#BookReview Dry Bones by Sally Spencer (@SallySpencerebk) @severnhouse

Dry Bones: An Oxford-Based Pi Mystery by Sally Spencer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Private investigator Jennie Redhead finds her loyalties divided when she investigates the decades-old murder of a college student.

Oxford, 1974. In the cellars beneath St Luke's College, a sealed medieval ventilation shaft is opened up to reveal human bones. Two bodies, buried thirty years apart, but is there a connection?

Desperate to protect the College's reputation and finances - the bursar, Charlie Swift, hires his old friend, private investigator Jennie Redhead, to find out the identities of the two victims. But as Jennie pieces the clues together, it becomes increasingly clear that Charlie knows rather more about the murders than he's admitted. As she uncovers a series of scandals stretching back more than sixty years, Jennie is forced to question how well she really knows her old friend Charlie Swift and whether she can trust him?

**********

I read The Shivering Turn, the first book in the series earlier this year and I was thrilled to get to chance to read the sequel Dry Bones. Private investigator Jennie Redhead is back and in this book, she has to solve the mystery of two skeletons that are found in the cellars beneath St Luke's College without the police finding out about that since her friend, and the college's bursar, Charlie Swift doesn't want to involve them. The skeletons are buried 30 years apart, so now she must find out what links them together to find out who put them there.

I found the Shivering Turn to be an excellent start and I'm thrilled to say that this book is also great. One aspect I love about this series is that it's set in the 70s Oxford and I was also extra pleased that this book dealt with a cold case. We got to see flashbacks back to St Luke's both during WW1 and WW2 and it was especially interesting to get to know a younger Charlie Swift. The book really captured the atmosphere of the different periods and I always love reading a book that feels authentic. As for the case, well, it's a true puzzle, but Jennie is a good PI and she, despite, feeling let down by Charlie hiding things will do everything to solve it.

I quite enjoyed this mystery book and I look forward to reading more books about Jennie Redhead!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!