The Bone Woman by Paige Shelton ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

As a renowned forensic consultant digs into a case that could reconnect her with her long-missing father, she uncovers dark truths about her desert hometown.

Affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

October 2027; Crooked Lane Books; 979-8892427166
audio, ebook, print (304 pages); mystery

Are you a fan of Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan series or Jefferson Bass's Body Farm series? If you are, then you will want to pick up Paige Shelton's new novel The Bone Woman.

I read Paige Shelton's cozy mystery series Scottish Bookshop Mystery, and I absolutely loved her Alaska Wild series. I was sad when that series wrapped up in 2024, and I didn't have a book to look forward to in 2025. Now I have a new series to look forward to, at least I think it will be a series. There are a few loose threads at the end that provide just enough intrigue to indicate more books.

Shelton has traded in the icy tundra of Alaska for the heat of the Arizona desert in The Bone Woman. Like her Alaska Wild series, Black Vulture is a small, remote town set in harsh climes. The characters are a little strange, the kind of characters you expect to find in such a place. 

Hazel Dylon doesn't have the formal education of Kathy Reich's or Jefferson Bass's main characters, but she is no less of an expert at reading bones. She has had a fascination with bones since she set eyes on a bobcat's femur as a young child.

The only thing about the story that didn't sit quite right with me was the implied dislike some people have for taxidermy. I took a graduate school class, and in the lab we made museum specimens - which is taxidermy. There was a person around the corner from me who had a sign advertising taxidermy. Maybe out west, where there is some trophy hunting, it is more frowned upon than here, where I suspect most people using taxidermy services are mounting deer heads. To me, it seemed like the author was trying to build contention around taxidermy that I felt was a stretch.

Other than that, I LOVED it. It has just the right amount of tension to be suspenseful and hold your attention, without the nerve-wracking anxiety of a thriller.

The characters are great. I loved how a few of the characters were introduced in the story. It was kind of like they had just popped up in town, which, of course, made me immediately suspicious of them, and I kept yelling at the character to be more cautious. I mean, what did she know about them to go riding out into the deserted desert with? 

If you are looking for a great suspense novel that has the potential to be a series, then get this book.

Buy The Bone Woman at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of the how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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