parents, was lonely, too.
The two of them make plans for a cozy semester: reading, watching movies, Georgia grading papers and doing research while Sid games and works on homework for his online class. It might have worked out that way if Sid hadn't gone out wandering the first night and spotted a crashed car. When they go to investigate, they find the driver, apparently dead from the crash.
Initially police think it's an accident, so Georgia and Sid think that's the end of it--until Georgia finds out the body she found hit closer to home than she'd realized... Family Skeleton #4 show less

When Georgia Thackery was six years old, a power failure at a carnival left her alone in the dark. She heard a disturbing man's voice trying to get her attention and was afraid, rightly so. Fortunately a rescuer in the unlikely form of a skeleton arrived and returned her to appreciative parents. The skeleton went home to live secretly with Georgia and her parents, both academics who named him Sid. Georgia, now an adjunct professor and single parent arranges an examination by a grad student show more (in exchange for a parking permit) that reveals Sid was murdered. Georgia and Sid investigate. He is a sweet, funny character, and as far-fetched as it seems, Perry makes it work beautifully. I mean, books have talking cats, dogs and any other creature you care to name, why not a skeleton? Perry recounts many of the issues for adjuncts and college life in general. I've previously read a later book in the series and enjoyed it thoroughly but glad I went back to this one, the first in the series. I look forward to more.

I haven't been entertained as much by a mystery novel since I started reading Agatha Christie when I was a tween. show less