# Them Bones

By Carolyn Haines · Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/them-bones-5aeaa0d0/

Sarah Booth Delaney needs money to keep her family's Mississippi plantation. A ghost's solution is to hold a friend's dog for ransom. That scheme leads to work investigating an old murder, with Sarah Booth attracted to the man she's supposed to be investigating.

## What makes it funny?

Jitty treats Sarah Booth's unmarried, unemployed life as a problem requiring constant advice. Her advice includes a dognapping. Haines has described the book's beginnings as two women squabbling; one turned out to be dead.

### The comedy at work

Sarah Booth's departures from respectable Southern behavior give Jitty plenty to argue about. Their quarrels make the haunting feel like an intrusive family relationship, while Sarah Booth's route into detective work begins with a crime of her own.

### Try this if…

An option for readers who like a woman investigator with social expectations to resist and a ghost who won't leave her alone. Readers in a funny-mystery book group also recommended the Sarah Booth Delaney books.

### Good to know

Romantic interest complicates the investigation: Sarah Booth is drawn to Hamilton Garrett V while asking whether he killed his mother twenty years earlier.

## What to expect

- Genre: Fantasy · Mystery
- On the shelf: Paranormal mystery
- Kind of humor: Banter · Situational comedy
- Format: Novel
- Published: 1999

## Sources & further reading

- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/73583/them-bones-by-carolyn-haines)
- Author commentary: [Author book page](https://carolynhaines.com/book/them-bones)
- Author commentary: [Author commentary](https://carolynhaines.com/game-of-bones-its-here)
- Reader discussion: [Reader discussion](https://facebook.com/groups/TwoGirlsMustReads/permalink/1890740091725140)