A Skeleton in the Family

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 (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 show more 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

Too often Cozy mysteries follow a predictable formula. Girl has cute job,finds body, meets love interest, solves mystery while being cautioned by police, gets romantically involved with love interest, the end. I love it when I find a series that totally explodes the formula and goes in a completely different direction. The Family Skeleton Series by Leigh Perry is one of those creative, completely enjoyable, breath-of-fresh-air cozy mysteries!

Georgia Thackery's family has a skeleton in its closet. Literally. Sid is a skeleton, but he walks, talks and loves his family. He came to life one day when Georgia was a little girl and in danger. Sid has lived hidden in the family home ever since. Now Georgia is a grown woman with a college-age show more daughter. She moves into her parents' house while they are on sabbatical. Not only does she have the stress of being an adjunct professor at the college where her parents are tenured, she also has to hide Sid from her daughter while helping her favorite bone dude discover his past. Georgia finds that investigating Sid's murder can be a dangerous undertaking. But she is bound and determined to help Sid discover his identity and find out who killed him.

This mystery was such fun to read! I found myself rooting for Sid and Georgia, while hoping the daughter would somehow discover Sid and love him as much as her mother does. The backstory of the relationship between Sid and the Thackery family was believable and fantastic at the same time. I enjoyed Georgia as a main character. She is a nice person with a bit of a feisty edge brought about by family issues, job stresses and life mistakes. Her issues are things we all find ourselves dealing with in mid-life. The academic setting is interesting, and adds to the atmosphere of the story. The mystery is perfectly paced, with just enough subplots to round out Sid's backstory and his present day place in the Thackery family.

All in all, a great mix of humor and mystery. The paranormal edge of the story (it isn't exactly normal for a family to have a sentient skeleton hidden in their home) was not overdone but perfectly presented as a part of normal life for the family.

There are three books in the Family Skeleton series. A Skeleton in the Family is the first. The series unfortunately was a victim of the recent purging of many cozy mystery books from Berkley Publishing. But, Perry has announced online that she has found a new publisher and the series will continue! Sid lives!

To discover more about Leigh Perry and her books, visit her website: www.leighperryauthor.com show less

I wanted a paranormal fantasy series for October and thought I'd give this a try. I didn't have high expectations going into it, figured this would just be plain silly at best or just dumb. But boy was I wrong, I loved the mother/daughter from the first chapter on, the mom Georgia is into pop culture and raised her daughter to be a geek as well. Madison is a huge otaku with a love for manga and anime and they both attend a con together. Sid, the skeleton is endearing as well, reading the Harry Potter books, his favorite movie being the Nightmare Before Christmas. So with characters like these how could I fail to love the book. I'm reading the next in this series for sure.

I'm open to new premises in the paranormal mystery category, so I was more than willing to give Leigh Perry's first book in this series about college professor Georgia Thackery and her family skeleton a try. From the very first page, I immediately began to enjoy Perry's writing style and sense of humor. Georgia Thackery is the type of funny, smart, and caring character to whom I can warm up quickly. One of the things I also appreciated was the wealth of knowledge this character imparted about being an untenured college professor-- it's not the sort of career any teacher would choose for themselves, and I'm hoping that Georgia can change that part of her life quickly.

What I really need to talk about a bit is the elephant in the room: Sid show more the skeleton. How well did a talking, walking, joke-cracking skeleton (who has his own armoire in which to hide in case he's caught downstairs) really work in this book? For me, Sid was only an intermittent success. His dialogue and relationship with Georgia worked very well. These two have known each other for a long time, and it shows. Georgia genuinely wants to help Sid find out what happened. But whenever my mind's eye was drawn by choice of verbs and adverbs to the fact that there were fleshless footbones clacking across that hardwood floor, my inner movie screen jumped into a melange of 1930s black-and-white films with their herky-jerky special effects.

Most fans of paranormal cozy mysteries will probably take to Sid like he's a long-lost cousin, and there's a lot to like about him and this book. I enjoyed the author's writing style and sense of humor, as well as the mystery itself and the character of Georgia. Unfortunately, were I to stop by the Thackery home, I'd prefer that Sid stay in his armoire. show less

Excellent read. Something new to me..a skeleton that is active and talks and is funny, sad and sweet and smart. I usually avoid books with teenage girls like the plague but this one is a sweetheart.

Moving back into her parents’ house with her teenage daughter had not been Georgia Thackery’s “Plan A.” But when she got a job at the local college, it seemed the sensible thing to do. So she settled in and began reconnecting with old friends.

Including Sid. Sid is the Thackery family’s skeleton. He’s lived in the house as long as Georgia can remember, although no one, including Sid, knows exactly where he came from and how he came to be a skeleton.

Sid walks, he talks, he makes bad jokes, he tries to keep Georgia’s dog from show more considering him a snack. And he manages to persuade Georgia to let him leave the house. But when she takes him to an anime convention—disguised as a skeleton, of course—he sees a woman who triggers memories of his past.

Now he is determined to find out how he died—with Georgia’s help. But their investigation may uncover a killer who’s still alive and well and bad to the bone…Family Skeleton #1 show less

This mystery was oddball, unlike any other mysteries I have read, in a very good way. I enjoyed wisecracking Sid. I appreciated the true-to-life details about being an adjunct English instructor (not everyone gets the academic life right). I confess that I skipped a big chunk of the middle of the book, largely because I was running out of time to read and I wanted to see how it ended! One of these days I will backtrack and see what I missed. For sure, I'll want to look into the next book in the series.

Recommended by my beloved friend Dodde, this was good fun, and a very unique supporting character. Learned a lot about academia while enjoying a good cozy.

Not earth-shaking, and a couple of loose ends that did not feel well-resolved, plus there are other cozy authors whose writing I have liked better. But I will give the series a shot, because there is a good chance it may develop as it goes along.