The Mystery of the Bones

The Mystery of the Bones (2019) C.S. Poe

The fourth (and perhaps final) Snow & Winter book finds Sebastian trying to plan their wedding–and not particularly enjoying it. But he is determined it will be perfect, and that means following all the books and rules.

“There’s a whole industry dedicated to specialized bras for wedding dresses,” I continued.

Calvin’s silence was palpable confusion.

“They make adhesive bras,” I concluded. “Which… sounds pretty awful.”

“Almost lost my nipple to one of those,” Quinn stated. “Had a rash for three days from the residue.”

I do like Quinn.

I also really like Sebastian’s father.

I walked to the kitchen area on the left of the spacious apartment layout, opened a cupboard, and removed two mugs. “But something happened and I blew chunks.”

Pop set the pot down with a minor clatter and looked at me. “Are you sick?” He did the parent hand-on-forehead maneuver.

Also, Sebastian is still freaked out over the events from the past summer.

“Life isn’t all about money, Seb.”

“You can say that. You don’t have a hospital bill the length of a CVS receipt.”

But mostly I just like Sebastian.

My brain felt like a library card catalog, and I was in a mad rush to find the one title that would help me navigate this sensitive situation with relative success.

Filed under social sciences. Should I start with 302.2— Social interaction, communication? 305.3— Groups of people, by gender or sex? Hold up, 306.7 has a footnote— for problems and controversies concerning various sexual relations, see 363.4.

“This is why no one likes you,” I muttered while raising my head. “You’re in the bathroom making Dewey Decimal jokes to yourself.”

Sebastian swears he does NOT want to play private detective ever again. He is done with that, both for his own health and for Cal’s sanity.

Unfortunately, someone thinks differently.

“What’re your eyes doing?”

“Moving,” I answered, my tone more dry than white bread left on too high a setting in the toaster. My Dancing Eyes condition was hardly noticeable as an adult, but still they wobbled involuntarily at times. “I have achromatopsia. Sometimes my eyes move strangely when I get stressed.”

“You’re stressed?”

“Yes, Officer,” I said with a hint of mockery. “I’ve only had one cup of coffee and found a head in a box.”

“Your stressed is pretty calm, Mr. Snow.”

As with the previous book, the mystery is outlandish, but she does a good job walking the line and mostly doesn’t go into ridiculousness to far-fetched it throws me out of the story. That’s actually a harder line to walk than you’d think. If you’re going to write a book set in “the real world” and are going to be over-the-top, you have to make sure that the rest of your story is grounded and correct. And she does this for me. Calvin and Sebastian are real people with real issues who are working hard to deal with those issues. They have jobs that require their time, and they have family members and friends. All those things are grounded in reality, so I’m good with the mystery being crazy.

Not that it was a bad mystery, because it wasn’t. But the characters are what I liked best.

Publisher: DSP Publication
Rating: 8.5/10

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