Hallowed Bones

By far, one of my favorite of Haines' books. The plot was straight-forward at first, but ended up becoming intricate, which I love. and the "bad guy" could have been one of many. About half way through, I thought I knew who he was, but things kept happening that tried to make me change my mind. Someone else came along, and well... you think this one? maybe.....? So you keep reading. And boy, when you get to the ending....!! I was right, but did NOT think this was the way they were going to go with it!! (The boyfriend situation was not working out the way I had planned, either.. and now I have NO idea what's going to happen, there. Wow, Sarah Booth has some bad luck!)
Good job, Mrs. Haines, your work just keeps getting better and better! show more I cannot wait to find the next in the series. And I couldn't be happier that there are more to read, after that! show less

Sarah Booth Delaney is unlike any of the other Daddy's Girls in Zinnia, Mississippi. She hasn't married for security and an expensive lifestyle. Instead, she has hit her 30s with a mortgage on the family plantation, a Red Tick hound dog named Sweetie Pie, and the outspoken and opinionated resident ghost of her great-grandmother's nanny named Jitty. She's making her own decisions and running her own private investigator business, and trying to fill up all her time so that she doesn't have to spend any time thinking about the lack of any kind of personal life. Sarah Booth gets a call early one morning from a nun in New Orleans, wanting her to prove the innocence of a very special young woman named Doreen Mallory. Doreen is a healer -- show more some even say a miracle worker -- but she couldn't heal her own tiny daughter, born with massive birth defects and dead months later of a barbiturate overdose in her bottle of formula. Doreen was found standing dazed in the cemetery at Zinnia, talking to the grave of her dead mother, a woman who had been known as the town Crazy Lady. Charged with killing her own child, Doreen refuses to talk about the men in her life -- like the married senator or the slick televangelist, either of whom might be the father of her baby, as well as her killer. With Halloween approaching and her own personal life up for grabs, Sarah Booth heads off to New Orleans with her friend and partner, Tinkie Richmond, to do some digging into what turns out to be her most unpopular case yet, especially when a decades old secret explodes, unleashing a storm of fury and evil on Sarah Booth and all those she loves.

This series just keeps getting better and better. Sarah Booth is smart and savvy, but naive enough to come up with at least one blunder every now and again. But she's a very human character and I like her a lot. show less

2.5 stars.
This one misses the mark. There is just too much going on. And I'm getting tired of Sarah Booth's inability to decide between the two men in her life. Still, she has to stay in the Delta ... it would be better if Hamilton came back from Paris.

Faith healer Doreen Mallory has been arrested for the murder of her infant daughter, born with multiple birth defects. Although everything points to Doreen, Sarah Booth Delaney takes on her most baffling and unpopular case.

This series is smart with funny and touching moments. It is not necessary to read them in order, but it helps.

Sarah Booth Delaney helps lady accused of killing her 10week old baby. Very good.

Poor Sarah Booth. Great book, I'm moving on to the next!

LJ Best Book 2004--set in the delta. Had me guessing until the end