I requested this book for review, not realizing this was book twenty-five (!!) of a series. But I could jump right in; it wasn't difficult to get to know the characters, the way it does in some series. You can easily jump in right here with A Whisper of Bones, though I'm now tempted to start at book one...

The mystery here was solid and intriguing: who is buried under the garage, and why is the whole family trying to cover it up? The story is very atmospheric, the mystery is well-written, and the series element doesn't get in the way of things--no lengthy sidetracking storylines about the secondary characters, like some series do, especially this far in.

There are quite a few perspective shifts, which made me want to get back to our lead character (loved her!), and how she was going to solve the crime. But overall, I really liked this, and I'll be checking out the authors other books. Recommended, if you're behind the curve, like me (book twenty-five! how did I miss this series for so long?).

**NetGalley provided copy for review**

So... not sure where I was when galavanting on Netgalley. But, this is a series? The first thing that gravitated me to this novel was THAT cover. Isn't it gorgeous?!

And.. of course the title. Can't forget about that :). So... I was a little nervous when I realized this was a series since it's book 25... but this can definitely be read as a standalone... phew :).

A Whisper of Bones is a cozy mystery with a very well developed set of characters. I was definitely drawn to Jane Lawless's character. She is a private investigator and restaurateur. I loved Jane's character along with her crazy and wild side-kick best friend Cordelia Thorn.

Jane is contacted by Britt Ickles, who is visiting the Twin cities for a work conference. She decides to visit her 2 aunts that live in the city Lena and Eleanor. Britt mentions her cousin Timmy to her two aunts about an encounter she remembers as a child. Shockingly, her aunts tell Britt that Timmy never existed and she doesn't have a cousin. Britt is distraught over the conversation she has with her aunts about her cousin Timmy and she is convinced her aunts are lying. But, why? What could Lena and Eleanor be hiding from Britt?

Jane decides to pretend to be a renter at the home of Eleanor and Lena to see what she can find about the mysterious disappearance of Timmy. When a fire breaks out in the garage of Lena and Eleanor's home late one night, the evil begins to unfold more and more. A set of bones is found in an old root cellar after the fire. Could these bones be Timmy's? What exactly is Lena and Eleanor hiding?

This is my first novel by Ellen Hart and for the most part I enjoyed it. I felt the character development is intertwined well to the plot and overall storyline. I would definitely say this is a "cozy mystery" (with that being said it's not a gory or scary mystery). Upon the ending, is where it left me disappointed. I felt it was rushed in some ways and left me feeling unsatisfied. I already saw where the ending was going and was a tad disappointed with twists and turns to the plot. I feel like I've read/reviewed so many mysteries and thrillers. This one was just another one to add to the pile... unfortunately.

Overall, 3 stars for this mystery. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 2/27/18.
Published to GR: 2/7/18.

This is my first Jane Lawless mystery, and it won’t be my last. It’s a quick and enjoyable read; a nice break from all the serious and somewhat depressing books I’m drawn to.
Britt Ickles has fond memories of her grandmother’s home, especially her short time with Cousin Timmy. Years later, while in the city for a conference, Britt drops in on her two surviving aunts, Eleanor and Lena. Their reception is mixed; it’s obvious her presence makes them nervous. She asks about Timmy and is told she’s confused, there never was a “Timmy”. Determined to get to the bottom of things, she hires Jane Lawless and Jane’s partner Cordelia.
The characters of the sisters are so vibrant and real. Lena is a spitfire, and even though you feel sure she’s hiding something, you can’t help but love her. Jane is quick and efficient in her sleuthing, but her friend Cordelia adds so much flair to what would normally be a boring case. There are several interesting twists to this family, especially Eleanor’s son, Frank, who still lives in the basement whenever he and his wife fight. You know someone is dead, due to the bones that are unearthed when the garage is torched. Quite an interesting web those two elderly sisters have woven, isn’t it?
A Whisper of Bones is a colorful, enjoyable book full of vibrant and entertaining characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for making it available.)

Jane Lawless has to uncover a bizarre case centered on a family with more skeletons in their closet than... Actually, there are skeletons hidden within their home, and that’s not even the weird part. Britt Ickles brought the case to Jane’s attention. Britt hadn’t seen her family in decades, and she was looking forward to reuniting with all of her relatives, especially her cousin Timmy. There’s just one thing: Timmy doesn’t exist. Never did. He was a childhood imaginary friend, or something. At least that’s what one of Britt’s aunts says. He did exist, Britt is sure of it. Something’s wrong. Secrets lurk within that house. This becomes clear when Britt’s aunt is found dead, and who can forget the buried bones...

This was a gripping mystery. Suspenseful and well written. The problem? This is part of an ongoing mystery series. This is Book #25, I think. So Jane Lawless has been around for a while, which might explain all the backstory and unrelated characters. So, yeah, I was confused at times, but that’s my fault, not the author’s or Netgalley’s fault for sending me this. And so, I will give it an honest and fair review. I enjoyed reading this. The buildup is wonderful, and after a slow start, I couldn’t put it down. I have nothing else to compare this to — no other Lawless books under my belt — so at least there’s that. I give A Whisper of Bones four out of five almond-milk vanilla lattes.

3.5 stars. It's been years since I read a Jane Lawless mystery--I've read all of Ellen Hart's Sophie Greenway series, but I never especially got into this one. But I saw this one on NetGalley and figured, why not give it another try? If nothing else, I love reading books set in the Twin Cities, and being able to actually visualize the various locations where events are taking place. Anyway, I'm glad I read this one, and I may have to check out some of the other recent books in the series. This was a really engaging cozy mystery, with a compelling story--not really a big aha at the end, more like a slow trickle of puzzle pieces that finally came together in the end. And I really liked the characters and dialogue as well. Jane is a likeable sleuth, and Cordelia is the perfect comic relief--their banter is great, and I particularly enjoyed Cordelia's stint undercover. Recommended for anyone looking for a contemporary cozy mystery, especially if you're from Minnesota.

A Whisper of Bones is a terrific mystery detective book. Good plot and well crafted characters. I throughly enjoyed this book.

This book was hard to get into. It is a long running series which made it difficult for me to get into it, having not read previous books in the series.

A Whisper of Bones is the 25th book in the Jane Lawless series. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I hadn't heard of this series before requesting an ARC of this book on Netgalley, but I'm glad I know about it now. Jane Lawless is a private investigator who is also a restaurant owner in her spare time. She is also a lesbian, as are many of her friends, which makes this series particularly poignant for me when just weeks ago I wondered aloud why much of the mystery genre is ... well, not very diverse.

Jane is contacted by Bliss, an academic in town for a conference, who is convinced that something happened to her cousin, Timmy. Bliss went to visit her estranged aunts, and both claimed that Timmy (a boy Bliss met only once, but remembered vividly) never existed. Jane does what any good investigator would do -- she takes one of the spare rooms available to rent in the aunts' house, and moves right in!

There are a lot of twists and dark family secrets in this novel, and I love how Jane (and her sleuthing pal, Cordelia) aren't afraid to get to the bottom of the mystery. The aunts are also highly memorable; they remind me of that old Bette Davis and Joan Crawford movie, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" in the level of animosity between them.

Interspersed between the mystery is Jane's complicated relationship with ailing long time girlfriend (now just an ex), Julia. I think there's a lot more to their story, and will definitely read more of the series to find out what happened.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an ARC.

Love the title...
After her mother's death, Britt Ickles visits her mother's sisters, who she has not seen since her grandfather's funeral when there was a falling out among the sisters. When Britt asks her aunt about her cousin Timmy, her aunt tells her she is mistaken, there was never a cousin Timmy. Britt remembers something that would prove that Timmy did exist, but it was not proof enough. She knows he existed and fears something bad must have happened to him. Britt hires Jane Lawless, PI to help her find out what is going on. Arson, murder, an interesting assortment of engaging characters and a mystery all add up to an interesting read. Apparently, this is the most recent of 25 books with the famous Jane Lawless, PI, but it is my first. It is a stand-alone and will easily be enjoyed, be it your first or your twenty-fifth.

Whew, this is the 25th book in the Jane Lawless series, but the first one I've read.

A Whisper of Bones involves PI and restaurateur Jane Lawless--an interesting combination of careers.

From description: Britt Ickles doesn't remember much from her only visit to her mother's childhood home when she was a kid, except for playing with her cousin Timmy and the eruption of a sudden family feud. That's why, when she drops by unannounced after years of silence, she's shocked when her aunts tell her Timmy never existed, that she must be confusing him with someone else. But Britt can't shake the feeling that Timmy did exist...and that something horrible has happened to him. Something her aunts want to cover up.

Britt is disbelieving and angry about her aunts response and hires Jane to find out more about the boy she remembers. Britt's aunts rent rooms in their large old home to help make ends meet, and Jane decides renting a room might help her get to the bottom of the mystery.

A fire destroys the old detached garage and during the investigation, bones are discovered in the root cellar. Do they belong to Timmy? The secrets are many and of long-standing.

An interesting assortment of well-developed characters.

Read in December, 2017; blog review scheduled for Feb. 16, 2018.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

PI Mystery. Feb. 27, 2018. Print length: 320 pages.

It's another dramatic, emotional, complex mystery featuring Jane Lawless and Cordelia Thorn. Disguises, ghosts, and monsters (in disguise) make renting a room in Eleanor and Lena's old house an unsettling proposition. But Jane has a client who's desperate to find out what happened to her cousin, whom she met as a child, but whom her two aunts now say never existed. So Jane and Cordelia go to great lengths to find out the truth, while Jane also mines her own feelings to find the truth about her relationship with her old love Julia.

I knew that A Whisper of Bones was the latest book in a series. However, until I started to write this review had I no idea that this was the 25th one about Jane Lawless. Then again, I'm used to being late to the party. A Whisper of Bones is a book that seems to have a quite straight-forward case.

THE WHOLE REVIEW WILL BE POSTED ON PUB.DATE!

Whisper of Bones – what an enticing title! But I would read any book by Ellen Hart in her Jane Lawless series. How, then, did I manage to miss numbers 22, 23, and 24? I definitely have some catching up to do! Even so, I am so enamored with her restaurateur/PI Jane Lawless and her best friend, the flamboyant theater director Cordelia Thorn and was able to pick right up with their lives. Somehow, Jane has managed to get involved with a former lover, Julia, who is ill. Apart from the mystery, this adds a personal dimension to the plot and a serious aspect – well, as if the rest of it isn’t serious enough!

Jane is contacted by Britt Ickles, who is visiting the Twin Cities for an academic conference. She decides to stop in at the home of two elderly aunts and mentions a young cousin, whom she remembers from a brief meeting during her childhood. To her shock and dismay, the aunts deny the existence of little Timmy. After briefly questioning her own sanity, Britt racks her brain and decides that her memories are indeed true and her aunts, Eleanor and Lena are lying. But why? Jane decides to pose as a short-term renter to see what she can learn about Timmy’s disappearance. After several days of conversations with the two sisters, with Eleanor’s son Frank, and with neighbors, Jane learns that the women indeed have secrets. What is it they are hiding? What are they afraid of?

When a fire destroys the detached garage, the sisters seem especially upset. Arson investigators make an unexpected discovery; bones are found in an old root cellar in the garage. Could they be Timmy’s? How did they get there?

I have been a fan of this series for many, many years. I was even a member of a women’s mystery book group led by Ellen Hart in Minneapolis. We met at the now defunct Amazon Book Store in South Minneapolis. What a great experience that was! A Whisper of Bones shows that no matter how long a writer has been practicing her craft, she can still write wonderful stories. Besides the familiar favorites, the other characters in this novel are so well penned too. I enjoyed each of them, even the ones with unpleasant personalities, because their problems and emotions felt real and I was itching to know what was really going on.

And that was part of the magic of this book. The character development is so intertwined with the plot that I couldn’t wait to see how things developed. Maybe there really were ghosts in the house? Who was responsible for the arson? Whose body was it, and why was it there? If it’s not Timmy, what did happen to him? What was everyone hiding? What about Jane and Julia? Things do come together at the end, and it doesn’t feel rushed. There are some twists that I didn’t see coming, and I enjoyed that.

Ellen Hart doesn’t write gory, gruesome axe-murderer thrillers. She doesn’t do steamy sex scenes. But she can flat-out write a very good story. While it helps to know the background of the characters, this could be enjoyed as a stand-alone. But don’t stop with one Jane Lawless mystery. Keep reading. I intend to.

My special thanks go to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Ms. Ellen Hart for providing me with an ARC. My opinions are my own.

5 stars

Jane Lawless is one of my favorite PI characters. Now she is trying to find a boy that may or may not exist.and then the bones show up. Great fun.

This was my first Ellen Hart book and it was good. Told from multiple POV, the story pits Jane Lawless against a mysterious disappearance from decades ago and a present family in the throes of upheaval.
The plot was solid, the characters engaging, if somewhat depressing at times, and the resolution believable.

Badass PI Jane Lawless is back. This time she’s hired by Brett Ickels who wants Jane to look into the disappearance of her cousin, Timmy, who her aunts tell her now never existed. But Brett remembers Timmy from childhood and a nasty family argument. When the family garage burns to the ground, bones are found buried beneath it, is this the long-lost Timmy? Before Jane can get the answers she needs from the aunts, one of them dies a suspicious death. Accident? Or something more sinister. And you thought your family was bad? This is a great series with a strong intelligent female lead and a mystery that will keep readers guessing