In "Lights, Camera, Bones" by Carolyn Haines, Sarah Booth and Tinkie are back. With help from Coleman and Jitty, they set out to find out what happened to a missing crew member on Marlon Brandon's newest film. Did he drown or was he murdered by one of the many people trying to shut the film down?

I always enjoy catching up with Sarah Booth and Tinkie down south and this installment of the series did not let me down.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This story is full of surprises, twists, and turns! I totally enjoyed sorting through the suspects, motives, and hints. And actor and film producer Marlon Brandon is hot stuff with Southern manners!

I enjoyed this book. It is fun and entertaining. The characters are quirky and interesting. The mystery has many twists and surprises. This is a great cozy mystery.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, BONES is my introduction to the Sarah Booth Delany Mystery series. It is book 27. The main character is Sarah Booth. She is ably assisted in her investigations by her partner Tinkie, Coleman Peters who is her love interest and the sheriff of Sunflower County, a ghost named Jitty, and her animal companions.

This case has Sarah Booth and her partner Tinkie hired by a movie company when one of the gaffers goes missing. They learn that the movie is to tell the story of the 1927 flood and is being produced, directed and starred in by local boy Marlon Brandon.

There has been trouble on the set. A vocal minority wants to shut down production. Marlon's grandfather who is a local big deal isn't too happy about the movie either. Sarah Booth and Tinkie begin looking into things and aren't having much success. Things get even more baffling when a foot from the missing gaffer is found. It was apparently bitten off by a shark.

Apparently, someone has imported a shark to add more disruption to the movie making. Coleman is a diver and is part of the crew trying to find the shark and move it back to salt water. Local Mary Dayle who is part of the opposition to the movie, but she still wants to protect the shark. She's a bookstore owner now but was previously a marine biologist.

Then Marlon goes missing. If Sarah Booth and Tinkie can't find him, the movie is doomed.

This was an engaging, light mystery. Prepare to suspend belief because quite a few of the characters have "too stupid to live" moments including the detectives.

This latest in the long-running series has the usual characters involved in solving the disappearance of a gaffer from a movie being shot in nearby Greenville. Tinkie and Sarah Booth, life long friends and PI partners have both matured during the series and I appreciate the rock steady relationship between Sarah Booth and Coleman. Resident haint Jitty is not introduced as usual and may confuse someone who hasn’t read any of the prior books. I enjoyed learning about the 1927 flood, and Haines is good at conveying the power politics and culture of Greenville. There was one frustratingly large clue that I couldn’t believe Sarah Booth and Twinkie would miss in this otherwise interesting and fun mystery. Recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book is AMAZING!! This is another fun filled mystery in this long running series! The storyline was interesting, and well written. I still love Sarah Booth and her gang, and I always look forward to a new book in this charming series!! I would highly recommend this book to everyone!!

Lights,Camera,Bones is a Darah Booth mystery. The cute cartoon cover lead me to believe this was a cozy type mystery but the story could rival a true detective book. Author Carolyn Haines has written a story with likable characters and a storyline that will keep readers smiling and engaged. A little bit of Hollywood vibes crossed with a little murder…ok a lot of murder!
Delaney Detective Agency is trying to take a much needed break but crime waits for no one, and this time the Mississippi River is calling their name. Jules works as a Gaffer on the movie set and is well liked by his peers, so when he goes missing everyone is concerned. Is this an accident or murder? Then to make matters worse the movies lead actor goes missing and now Sarah and Tinkie need to start an investigation. There are many possible suspects and a few different motives but the girls will have to do some much needed research in one person’s past to put the crimes together. Can they solve the crime before someone else gets hurt?

This is my first Sarah Booth Delaney novel but it won't be my last. In this book there is a film crew that has come to Greenville and when not one but two members of the film crew disappear Sarah Booth has to intervene and try to find them. The novel was charming but sometimes I did not understand some components like the supernatural aspect, I didn't quite get, maybe there is context that I'm missing from the other novels. It did not diminish my absolute delight with all the characters and plot though. I had a really fun time reading this book and finished it in two days so that should tell you just how entertained I was. The book was fun and I definitely recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Carolyn Haines for giving me the opportunity to review this book. All opinions are my own.

I skimmed through most of this book. The pace was a bit slow for me. I also had difficulty with one of the plot points. The characters didn’t interest me either. In short, this book wasn’t for me.
But having said that, this book might be for you. This is #27 in the series, so that tells me this author’s writing style appeals to a lot of readers. A series of this length is a fantastic accomplishment! Read the excerpt on the publisher’s page to see if this book is one that interests you.

"Lights, Camera, Bones" by Carolyn Haines the 27th instalment in the "A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery" series which releases on May 21st. I absolutely love this series!

I always enjoy visiting with Sarah and Tinkie it’s like coming home to old friends. I always learn something about the history of the Deep South and this time the flood of 1927 in Greenville. Sarah Booth and Tinkie investigate the disappearance of Marlon Brandon the writer and star of the movie.

As rumors swirl around the Delta about Marlon's motives for making the film, Sarah Booth and Tinkie have to wonder whether a shark is to blame, or an equally ferocious human offender. The show must go on, and Sarah Booth and her crew will have to investigate all manner of creatures, over land and sea, in order to solve the mystery and save the day.

There were plenty of twists and turns and lots to keep you intrigued. I found this book to be a real page-turner, and reading in one day. I love Jitty Sarah’s “Haint” she played a few tricks on Sarah that were mean but funny at the same time …. Did I mention there was also a Bull Shark loose in the Mississippi River.

I’m looking forward to the next instalment

I highly recommend this book and series to all my cozy mystery friends.


I requested and received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from St. Martins Press and NetGalley . All thoughts and opinions are my OWN.

Thanks to netgalley for this arc (which in no way influenced my review) It was a straight up 3.5 star review but I rounded up due to some of my issues potentially coming from the fact I'm coming into this series with book 27 (I mostly said yes because of the setting, it's one I struggle to find for a reading challenge I do)

Sarah Booth and Tinkie are quickly swept up in a movie that's about to be made about a flooding of the delta nearly a century before and the lead actor Marlon Brandon is from the town, his family were heroes helping people in the floods and he also wrote the script. His granddad is a senator and well liked. We also have Lamar, whose family was also in politics and is a known racist, wants to shut the movie down on the basis he believes that it's going to paint all southeners as racist fools.

So as his faction and the movie people battle it out, one of the movie crewmen disappears, a shark appears in the river in question and Marlon goes from leading man and the person hiring Sarah to find the crew man to the next person to disappear. Sarah and Tinkie not only want to find him but also save the movie (which is pumping money into the town).

That part of the story was enjoyable up until the end where I ran into some problems (for me) So we have Jitty who confused and kind of annoyed me but that's why I rounded up. I'm sure it would have worked if I had read the first two dozen books. Is she a ghost? A nature spirit? What? (I believe the first option) but she spends a little too much time taking on various shapes and tricking Sarah for my tastes.

Without spoilers, I did have a bit of a problem with the end. We get one hint in the final third of the book as they dig up the history surrounding the flood and all of what happened and yet no one puts it together until slapped upside the head with it at the very end. I figured it out right then and there and it seemed such an obvious avenue of investigation that no one paid any mind to leading the protagonist to seem well a bit bad at her job.

That said I'd like to go back and read more of the series as Sarah, her friends and her pets are fun.

Lights, Camera, Bones, is the twenty seventh book in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries series by Carolyn Haines…even with this many installments in the series, Ms Haines is gifted at keeping the storylines fresh and characters relatable and entertaining. Set in Mississippi, there is no shortage of history of the deep South to base Sarah Booth’s detective agency’s distinctive stories on. With a passionate human element and plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader engaged…the pages are rapidly turning as Sarah Booth finds herself deep into unavoidable trouble…of course along with her agency partner, Tinkie, and a plethora of four legged characters thrown into the mixture.

Sarah Booth and Tinkie find themselves on a movie set tasked with finding a missing cast member, fending off a wayward shark, and inadvertently solving a generational family mystery that has led to the making of the movie. Lights, Camera, Bones…as has been the case with its predecessors will keep you guessing until the very end.

This ARC book was complimentary…provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Sarah Booth and her friend Tinkie are private investigators in a small Southern town and the big excitement is a movie company is filming an adventure film in town based on a historic flood. Some people are excited about the boon to the economy, but there are some who are afraid the town will be poorly portrayed. The director is the grandson of a prominent family, but the family has skeletons in the closet.
When a crew member goes missing, Sarah Booth and Tinkie are hired to investigate. Add in more disappearances, a shark in the river, and everyone’s lies, and this is mystery is full of red herrings. The close ties of the friends are heart-warming and the southern humor makes an enjoyable cozy read.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

Marlon Brandon is filming a movie about the Mississippi flood of 1927. When a cast member disappears, he hires Sarah and Tinkie to find him. When Marlon also disappears, the ladies have to dig deep into the past to find some answers. This was a fun quick read with lots of suspects and fun quirky characters. I'm looking forward to the next book in this entertaining series.

This book just wasn’t for me. I struggled with the voice, and immediately was taken out of the story with the Marlon Brandon name/discourse and the info dumping about the flood for several paragraphs.

After a crewmember and an actor go missing from a film set in Greenville, MS, Sarah Booth and her partner Tinkie are hired to find them and help keep the filming on track. Sarah Booth and Tinkie are aided by the usual recurring characters, foremost among them Sarah Booth's boyfriend and sheriff Coleman Peters, and their journalist buddy CeCe.

The novel does a good job highlighting what happens when secrets are hidden and then brought into the open, and it touches on the lingering effects of slavery and Jim Crow. Sarah Booth doesn't solve the mystery as much as she bumbles into the solution when it is handed to her, but the various threads are tied up neatly at the end. The development of the recurring characters and their relationships is one of the high points of this long-running series, and Lights, Camera, Bones doesn't disappoint in that regard. Thanks to Minotaur and NetGalley for the ARC.

„Lights, Camera, Bones“, the 27th and latest installment of Sarah Booth Delaney's adventures does not disappoint. It's another fun ride along the great Mississippi with the usual quirky characters in attendance.
There is a slight irritation on the first couple of pages, where the story starts off in present tense (“Tinkie asks; Sarah says”), but thankfully, it soon switches to past tense storytelling. Hopefully, that will be caught and corrected before release. But apart from this very minor bother, it is a good story that flows nicely.
Sarah Booth and Tinkie are in fine detective mode trying to solve a film crew's problems. It was nice to see Coleman play a slightly different role in the story. Cece and Harold show up and contribute in their own ways. Jitty goes overboard again with her usual nagging and unhelpful “help”. So, all is as it should be.
I only hope Sarah Booth will finally tell Tinkie all about Jitty in the next book, because I believe it is long overdue. She can not only trust her, but Tinkie is probably already more than halfway there anyway. I love how these women, who basically are as different as can be, have become not just the best of friends, but have found in each other the sister each needed.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

An enjoyable addition to the series with a great twist at the end. A great meld of existing and new characters is Carolyn Haines’ trademark and she does it wonderfully in this novel.

Carolyn Haines just gets better and better! The adventures of Sarah Booth and Tinkie are fun, enjoyable, and riveting. These are cozy mysteries, with lots of twists and turns. In Lights, Camera, Bones, they are trying to find a missing movie star in rural Mississippi. If you've never read any of Carolyn's books before, please give them a try.

Sara is investigating again! This time a movie is being made in her hometown. Unfortunately, one of the set workers disappears. The director and star, Marlon Brandon, asks Sara and Tinkie to look for him. Soon, a shark is in the water, the director disappears,and someone is shot. Who wants to hide what the movie will reveal? So many ulterior motives in this. Sara and Tinkie are delights as they investigate in a small town that has its own unique characters. The author makes some good political points about changing history to fit one's personal preferences rather than being truthful.