After two hundred years of roaming this planet, sharing good times and bads I needed to give my girl a pat on the head. Sarah Booth is willful, headstrong, and determined. In other words, a lot like me.
These past months have been hard. Not only her heart, but her trust was broken, and for a moment I despaired that she’d recover. But my girl is strong. I see Alice in her more each day. Lordy, Alice and me, we survived some things, because we had each other. That’s what it takes. Good, loyal friends.
I know things looked bleak for a while, but summer has passed. The months alone have given Sarah Booth a chance to think things through. Maybe she jumped to some conclusions. Heck, she even booted me out of Dahla House. (It isn’t that easy to get rid of a ghost!) I laid low and waited for the pain to ease and her brain to reengage. And that’s exactly where we are right now.
October is here. With the cotton bustin’ open and harvest around the corner, the whole world can take a breath and put things in perspective. I have faith that Sarah Booth will find her footing and come out swinging. She’s gnawing on the fact that her folks were killed. Deliberately. Not a car accident as she was told for so many years. Her whole foundation was built on that lie. Now that she knows the truth, she doesn’t have a choice. She’ll find the killer. Or killers. I sure hope she lets Tinkie and Coleman help out. She’s gonna need her friends and critters for this one.
Just because I’m dead don’t mean I have a crystal ball and can see the future, so I can’t tell you guys what’s gonna happen. I do know that when this is all resolved, Sarah Booth will come to her senses and realize that those who love her weren’t deceiving her. Coleman and Tinkie were children when the bad thing happened. Blaming them is pointless. Blaming me won’t help her either. She’ll see that.
Now I’m going to sit on the front porch a spell and watch evening fall. The final resolution is in sight. Read all about it in JOY TO THE BONES.
JOY TO THE BONES
Series: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery, Book 31
Genre: Private Investigator Mystery
Release: October 2026
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Minotaur
In this final installment of the series, sassy Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney is up against her biggest—and most personal—mystery yet.
Still reeling from the discovery that her parents’ deaths, decades ago, might not have been an accident, Private Investigator Sarah Booth Delaney doesn’t know who to believe anymore. Her best friend and business partner, Tinkie, purposefully kept her in the dark; her lover, Coleman, intentionally lied to her; and her meddlesome ghost-turned-spiritual-guide, Jitty, kept more secrets than she can count. Now, even the people Sarah Booth once trusted more than anything are suspect.
Armed with new knowledge about her parents’ car crash, Sarah Booth sets out to solve her biggest case yet: her parents’ murder. And she’s prepared to do it alone if she has to.
But the Mississippi Delta doesn’t pause for anyone, not even Sarah Booth. While trying to untangle the truth about her parents’ fate, Sarah Booth gets roped into investigating the DeLonge Mansion, a magnificent old house with seemingly no one left alive to claim it. With the return of her nemesis, Gertrude Stromm, looming over her head—and the pieces of her failed relationships still scattered around her—Sarah Booth has her work cut out for her this holiday season.
About the author
Carolyn Haines is a USA Today bestselling author of more than 80 books, including the 31-book Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. She lives on a farm that is an animal refuge in Southern Alabama. She is a native of Mississippi, a former journalist and university professor.