Cathy C. (cathyskye) - , reviewed on 2/27/2014 + 2307 more book reviews

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 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.

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