Sunflower County, in the Mississippi Delta where I’m sheriff, is normally quiet, with limited crime. The county seat is Zinnia, and it’s a sleepy little Delta town with a hopping blues scene, the best little café in the Southeast, and a community of people who, mostly, help their neighbors. The city population is about 6,000 and the county under 20,000. There’s a lot of land and a lot of cotton, but not an inordinate amount of crime.

My sheriff’s department has two deputies, DeWayne and Budgie, and they’re about as smart and reliable as deputies come. My duties as a crime solver fall under the rules and regulations of Mississippi law, which can sometimes be a hindrance to catching the bad guys. But there’re two sleuths in town who don’t have to abide by the letter of the law. That would be my significant other, Sarah Booth Delaney, and her partner in the Delaney Detective Agency, Tinkie Richmond. A more unlikely pair, you’d never meet. Between them they also have Sweetie Pie, a red tick hound, Pluto, a black cat, and Chablis, a little Yorkie, who help solve crimes and generally stir up mischief. A lot of my day is spent trying to keep Sarah Booth and her helpers out of serious trouble. It’s a full-time job.

The most common crimes in Sunflower County are burglary and theft. But not too long ago we had a ring of drug smugglers working from some of the plantations with isolated outbuildings for equipment storage and such. The criminals were out of Memphis, using the buildings to store drugs and guns as they awaited transport. The landowners didn’t have a clue what their property was being used for. A crime like that is out of the ordinary.

If there’s an unusual crime in the area, leave it to Sarah Booth and Tinkie to find it. And no matter how much I urge them to be careful, they always end up in Dutch. I don’t have a lot of room to talk, but it’s harder to watch someone you love in danger than it is to be in danger yourself.

Yeah, I said love. I’ve known Sarah Booth all of her life. I knew her when her parents died, and I know how close that came to killing her. I watched her put all of her energies into her dream of being an actress and heading off to New York City to take on Broadway. I never doubted her talent. Not once. But I did wonder how much the whole New York City thing was just a way of never coming home to Sunflower County. After her aunt Loulane died, Sarah Booth found it almost impossible to come home. She’d lost too much.

When she finally ended up back in Zinnia, she found herself in the struggle of her life to save Dahlia House, her family home. She owed taxes and back mortgage, and there really aren’t a lot of jobs in this part of the state. Especially not for someone whose job credentials are acting, singing, and dancing. She did what she had to do—she sucked it up and created a job for herself. Her first case was investigating Hamilton Garrett, a wealthy man who’d been accused of killing his own mother. Tinkie hired her to find out the truth. And there a great partnership was born. Sarah Booth discovered she had a talent for solving mysteries. Wasn’t long before Tinkie was working right alongside her. And the whole thing started when someone dognapped Tinkie’s little dog and Sarah Booth delivered the ransom to insure Chablis’ safe return. I’d never mention it to Sarah Booth, but I have my suspicions about how that all came down.

Sarah Booth and I realized we had strong, deep feelings for each other when she first came home, but I was married at the time. When I give my word, I keep it. Our timing was way off, and I gave up the idea that I’d ever be able to hold her in my arms and tell her how much I love her. Life sure can throw you some curve balls. Sarah Booth and I are finally together. By a miracle, we got past all the roadblocks in our way, and we’re spending our free time together. She still worries me—she’s impulsive and brave and willing to risk herself to defend the innocent. I worry her too. All of that is manageable, though, as long as we’re together.

Oops, I’ve got a call, and it’s a strange one. Ritualistic murder of an archeologist on top of a Native American burial mound. Hit the lights and siren, I’m on the way.

You can read more about Coleman in Game Of Bones, the 20th book in the “Sarah Booth Delaney” traditional mystery series, released May 14, 2019.

Dr. Frank Hafner is an archeologist working on excavating a new-found Native American temple site in the Mississippi Delta. He’s also too handsome for his own good, and a bit of a flirt. Oddly enough, it’s the first quality that gets him in trouble when he discovers the ritualistic murder of one of his archeological crew. When Coleman Peters, Sheriff and Sarah Booth’s boyfriend, takes Dr. Hafner in for questioning in the murder, the accused doctor hires Sarah Booth to clear his name.

Soon, Sarah Booth has uncovered a number of possible suspects, but she can’t narrow them down fast enough to stem the continuing violence that seems to trace back to Dr. Hafner’s dig. When Peter Deerstalker, a member of the Tunica tribe, mentions a curse, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched–especially when a young graduate student on the site claims someone on the site is searching for something much more precious than ancient pottery. . .

Something spooky is going on in the Mississippi Delta, and though Sarah Booth isn’t sure who to trust, or what to believe, she knows she won’t rest until she’s dug up the truth.

Purchase Link
# # # # # # # # # # #

About the author
Carolyn Haines is the USA Today bestselling author of the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. The 20th book in the series, Game Of Bones, was released May 14. She has published over 80 books in a number of genres, mostly mystery. She was recently awarded the Alabama Public Library Lifetime Achievement Award. Photo credit Cissy Hartley WriterSpace.com

To learn more about Carolyn, visit her website at carolynhaines.com.

All comments are welcomed.