Wishbones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery

by: Carolyn Haines

Published by: St. Martin's Minotaur

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

I was so impressed that author Carolyn Haines received one of two 2009 Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence that I grabbed her new book, Wishbones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery, without knowing what it was about. It seems that Wishbones is the eighth in the Sarah Booth Delaney series. Although I have never heard of Haines nor Sarah Booth, I eagerly opened the gaily packaged mystery.

Sarah Booth is giving up, for the time being, private investigating for a more glamorous life as a movie star. Cast as Maddie in the re-make of “Body Heat,” Sarah Booth heads to Costa Rico with the cast and crew to film the movie’s steamy ending. Cast as Ned is Sarah Booth’s flame Graf Mileau. The major cast is staying in the director’s home, a home that was given to his late wife as a wedding present from her father.

The beauty of the islands, the steamy filmmaking, and the gentle slide into finally having sex with Graf makes for an interesting back story, but the real story are the accidents and injuries that plague the set. Seems the director’s daughter, Estelle, is totally ticked to have these people in her to-be-inherited-when-she-marries home.

Sarah Booth is bound to get to the bottom of the troubles that plague the set so she calls on her Southern gal pals. Soon, her three best buddies from her hometown of Zinnia, Mississippi fly in to help her. Also there to give her a hand is the ghost from her plantation home, Jitty, who plays movie-star dress-up each time Sarah Booth asks for help.

Wishbones was okay. Coming in the middle of a series was quite a detriment for this reader. I felt like I had missed a whole lot of the backstory that would have fleshed out this mystery. Still, congratulations to Haines on her award. She now joins the elite list of past recipients–that includes Eudora Welty, Shelby Foote, and John Grisham–whose body of work has a strong Mississippi connection.

Armchair Interviews says: Taking the series in order will make this an enjoyable read for everyone.

Author’s Web site: http://www.CarolynHaines.com