I love the books in the Josie Quinn series! The author does a stellar job of creating a story that pulls you in and has you hanging on by your fingernails until you come screeching to the end amazed at the wild ride you just experienced. Josie Quinn is a well developed character and it is interesting to see her strength as a police detective but still struggle with personal issues. This particular book in the series was full of twists and turns and had you learning new facets of certain characters’ lives. Once you open the book and read the first word, you are in for an emotional roller coaster of a ride. Buckle up and hold on tight! It’s worth the adrenaline rush.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoutre for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Gripping, as always. I loved Josie's character and always look forward to her cases. This one didn't disappoint, with plenty of twists and turns. Looking forward to the next one!

This book blew my socks off – I was on a roller-coaster, from start to finish my emotions were all over the place switching between being stunned, excited, incredulous to incredibly sad and back again. Wow.
Technically this *could* be read as a standalone however at this stage of the series you will have missed a huge amount of back story and character development – so start from the beginning is what I would strongly suggest!
I cannot fathom how Lisa writes such fantastic, different books in such a short space of time. The woman is a genius!
Thanks to Bookouture for allowing me to read this in exchange for a review.

EXCERPT: As they passed through the back door, Noah called out again 'Mom?'

Their feet sunk into the lush grass as they stopped to scan the large back yard. A tall white fence lined with blooming flower beds marked the perimeter, and a small wooden shed sat in one corner. Josie took a step in the direction of the patio in the centre of the yard that was crowded with heavy metal furniture, her eyes tracing every inch of the garden. With a gasp, she pointed to something sticking out of one of the beds in the far corner. 'Oh my god, Noah. Is that....?'

The words died in her throat as she sprinted across the yard, Noah behind her.

Colette was on her stomach, her upper body in the flower bed, her protruding feet the only thin visible at a distance. Up close, Josie immediately noticed the gardening gloves on her hands and a small handheld shovel in the dirt a few inches away.

'Mom!' Noah cried, panic ringing in his voice. He dropped to his knees, and Josie fell to hers beside him. Together they rolled Colette onto her back. Her eyes were closed and dirt smudged her cheeks and clothes. Cold seeped from Colette's body into Josie's hands as her fingers searched Colette's neck for a pulse, but found nothing.

Noah was already leaning into her chest, one hand on top of the other, fingers laced, giving her compressions. As he counted out thirty presses, Josie angled Colette's chin so that her mouth was open, and pinched her nostrils closed.

'Now!' Noah urged her as he stopped pumping.

Josie's mouth closed over Colette's and she exhaled into her, trying to inflate Colette's lungs. Something fetid and granular stuck to Josie's lips, and the air wasn't moving through to Colette's chest like it should. Coughing, she sat back up and wiped her mouth.

'What are you doing? Jesus, Josie. Keep going. We have to save her,' Noah cried.

He pushed her out of the way and sealed his lips over Colette's, but after one breath, he also pulled away, coughing and spitting onto the ground.

'It's soil,' Josie said. 'Jesus, Noah, it's soil!'

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Arriving with her partner Noah for dinner at his family’s immaculate countryside home, Detective Josie Quinn is devastated to find Noah’s mother, Colette, lying lifeless in the back garden, her mouth clogged with soil.

Searching the house for answers, Josie’s team don’t know what to make of the rosary beads buried in the dirt near the body, or the hidden file labelled “Drew Pratt”, the small town of Denton’s most famous missing person.

As she delves deeper into Pratt’s case, Josie quickly discovers he had a brother whose body mysteriously washed up on the banks of a river. There’s also a diary entry suggesting that Colette may have met him on the last day he was seen alive. Can Josie believe the unthinkable, that a kind old soul like Colette might have been involved in their murders? And, will Josie’s new relationship with Noah survive the accusation?

Josie’s only hope lies in tracking down Pratt’s daughter. But when she arrives at her home to find she’s been murdered just minutes before, Josie knows the real killer is one step ahead and won’t stop until Colette’s secret is buried forever. With many more innocent lives on the line, how deep is Josie prepared dig to reach the truth?

MY THOUGHTS: I will never live in any town where Detective Josie Quinn works. This woman attracts trouble, weirdos, and maniac's like iron filings to a magnet. And while this makes for a great read, things do sometimes get just a little OTT and unbelievable, hence the four not five stars for a book that I read overnight just because it was so exciting!

This is a series best read from the beginning because I believe that the reader needs to understand the dynamics of the relationships, and Josie's personal history, to get the best from these books. But, believe me, it is no hardship. The books are all quick and easy reads, entertaining in their own twisted way, and the characters become compelling.

Josie doesn't always make the best choices, either professionally or personally, and although she has matured somewhat over the previous books, her lack of judgement again provides this book with plenty of material and interest.

Regan has the knack of weaving seemingly unconnected occurrences together to form a tight and twisty plot that keeps the reader glued to the page.

A highly recommended series.

****

#The BonesShe Buried #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Lisa Regan is a suspense novelist. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Master of Education Degree from Bloomsburg University. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture, via Netgalley, for providing a digital ARC of The Bones She Buried by Lisa Regan for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page, or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This and other reviews are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage

Josie Quinn is a detective in the small town of Denton, Pen. With her boyfriend Noah she visits his mother for dinner and they find her face down in the garden. When Josie attempts mouth-to-mouth she quickly realizes that the old woman's mouth is clogged with soil. It becomes a murder investigation led by Josie and during a search of the house she discovers a USB stick labeled "Pratt". She starts looking into who Pratt might be and settles on Drew Pratt who famously disappeared and was investigating the "Kickbacks" case. She follows clue after clue whilst her relationship with Noah declines. It gets worse when she interviews Noah's father (who Noah hates due to the separation from his mother many years previously).

The blurb says that Josie's only hope lies in tracking down Pratt's daughter. When she finds her she's just been murdered too and Josie realizes that the killer is one step ahead of her.

The blurb also says "an absolutely unputdownable crime thriller". Well, I for one could put it down and by half way I gave up. This book was not for me. Why? let's see..

The character's were 2-dimensional and I had no sense of the location. I hadn't realised that this was book 5 of a series and so I can understand the author may expect her readers to know her characters but I found their interactions wooden - including the dialogue - and dull. The male characters are all weak, including her boss, who I'll mention later. And her relationship with wet Noah wasn't convincing. At one point Josie laments the fact that Noah doesn't send her flirty messages any more. What a surprise, his mother is dead! She also has little communication with him while she's investigating the murder (would she really be on the case?) and shows no empathy towards him.

The mother died of asphyxiation from being face down in the soil. If you put your face in soil and breath in, you will not fill your airways. So the soil must have been pushed in. In which case, why didn't Josie immediately see that the lady's mouth was full of soil?
OK, I thought, accept this, but then we're told that you can clearly see the head indentation and where the killer knelt beside her. However Josie and Noah were all over this patch and I found it hard to believe the indentations would still have been obvious. <br>When the MO explains the spots in the eyes are Petechiae, the other detective (Metts) doesn't know the word. A homicide detective who hasn't come across petechiae?

When Josie remembers the name Drew Pratt, she charges into her chief's office and demands that he tell her about his involvement in the old case. Really? It seemed very challenging especially since Josie didn't know that Drew Pratt was the Pratt on the USB stick. In fact there are a whole series of lines of enquiry that lead to interesting information and development, but they are "inspired" guesses, like Drew's name and later the buckle. I finally lost patience with two things. 1) was when Josie asks Noah's father if his mother ever had an affair. What is it, 20 years previously? The father says no but I remember her talking to this guy... and then reels off lots of detail. Clealy it's important, clearly the author has crowbarred it in. Then she's with Noah in the mother's house and they smell burning. "It's him!" they both say - although the pair have never discussed the killer or that it's a man. She finds a man in the road who says he was knocked over by the arsonist. Rather than ask what he looked like, Josie asks other questions then throws in "did you see him?

Fantastic. I really enjoyed this book by Lisa Regan. Really good story. I look forward to reading more by her and recommending her stories to others.

This is the fifth Josie Quinn I've read in a row, and bloody hell, they just get better and better. I absolutely love the way Ms Regan spins a tale, gripping and I honestly I did not see the ending coming. This was really an awesome novel, and I can't wait to start the next book in the series! Highly recommended!!

Book 5 in the Detective Josie Quinn series.. Lisa Regan has done it again.

This novel gets even more personal, this time into the life of Josie's partner Noah. So many twists and turns taking you for a ride.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another thrilling instalment in the Josie Quinn series - I swear, I barely took a breath for the whole book!

Josie is trying to figure out who murdered her boyfriends mother, when a whole series of other murders occur on her patch, all of which are connected to Colette in some way. Trying to piece this mystery together without even more people being hurt or murdered is a big ask as Josie seems to just be a little bit behind, every step of the way.

This novel was very well written, absolutely first-class characterisations and the storyline made a lot of sense. I love police procedurals like these, give me more!

5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture - with apologies for taking so long to review!

This is #5 in the Josie Quinn series…..and starts when her boyfriends mums body is found in the garden…..her house has been ransacked…..just what were they searching for?

During the investigation, items are found in the house, belonging to missing or dead men…just what had Noah’s mum been doing? Is Noah safe? Is Josie for that matter….?

Another great addition to this excellent series.

A murder hits close to home when Detective Josie Quinn' finds her boyfriend's mother murdered. As they investigate, old murders come to light and the case twists and turns. Complicating matters, Josie must deal with animosity from her boyfriend's family.. The Bones She Buried is an engaging read.

Why have I never read Josie Quinn before? 'Now me' is alternately super happy to be having Books 1-4 to read but also kicking myself for not joining in sooner!

What can I say...this is a wonderful read with a massive dilemma of the moral kind right at its heart-when you are a police officer,as is your partner,and your mother in law dies , how far do you compromise professional integrity for personal goal??

Josie and Noah face the worst moment in their relationship as they find his mother,Colette, face down in her garden. Having had concerns about Colette's memory, this is unusual but not out of the ordinary and you know Noah and Josie are going to be thinking that she has had an aneursym or collapse, but the truth is far worse.

She has been murdered. Worse still, there are links, discovered in Colette's house that tie her, somehow, to a case from Josie's past were children were sold to a private home by a crooked government official. And how was Colette linked to missing person Drew Pratt who had vital evidence against government child selling bureaucrats?

And whose bones were being buried by whom?

An immersive study in grief at the same time as being a wonderfully gripping who and why dunnit, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Bones She Buried'!

Typical Lisa Regan and Josie Quinn novel (And that is no bad thing). Thoroughly enjoyable, with a little more of a personal twist this time.

One of my new favorite books! This author has such a way with words the pages flew by in no time! I can’t wait to see the next work by this author! This was such a joy to read!

This is a brilliant modern thriller. It's the fifth in the Josie Quinn series. As expected it is brilliant with many twists and turns. Very enjoyable.

This is the fifth book in the series.
It’s as strong as the previous books and may even be the best in the series

This book was a fast paced book . Twists and turns non stop . Its action packed unpredictable and entertaining. This book is part of a series but you don't really have to read them in order.

Lisa Regan has a unique ability to craft mysteries, that, like a set of Russian dolls, lead to mysteries within mysteries. In this fifth novel in the Detective Josie Quinn series, Josie is confronted with the brutal death of her boyfriend’s mother, a woman in the beginning stages of dementia. The boyfriend, Detective Noah Fraley, does not handle the murder well, and when he is injured as a part of what appears to be a disjointed murder spree, he breaks away from Josie, leaving her alone in her private life, and without his help in solving the crimes.

Alone is a familiar place for Josie, as the first four novels in this series explain. Raised by an insane woman who endlessly tortured her, Josie has slowly moved away from that nightmare and created a life surrounded by loving people. Her new life, however, may be threatened by the current violent murders that Josie is tasked with solving.

There is verisimilitude to Regan’s writing. Although she sets her Josie Quinn novels in a fictional town in central Pennsylvania, her description of the buildings and surrounding countryside are clearly based on actual towns in the area. Josie’s friends, family and work colleagues are not perfect, but they resemble people we all have known, or wish we had known. Most, despite their flaws, are exceedingly loyal to Josie and they will not allow her to sink back into the fear and loneliness she knew for the first 25 years of her life.

After drawing the reader into a fast-paced, heart-pounding, series of murders, some decades old, Regan cleverly wraps up this novel but not too tightly. Like any good author, she leaves the reader awaiting the sixth novel in this series.

(In return for an honest review, I was provided a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.)

Love josie Quinn novels and this one didn’t disappoint was as usual a fantastic read with edge in the seat moments looking forward to what happens next 5*

Thoroughly enjoyed this book it was a great follow up to the last one in the series. It was a very intense and emotional read and I found it hard to put down. There was plenty going on so there wasn’t any point in the book that was dull or uninteresting. Josie is doing it tough in this book as she has to balance her work and personal life as the main crime is pretty close to home. Parts of the book were explosive and gave me a wow moment as the book progressed and we learnt more of what was happening. A really great read that I am happy to recommend.