What could go wrong?

It’s career day at the Cleveland, Ohio, all-girls’ school St. Catherine’s, and Jazz Ramsey—the school’s admin assistant and avocational cadaver-dog trainer—has been volunteered by her boss to demonstrate how cadaver dogs work. Jazz borrows Gus, a friend’s trained dog, then hides the bait (a human tooth and a metacarpal bone) on the school’s unused fourth floor.

After the girls make their way up the stairs to the space, she gives Gus the command to find. Puzzled when Gus alerts to an area she knows she didn’t bait, Jazz investigates, nervous about what she might find.

“Not a squirrel. Not a raccoon. Not a dead rat. Gus knew better than to signal on an animal. Gus had been trained to detect only one scent. Human death.”

Tucked into a space behind the door Gus is sitting resolutely in front of is a skeleton dressed in clothes Jazz recognizes as belonging to a former teacher. A contentious woman, the teacher hadn’t been much missed when she had unexpectedly quit her job and left town three years earlier.

Cadaver dogs—more formally known as human remains detection (HRD) dogs—fulfill a specialized niche: They help find the dead (sometimes the long dead) and in doing so, contribute to a family’s peace of mind or the law’s pursuit of justice. Logan includes interesting details about HRD training and working methods as part of the story.

In her first book of the series, The Scent of Murder, Jazz and her dog find the body of a former St. Catherine’s student. Here, in her second, the victim also has a connection with the school. Like Cabot Cove, Maine, the fictional setting of the long-running television series Murder, She Wrote, St. Catherine’s seems to on track to becoming a nexus of nefarious doings! Since they’re fictional and we don’t have to feel guilty about finding the doings interesting, that’s a good thing for the reader.

The Secret Of Bones by Kylie Logan
Assembly day at St. Catherine School. Jazz Ramsey, among another professional women, are giving career speeches. Jazz is a cadaver dog trainer. While at school, Jazz discovers a human body. There was a teacher missing awhile back. Could it be her? A well-written plot. I enjoyed the characters of Jazz, Nick, and the dog, Wally. This book kept me in suspense. It has a surprise vending. I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it.

Hey folks, daddy Steve here with some doggiebooks talk. Today I’ll do something I’ve never done before, I will review two books at once. The reason is fairly simple. These two books are from one cozy mystery series. Thing is, I requested and was given a free review copy of the #2 book in the series through NetGalley but the premise of the series appealed so much to me that I just had to buy the first one and read the two back to back.
The books are The Scent of Murder and The Secrets of Bones by author Kylie Logan. As I said, they are books #1 and #2 in the Jazz Ramsey series. Jazz Ramsey is the main character in the series. Her link to doggies is that she is a volunteer cadaver dog trainer. Her love for dogs is very apparent. In the first book she is training a friend’s dog after losing her own dog not long before the beginning of the action in the book and in the second, she now has her own dog.
I’ve included the summaries of both books, they should give you an idea of the story. The style is in line with the cozy mystery genre, i.e. female amateur sleuth, a good looking detective (who in this case is a former lover of Jazz), a budding romance and some crazy twists and turns in the cases.
I liked both book and would certainly read more in the series although I would have liked more dog action. It’s clear that Jazz loves dogs but she also does a great deal of sleuthing on her own.
Author gets major good points though: there are some stressful moments but (tiny spoiler) no dog gets hurt in either books...
Both books are recommended reads for me!
While I bought book #1, I would like to say thanks to NetGalley who provided a free eBook advanced reader’s copy of books #2 in exchange for my honest review. This is as honest as it gets...
#Malcolmstories #doggiebooks

The Secrets of Bones is the second Jazz Ramsey mystery by Kylie Logan. Released 5th May by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 336 pages and available in hardcover, mass market paperback, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

I love books which feature working dogs. In fact, I am a huge fan of books which feature animals, full stop. Apart from the discovery scene, where protagonist Jazz's cadaver dog finds the body of a nun in a Catholic school, dogs feature quite little in the plot. This is a more hard-edged plot, there's little humor and more realism, but it stands on the cozy-ish end of the spectrum. The language and content are clean, there's very little cursing and no sexual content. The amateur sleuth aspect was maybe slightly over the top, she gets on with sifting evidence and investigating the murder/disappearance of victim Bernadette unhindered, and remarkably unhindered by the police.

The plot seemed to drag a bit for me. Particularly in the middle of the book, there were side threads and distractions which went on for ages. I found myself having to fight the urge to skim pages. When reading (and especially when I'm reading for review), that's something I don't do, so this read took me much longer than normal to finish. I kept putting the book down instead of skipping ahead. The dialogue and characterizations were well done and I didn't have trouble keeping the characters straight. I'm not sure how realistic the teachers' and staff reactions to the students' misbehaviors were, but it wasn't too egregious and I didn't find myself being yanked out of my suspension of disbelief often, at least.

The denouement and resolution were foreshadowed fairly heavily, but still felt cartoonish and over-the-top. This book does work well as a standalone. I don't feel the need to go back and read the first book in the series.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

If you are looking for a nice, quick reading cozy mystery, The Secrets of Bones might just be your cup of tea. Jazz Ramsey is an administrative assistant at St. Catherine's Girl School. Due to a minor accident by another speaker at a school assembly, she volunteered to bring in a couple of cadaver dogs in for a demonstration. That went awry when the dog identified bones where non had been planted. What the dog found was a body, quite possibly the body of a former teacher who had submitted a letter of resignation and disappeared three years ago. An interesting case that Jazz manages to crack only after various red herrings were chased down. A nice quick read that builds on the first book in the series.

This is the second book in the Jazz Ramsey series, and it was a new series for me so I went and read the first one before this. I suggest you read them in order too. The characters begin to develop over the two books. Jazz Ramsey is a full time administrative assistant and part time cadaver dog trainer. And in this story Jazz is going to give the school where she works at a demonstration of how a cadaver dog works, but unfortunalty her dog rings something no one was expecting-the skeletal remains of ex-teacher Bernadette Quinn. I loved the twists and even the red-herrings so much that I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

I read the first book in this series last year and was really excited to get my hand's on the sequel. I was looking forward to learning more about Jazz and getting to know her new cadaver dog in training, Wally.

This installment opens with an assembly day at the Catholic school where Jazz is employed. A sudden guest cancellation leads Jazz to do an presentation with her cadaver puppy, Wally and a friend's trained dog, Gus. The presentation is set to take place in the school attic for lack of a better space, and no one suspected that Gus would find an actual decayed body.

So basically we learn that about three years back, one of the teacher's Bernadette Quinn, left under special circumstances and she always wore the cross found on the body. The police immediately start to suspect Jazz's boss, but Jazz knows that isn't possible. She she decides to do some of her own detective work to save her boss and find out what really happened to Bernadette.

Now I have to say, while I find this series really enjoyable, I also think it could be described as a cozy series disguised as a procedural novel. There's really very little about the actual work done with cadaver dogs and I kind of find myself wanting more. I do enjoy all the characters and can say that in the first book, I was concerns with Jazz's relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Nick. This book delves into that some more and I'm much more comfortable with where things are heading. The mystery was satisfying although in the last 20% of the book I was able to see where the resolution was headed. It did't quell my enjoyment of the story though.

If you are a fan of cozy mysteries, especially ones featuring dogs, then I would recommend this series. I'm curious to see what the next book brings and hope it delves more into Jazz's father's death, as it has been eluded that there may be something mysterious behind it.

Assembly Day at St. Catherine’s draws profession women to the school to talk to the girls about careers at NASA, in medicine, teaching yoga classes. Even Jazz Ramsey gets in on the day’s activities. While her day job is the school’s Admin Assistant, she also volunteers as a cadaver dog trainer. And with a brand new puppy, Wally, she imagines the girls will be thrilled to spend an hour watching his antics.

Unfortunately Jazz gets more than she bargained for as the fully-trained dog she borrowed for the afternoon uncovers more than the few teeth she hid in the room. What follows is an investigation into the sudden departure of a teacher three years ago…as it turns out, she didn’t get nearly as far away from the school as she had planned.

I was a big fan of last year’s The Scent of Murder and have been itching for the follow-up! While it seemed the cadaver dogs (admittedly a huge part of why I initially started the series) took a backseat in this installment, I was nonetheless intrigued by the mystery: Bernadette was an extremely devout teacher (even by the nuns’ standards) and her fervor causes more than one girl to avoid her. Even among the teachers she wasn’t considered a favorite, so when she abruptly left during Christmas break three years ago, not many tears were shed. Of course this also means there’s a plethora of suspects to choose from.

The big reveals and twists weren’t a shock to me sadly, and I have to say I enjoyed the first book much more. Still, The Scent of Bones was a decent read for a sunny day and I’m interested to see what Jazz gets into next.

Wow ! A mesmerizing and heartwarming cozy murder mystery that will keep you perched on the edge of your seat until the very last page ! I highly recommend !! Thanks to Netgalley , St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this book ! Opinions are solely my own !
#Netgalley # St.Martin'sPress #MinotaurBooks #TheSecretsOfBones

St. Catherine's all-girl school has arranged for professional woman all over the country to gather and talk to their schoolgirls about potential careers.

Jazz Ramsey has signed up to promote her passion ... cadaver dog training. Her adorable new puppy Wally hasn’t been certified yet, so she borrows the fully-trained Gus from a friend and hides a few bones in the unused fourth floor of the school for him to find.

Gus surprises them when he signals a find .... behind a door that no one has opened in ages, is a human skeleton.

The clothing and a necklace point to the identity of the skeleton belonging to Bernadette Quinn, an ex-teacher who abruptly quit her job 3 years ago. Evidently she may have quit .. but she never left the school.

The story takes the reader back to the years prior to Bernadette resigning and her obsession with a student, Mandy. Bernadette was not well liked, she was religious to the point where she felt all students should abide by her own personal rules of conduct. But who disliked her enough to kill her?

There are plenty of suspects, as Jazz discovers, who have varied motives for wanting the woman dead. Jazz learns that Bernadette also had secrets that are just now coming into the light.

The more Jazz searches out the truth, the more personal danger she faces.

This is a page-turning mystery with deftly drawn characters. Suspects abound with varied, multiple motives leading to a surprising ending. Although second in the series, this is easily read as a stand alone. I do recommend reading THE SCENT OF MURDER first, though. The dogs are always a bonus and Wally, Jazz's pup, is a pure delight.

Many thanks to the author /Minotaur Books / St Martin's Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime/mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I really was hoping for more about the dogs, especially after the first book in the series, The Scent of Murder. Instead, I got a lot more of Jazz Ramsey, the Catholic college prep school where she is the principal’s administrative assistant, and yet the late discovery of the remains of another person tied to the school.

But I also got more of Jazz stumbling and falling into being an amateur detective again, as well as her fumbling her way back into some kind of relationship with her ex-lover and current friend Nick. Both luckily and unluckily for Jazz, Nick isn’t the investigating officer this time around, when Jazz and a retired cadaver dog discover human remains other than the ones she planted for demonstration.

It’s creepy to think of a school where a dead body has been decomposing on an unused floor for two years. The wildest stories that the students have made up and passed around about the weird things that happened on the old building’s sealed up Fourth Floor have acquired whole new chapters after old Gus discovers the body of a teacher that everyone thought had merely resigned.

After all, she left a letter of resignation. Why would anyone think she was dead? But the body in the closet suggests otherwise. Rather strongly.

When the police detective who IS in charge of the investigation starts out thinking that Sister Eileen, the founder and principal of St. Catherine’s, might be the murderer, Jazz is sure that a) he’s wrong and b) he’s more than a bit of an asshole. Which means that Jazz is off to the races poking her nose into yet another murder.

The entire investigation turns out to be a lesson about that classic definition of the word “assume”, as in “assume makes an ass out of u and me” – and not just for amateur sleuth Jazz. The body has desiccated beyond easy recognition, locked in that not-exactly-climate-controlled “attic” for more than two years. The victim is identified based on her rather distinctive clothing and effects. The timing is certainly right.

But is the body?

Escape Rating A-: I hope the third book in this series – and I hope there is a third book in this series – has more dogs. Jazz’ new pup, Wally the totally attitudinal Airedale, has a long way to go before he’s fully trained and qualified as a human remains detection dog. But they’re working on it.

In the meantime, this series, and this book in it, feels like it’s right on the edge between “cozy” mystery and just plain mystery. And I like that edge.

On the one hand, Jazz is a bit of the typical amateur detective, who gets involved because someone she knows is either the victim, the suspect, or both. But her entry into the mystery is not just unusual but more than a bit creepy – and closer to a traditional mystery. She finds a body, by accident for her, perhaps, but all part of a day’s work for the dog. It also feels like Jazz gets in a bit more danger than the usual cozy mystery sleuth.

The mystery in this one is particularly interesting because of the kind of “hothouse” atmosphere of the school. (In that way, it kind of reminds me of Sarah Gailey’s marvelous Magic for Liars, which is also set in a school, albeit one more like Hogwarts. Also Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden, despite its Victorian setting.) But the ambiance of teachers dedicated to teaching mixed with students who think they run the place – and sometimes do – along with angry parents just sure their little “darlings” couldn’t possibly have committed whatever wrong they so manifestly did, is a setting just ripe for drama – and murder. So many hormones, and so much heightened emotion!

Like most mystery series, cozy or not, in order to like the series one needs to like the protagonist, in this case, Jazz and her family, friends and colleagues. I find her eminently likeable, and will be happy to follow more of her adventures.

For the series to continue, Jazz needs to start finding bodies in the wider Cleveland area and not just of people connected to St. Catherine’s. Otherwise the place is going to have a higher murder rate per capita than even Cabot Cove, and that’s just not reasonable for a school in an area where there are plenty of other options.

That being said, I’m enjoying Jazz’ adventures, her fumbling increase in detective skills, and her slowly re-developing relationship with Nick. She has a unique way of stumbling over bodies that seems to be an excellent method for dragging her into new cases – and the reader right along with her.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

As contrary as it seems to reference charm and murder in the same sentence, Kylie Logan's The Secrets of Bones blends them wonderfully. The second in Logan's Jazz Ramsey series (The Scent of Murder) finds Jazz recovering from large life losses. She finds solace in her Airedale puppy, Wally, who she's training to be her next Human Remains Detection partner, and her job as administrative assistant to Sister Eileen Flannery, principal of St. Catherine's Prep Academy for Girls.

Assembly Day at St. Catherine's is a yearly highlight, with prominent women professionals giving talks to the girls. When one presenter doesn't show, Jazz is pushed into service, borrowing a trained HRD dog, Gus, and putting on a performance on the allegedly haunted and always locked fourth floor. During the demo, Gus finds more than Jazz bargained for, signaling at the access door to an old heating system. Behind the door are human remains, desiccated and partially plastic-wrapped, wearing the cross of Bernadette Quinn. Bernadette, a staunchly religious and difficult teacher, sent a resignation letter to St. Catherine's three years ago and never returned.

With Sister Eileen in the crosshairs, Jazz tries to find the truth of Bernadette's disappearance and death, bringing her back in contact with homicide detective Nick Koselov, her former lover. The lack of much on the dog front is offset by winning characters, an intriguing mystery in the traditional style, fun dialogue and a pace that makes this small town in Ohio, even with a murder, a charmingly entertaining place.

STREET SENSE: Were it not for the SIP, I might not have discovered this series. I hadn't read the first. Other than having a dog on the cover, it seemed in the traditional subgenre, not my usual wheelhouse. But I was feeling like something less dark than my usual fare and the cover palette of this cover attracted me, along with the synopsis of the story. Cover gut for the win again, because I really enjoyed this one and will go back to read the first. Smart protag, sassy head nun, not too much romance, interesting mystery, what's not to like? Nothing. Go start it.

COVER NERD SAYS: My Corona cover nerd spidey senses were set off by this one. Dog, great color mix (despite being Seahawk colors), some fog around a cemetery, and only half a woman and she doesn't seem in distress. All pluses in my book. Or on my book. Ha. See what I did there? HEY! Times are hard!

THE SECRET OF BONES is Book 2 in the intriguing and heartfelt Jazz Ramsey Mystery Series, starring a Cleveland admin assistant who trains Cadaver dogs and works at a Catholic girls' preparatory school. Although I amaze myself admiring a protagonist who is a professed "non-reader," I find this Series really fascinating. The characterizations are deeply realized and the mystery plots are quite intriguing. [In this one, seriously twisty!] I also enjoy the Cleveland settings, both historic and contemporary.

This book was okay, but definitely could have been better. I got this book on Netgalley because I loved the first book in the series, but this one was definitely a letdown compared to the first. I figured out all of the major twists way before they happened, up to and including who the killer was. This was an easy read, but honestly kind of boring because there were no surprises. And I feel like the "training body detection dogs" was done way better in book one too. 3 stars, and unfortunately I don't recommend it.

This is the second book in a new series by this  author.  It can be enjoyed by those who did not read the first book, The Scent of Murder, although readers may want to read both entries. 


I liked both the characters and the setting of this book.  Jazz, the protagonist, works in a Catholic school run by Sister Eileen.  Eileen and Jazz are portrayed as quite human as are many of the other characters including Jazz's (former) police officer boyfriend, teachers at the school and the teen aged students.  The Catholic school where the body of a former teacher is found seemed very authentic as did the voices of the students. 


The mystery centers around the murder of a teacher who believed that she could speak with angels.  What happened to her?  To whom was she a threat? As is true with cozy mysteries in general, readers know that the case will be solved and will enjoy following to learn how this is done. 


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed the time that I spent reading this title.

“The Secrets of Bones” by Kylie Logan the 2nd instalment in the "A Jazz Ramsey Mystery“ series. I really enjoy this series and plan on buying book one “The Scent of Murder“.

Even though this was the first book I have read by this author, I was able to read it as a stand-alone with no problem. I found myself engrossed in the story right away and reading it in almost one sitting.

The mystery is interesting and well plotted, and I loved the characters of Jazz and sister Eileen which are well developed. I also liked learning about cadaver dogs and the training that is involved.

Kylie Logan is definitely an author I will be following in the future and I can’t wait for book 3 to come out.

I highly recommend this series to all my mystery loving friends.

I requested and received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Minotaur Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my OWN.

This book is the second in a series. If you have not read the first, not to worry. I have not and had no difficulty following this. There is enough back story to know what is going on and who the characters and setting are.

In this book, Jazz, who works as an assistant to the principal of a religious girls’ school, and who trains cadaver dogs on the side, faces a new mystery. One of the teachers, Bernadette Quinn, left the school after a tumultuous tenure there, submitting her resignation during the holiday break, never to be seen or heard from again. During a career day, during which various professionals come to the school to discuss respective careers with the girls, Jazz and her puppy-being-trained-cadaver dog, Wally, end up filling in for a professional who cannot make it. Knowing her puppy Wally is not fully trained as a cadaver dog, Jazz brings Gus, a retired cadaver dog who belongs to a close friend, for discussion and demo for the girls. Gus finds the bones Jazz has hidden as well as the skeleton of a body, who, they figure is Bernadette Quinn because of the clothing and a decorative cross on the skeleton. Once this occurs, Jazz jumps right into her own investigation of what exactly happened. She ferrets out many clues and red herrings trying to figure out what happened to Bernadette Quinn, also discovering a myriad of secrets related to the teacher and school.

This is a pretty good book. There is a lot about dogs, but not an overpowering amount. Still, I think there is enough to hold the interest of dog lovers like me. Jazz comes across as a solid detective/PI, working her way through the clues and history of what occurred in the past and how Bernadette may have gotten herself killed. There is a lot of mystery in the book, as well as a lot about the religious school, students and faculty and staff. Most of the characters are well done. Interesting and very realistic. I also enjoyed the author’s writing style, as everything just flowed together nicely. One area I do wish I had more insight into was the relationship between Jazz and her former beau, a detective who is reluctant to butt into the case assigned to another detective, but who is there to provide insights and ideas to Jazz. Obviously, there was a strong relationship between them at one time—and, based on this story, it has not totally died. This is a well-done mystery, which I am sure mystery readers will enjoy, and deserves in my opinion, five stars. I plan to look for the first book because I liked this one so much. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

Thanks to NetGalley & publisher Minotaur Books | St. Martin's Press for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This was a page-turner that kept me on the edge of the couch, the dining room chair, the bed - I read it every chance I got. An exceptional cozy murder mystery, the premise was intriguing and the plot was well thought-out. A dead body is discovered in a little used closet on the 4th floor at St. Catherine's girls' school during a demonstration by a cadaver dog. Administrative Assistant Jazz Ramsey recognizes the skeleton as a former teacher who had resigned three years ago. Of course she also realizes the woman was murdered - and Jazz is compelled to help the police solve the crime. Lots of clues, a few possible suspects, plus danger afoot when Jazz gets too close to discovering the secret. This book was several steps above the typical mystery with believable characters, just the right amount of description, good backstory, and a credible outcome. (No spoilers!) And no need to worry if you haven't read book #1 (neither had I) but I'll be looking for The Scent of Murder because I can't wait to spend more time with Jazz and author Kylie Logan.

The Secrets of Bones is about a woman named Jazz who works at a Catholic school and also works with cadaver dogs on the side. One day she does a presentation with the dogs at the school and one of the dogs discovers a dead body. They think it is one of the teachers who resigned 3 years earlier based on the clothing found on the skeleton. From there, the story goes in a bunch of different directions of trying to figure out who the killer could be and what the motive was. There are quite a number of suspects. Jazz also has been dating a cop who helps her along in her search for the killer. So there is a little romance involved as well. I gave this book 3 stars because the writing style was not as advanced as I prefer, I found it hard to get into the story at first because I was sidetracked by the writing and how much the main character’s first name was used in sentences. It was a true mystery and kept me interested once I got into it. I would recommend it to other mystery readers who are looking for a good story. But this was not a stand-out 5-star book in my opinion.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Jazz Ramsey works at St. Catherine’s Preparatory Academy, an all-girls school as an administrative assistant. She has been working on Assembly Day at the school where professional women come into speak about careers to the students. Jazz is given the chance at the last minute to share her passion, cadaver dog training. She is training her new Airedale puppy but brings along Gus, a fully trained dog as well. After hiding a few bones for Gus, the students are pretty impressed with his first find. His second find confuses Jazz because it is focused behind a door where she didn’t hide anything.

After clearing the room of students, Jazz opens the door to find a grisly discovery, a human skeleton wearing a necklace Jazz immediately recognizes. The necklace belonged to Bernadette Quinn, a teacher who left the school at Christmas break 3 years ago.

Now, tons of questions arise. The teacher had been difficult during her time at St. Catherine’s. Very demanding of her students and not friendly with her co-workers. She was on probation when she submitted her resignation. Jazz can immediately think of several suspects other than the police’s prime suspect. She just needs to dig into all the clues, but she is putting herself in danger too. She knows when all the secrets are revealed, the killer will be revealed as well.

_______

I enjoy these characters. Jazz is a strong protagonist. She is clever and thinks on her feet. She has the full trust of her boss, Sister Eileen. She is dealing with such huge things in her personal life too and needs a little TLC. Her best friend, Sarah Carrington, an art teacher at the school, tries to keep Jazz grounded, focused on her rekindling romance with Nick, but also is a great sounding board. These characters continue to evolve nicely throughout the book. The dogs did not play much of an integral part after the body was found, but Wally is a curious pup still coming into his own. It will be fun to watch him continue his training.

The mystery was pretty straight forward until the author served up a nice twist. I was tuned in early to where the story was leading but the clues were not adding up right. A murder at Catholic school really drew me in, the delay in finding the body believable, the investigation was intriguing, and that final twist set everything into place.

The author has a wonderful descriptive writing style which was so important in this story. A little-used part of the school is pressed into service and it needed to have a backstory and reason for its lack of use. Ms. Logan presented this in a believable way and depicted the area so well with her words.

The cadaver dog training is something that interests me. I hope there is more of that in the next book.

The Secrets of Bones is a great addition to this series. Quite the whodunit!