{"id":27074,"date":"2026-05-22T21:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=27074"},"modified":"2026-05-22T21:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:20:16","slug":"the-skeleton-makes-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27074","title":{"rendered":"The Skeleton Makes a Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Skeleton Makes a Friend<\/em><\/a> (2018) Leigh Perry<\/a> (Family Skeleton Mystery #5)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Another semester, another college, but this time Georgia is teaching at a summer program for high school students.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019d been able to afford it, I would have tried to talk Madison into signing up for the program. She\u2019d just finished her sophomore year, which meant it was past time to start planning for college. Unfortunately, the program cost more than what I was making for teaching.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This time the murder turns out to be someone Sid knows–a friend he made online, and another player for the game wants Sid to help her find.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made up a game name and everything. Skalle is Swedish for skull, and Beinagrind is Icelandic for skeleton. Nobody would ever get my real name out of that. And even if they did, it wouldn\u2019t matter. Sid Thackery doesn\u2019t show up on any census, phone listings, utility bills, car titles, nothing. And sure, I do use a picture of a skeleton as my character\u2019s sigil, but it\u2019s not an actual picture of me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSid, would it have made a difference if you had used an actual picture of yourself?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although the term is never used (and it doesn’t have to be) the teen girl who wants Sid’s help is pretty clearly autistic.<\/p>\n

I looked at her, but she was completely serious. \u201cYou\u2019re unusually conscientious.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople tell me that, but I don\u2019t understand what they mean. My not understanding people happens a lot. That\u2019s probably why I don\u2019t make friends easily. Some people say I\u2019m a nerd.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Georgia’s daughter ends up becoming friendly with her, as they both game (and there is a discussion about how females are treated in gaming culture–primarily because two of the gamers are teen girls).<\/p>\n

Interestingly, although it’s clear that the state of continually being an adjunct professor is lousy, most of the academics Georgia has worked with in these two books have been lovely.<\/p>\n

He leaned forward. \u201cYou and I haven\u2019t spoken much, but given past events, I did want to make sure that this incident hasn\u2019t triggered any disturbing memories for you.\u201d <\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t expected that, and I was touched. \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI know you\u2019re only in Overfeld temporarily, so I was worried you might not have an adequate support system.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s also clear the Georgia enjoys teaching, even if the adjunct system is lousy.<\/p>\n

And there were some interesting elements–apparently this is the first time Sid has known the murder victim, so it’s his first death (he has led a sheltered life for obvious reasons).<\/p>\n

Also, there were fun little peeks at academia.<\/p>\n

It was an interoffice envelope, the resealable kind with a button and string closure and rows of lines so you could reuse it repeatedly, though my name was the only one written on this one. In the age of emails and texts, I rarely saw them anymore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I might have one of those floating around my office.<\/p>\n

So another enjoyable mystery, and I’m glad I’m mixing things up and alternating series. Hopefully that will keep me from getting burned out.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Sid \/ Skalle Beinagrind, Georgia Thackery, Madison Thackery, Jen Cater-Brame, Judy Cater, Mo Heedles, Neil Farmer \/ Erik Bloodaxe, Valentin Fernandez, Heath Ridley, Charles Peyton, Treva Youngblood, Paul, Zach, Heath Ridley, Lisa Quinn, Chief Bezzat, Walker Schild, Bakshi<\/p>\n

Publisher: Diversion Books<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Skeleton Makes a Friend (2018) Leigh Perry (Family Skeleton Mystery #5) Another semester, another college, but this time Georgia is teaching at a summer program for high school students. If I\u2019d been able to afford it, I would have tried to talk Madison into signing up for the program. She\u2019d just finished her sophomore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,897,190,292,2,204,8,608],"tags":[508,955,956,957],"class_list":["post-27074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-contemporary","category-cozy","category-ebook","category-fantasy","category-good","category-mystery","category-neurodiversity","tag-asd","tag-family-skeleton-mystery","tag-leigh-perry","tag-toni-l-p-kelner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-72G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27093,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27093","url_meta":{"origin":27074,"position":0},"title":"The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking","author":"Michelle","date":"May 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking (2019) Leigh Perry (The Family Skeleton #6) This seems to be the last Skeleton mystery, although I did see a listing for an anthology of short stories. Georgia is back living at home, and working as an adjunct at the other university in town (the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-skeleton-stuffs-a-stocking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-skeleton-stuffs-a-stocking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-skeleton-stuffs-a-stocking.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-skeleton-stuffs-a-stocking.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-skeleton-stuffs-a-stocking.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-skeleton-stuffs-a-stocking.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27071,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27071","url_meta":{"origin":27074,"position":1},"title":"The Skeleton Paints a Picture","author":"Michelle","date":"May 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Skeleton Paints a Picture (2017) Leigh Perry (Family Skeleton Mystery #4) This premise of this series is a little silly--one of the two main characters is an animated skeleton. But once you accept that, it's a fun cozy mystery. Georgia Thackery is an adjunct professor, seeking the magical grail\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Skeleton Paints a Picture","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-skeleton-paints-a-picture.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23353,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23353","url_meta":{"origin":27074,"position":2},"title":"Cold Clay","author":"Michelle","date":"March 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Cold Clay (2017) Juneau Black (A Shady Hollow Mystery) Things have been returning to normal in Shadow Hollow--until a skeleton is discovered in Cold Clay Orchards during harvest. Vera Vixen manages to be there to catch all the details. \u201cWhatever it is, Vera, remember that I\u2019m the one they called.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cold Clay","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Cold-Clay.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Cold-Clay.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Cold-Clay.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2497,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2497","url_meta":{"origin":27074,"position":3},"title":"Set in Darkness","author":"Michelle","date":"August 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Set in Darkness (2000) Ian Rankin Detective Chief Superintendent Watson has just months left until retirement, and wants to keep Rebus out of trouble until that time passes, so Rebus is put on the committee looking at the new Parliament building\/old hospital. 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The story shifts back and forth between the present-day search\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Draining-Lake.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8714,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8714","url_meta":{"origin":27074,"position":5},"title":"Silence of the Grave","author":"Michelle","date":"January 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Silence of the Grave (2003\/2006) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder The second Inspector Erlendur book finds Erlendur, Sigurdur \u00d3li, and El\u00ednborg called to a construction site, where a boy has found a human bone. A quick inspection discovers more bones--a skeleton dating back to probably WWII. 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