Clever concept, clever mystery! I would classify this as a cozy mystery so if that’s your jam you may love this one. Maybe my humor doesn’t match up with the authors but I thought this would be funnier. Although the cast of characters are quirky and eccentric and charming. And what better month than Mother’s Day month to read and review a book that starts out with a tough old bird mama dropping dead and leaving a big mess for her daughter to figure out! Thank you Netgalley, Skyhorse Publishing and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Action Packed Romp..
Ex pats, sun and scandal, scams and sangria on the Costa in this action packed romp in sunny climes. A deftly drawn and eccentric cast populate a sprightly plot in this enjoyable and entertaining tale with a perfect backdrop.

Thank you for the ARC

Not a great read. It took ;some time for me to connect with the characters. Storyline was good but not captivating.

Solid writing, interesting character and a plot that kept me hooked. I love books where I'm not sure what I would do if I was put in the same situation. I love seeing how the characters handle it and how it all plays out. I enjoyed this one.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This was a very average thriller for me with a premise I’ve seen done a few times before. I did enjoy the writing and the fast pacing so I will still check out for this author.

78 years old Effie Coulstoun drops dead one night in her bar Se Busca, in Spain while brokering a deal with a potential investor. Postmortem report suggests it was a heart attack and her daughter Daniella, who has been estranged from her mother for many years, comes to Spain for the funeral. Daniella expects to be in and out of the country within a couple of days.... until she is threatened and blackmailed by a bunch of misfits who call themselves the Ex-Patriots. Turns out the Ex-Patriots and Effie were involved in a multi million property scam and Effie seems to have conned her team as well by hiding the money with the intent of escaping with it before her death. The Ex-Patriots now want Daniella to locate the hidden money threatening to break thirty one of her bones and to implicate her solely for the crime if she does not comply. Daniella has her own decisions to make--should she make a run for it back to her stagnant life and career in the UK or stay in Spain, face the Ex-Patriots threats head on and potentially take over her mother's business and life she build in Spain.

This book was quite fun and engaging to read. It was a bit different in terms of plot and presentation and had its share of twists and turns and dry, dark humour.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Skyhorse Publishing/Arcade Crimewise and the author for the e-Arc of the book.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨💫

Thanks to netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Effie is a Brit living in Spain. She had made a life for herself and owns her very own bar frequented by fellow Brits in Spain. One day out if the blue Effie drops dead in her bar. Her daughter Daniella feels it is her duty to go to the funeral in Spain, but they have been estranged for years.

She soon discovers that Effie had many secrets and is confronted by those fellow expats as the cash from a multi million property scam has disappeared. They think she knows where the money is and the police investigating her mums death think she is hiding something as well. With threats from all angles and a looming deadline she needs to find where the money is and quick.

The synopsis pulled me in straight away. I loved the mystery around where the money was, but also Daniella rediscovering who her mum was. There certainly is a lot of characters to keep you entertained, but I felt that they could have been developed more.

In between there were transcripts with the police interviewing each of our characters. It gave you a little background to what was going on, but I felt that we could have got a little bit more out of them.

Overall I think this was a fun read and it has the perfect setting for a summer read. I am rating it 3/5 stars.

This book was billed as sort of a Carl Hiaasen-noir-sunny Spain mystery. Yet again, if this book was supposed to be funny, I didn't get it.

My understanding is that the author usually writes tartan-noir, but is branching out with a different feel and a different name here. The main character is a female insurance adjuster who's been estranged from her mom for years. Mom has become an ex-pat in Spain and has recently died, and daughter travels to podunk Spanish town to settle mom's affairs. Turns out, mom had her finger in a lot of pies, was involved in a very shady land deal, and had ties to the local mob. The title comes from an enforcer who threatens to break "thirty-one bones" in Daniella's body if she doesn't give up some information. Why thirty-one? Why not thirty??? That's the question, and I guess that's funny. The sad sketches of the losers who mom had associated with were also supposed to be funny, I guess. I found the whole thing depressing and tawdry. Basically the ideas is that a lot of would-be cons are getting conned themselves. Maybe if it had been a quick hour of TV I would have enjoyed it more, but written humor is difficult and this one wasn't for me at all.

Synopsis:
When Daniella's estranged mother, Effie, dies in Spain under suspicious circumstances, Daniella feels it's her duty to fly out for the funeral. Effie was the sole owner of the seedy ex-pat pub Se Busca, whose faithful kept her in business for twenty years. Among them is a dangerous group of misfits who confront Daniella on her arrival, claiming that Effie stole huge sums of cash from them in a multimillion-euro property scam. They want the money back, and Daniella is on the hook for it.

When a suspicious Spanish detective begins to probe Effie's death and a London gangster hears about the missing money, Daniella faces threats on every front, including the promise of breakage to thirty-one of her precious bones. With no idea where the cash is and a seemingly impossible deadline, she has no choice but to fall back on her wits to solve the mystery in a world where she is out of depth and her very survival is at stake.
_____

My favorite part of this book was how it went between the regular story and copies of a police transcript, I felt it gave more of a suspense.

Ultimately, I felt a little let down by the ease of the ending and felt it a tad unbelievable (especially the relationship Daniella developed with Zia), but I enjoyed the journey, the almost comical characters and will likely pick up the next one in the series.

Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing - Arcade Crimewise and Netgalley for a copy of the ARC in return for my honest review.

Written by Morgan Cry, aka Gordon Brown, the book has scenic locations, interesting characters, and a strong plotline. Daniella and Effie are both strong female characters, albeit in very different ways. The story does a great job of capturing the conflicting emotions an ex-pat feels, including missing one's homeland and the pressure of succeeding in a different country.

The book keeps you guessing as to what will happen next. I especially enjoyed how the author introduces a character in a chapter and then follows it by their interrogation by the Policia Nacional. The story pivots on the words - "It's complicated.". You will have to read the book to find out more. After each complication, the story slowly unravels, and readers find themselves swept along with the characters on their journey.

Also, the book refers to "Drinking the Kool-Aid"- anyone interested in checking out the historical event related to it should look into it as well. I wasn't aware of the expression, and it was something new I learned. And as to why is the book titled "Thirty-One Bones" is a mystery of its own.

I give the book 4/5 stars. I wish it was a page-turner and had me completely engrossed. A total recommendation for readers who enjoy mysteries.

Daniella has been estranged from her mother Effie for years. So she's surprised, really surprised, when she goes to Spain to bury her and discovers that not only has she inherited a bar, she's inherited a pile of problems because Effie has been running a scam. A scam which bilked a bunch of ex-pats of over one million euros. And the money is missing. Her mother's attorney George Laidlaw as well as others think she knows where it is. So do the police. This is a hoot in spots. Daniella's story is interrupted by snippets of police interviews with Effie's co-conspirators. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Loved the setting, loved the skewering of the ex-pat community, and rooted for Daniella.

I requested this book because the cover is absolutely gorgeous. I love the water and it’s so unique.

This story was good, not fantastic but I still enjoyed it. It’s so compelling and suspenseful. I really enjoyed the thrills this book threw but sometimes they just felt really dull and common. I really wanted more from this story.

At the start of this book, I felt like it would make a very good mystery for a dinner theatre. Lots of unique characters, beautiful location, somewhat silly encounters. In fact the characters are almost caricatures: former musical stars, former models, hopeful future famous people. It made for an oddball scene surrounding the death of Daniella's estranged mother. When Daniella arrives for the funeral, a three ring circus environment ensues with several people pressuring her to return money her mother had stolen. I did like the presentation of the story, with police interviews thrown in on occasion almost like a quick intermission, but before too long the odd ball behavior of the characters and unlikeliness of the situations got a bit too much as though the author didn't know when enough was enough. I wonder if the style settles down a bit in the future installments now that the foundation for Daniella and several other characters has been established? It might be worth a read to find out!

Not funny. Not witty. Just weird. This is so definitely not my kind of book. It just feels forced and I do not recommend it.

I confess that I was drawn to Thirty-One Bones as soon as I first read the blurb. I can never resist a Spanish setting, and the story being a crime thriller on top of that? Irresistible indeed. I've been looking forward to dive into this story ever since it first appeared on my kindle, fully expecting to have a brilliant time with it... So I guess you can imagine my surprise when I ended up having mixed thoughts instead. Why? I'll try to explain briefly below.

First things first and I have to say that I still love the premise of this first book of a new series. The scam, the missing money, the secrets Daniella never knew her mother had... There is a lot of potential here indeed. The Spanish setting was also a bonus for me, and I liked how the (fictional) El Descaro town played a big role in the story. Especially with the name being translated into 'cheek, impertinence' which is basically a direct reference to the Ex-Patriots and what they have been up to. I always love a cheeky dose of humor along the way!

As far as the plot and its development goes though... I'm afraid I found it to be a tad too over the top and far fetched to actually see it as a credible chain of events. I can take my crime thrillers with a grain of salt, but this story would take such a high dose that would give me hypertension as a result. It felt like the story wanted to include too many drastic plot twists and surprises, and as a consequence the story fell rather flat for me. The fact that I was never able to connect to the writing style didn't really help either; there was just something about the tone and word choice that simply didn't gel with me. I did like the incorporation of the police interviews with multiple characters in between the chapters though.

I have to confess that I wasn't really a fan of the characters nor how they behaved either. Most of them felt a bit like a cliche or at least underdeveloped, and I was never able to warm up the star of this new series, Daniella Coulstoun either. I didn't really feel her actions were all that credible and I wasn't really charmed by her personality nor the way she interacted with the others or handled the situation. The insurer background angle was neat, but as a whole she wasn't able to convince me sadly.

In short, I had really high hopes for Thirty-One Bones as I always love a Spanish settings in my stories and the premise sounded fantastic, but sadly I mostly ended up having mixed thoughts about it. Most people do seem to enjoy this story better, so don't give up on my account if you think it's your cup of tea though.

The premise of this book seemed interesting upon first glance: a young woman goes to Spain to settle her mother’s estate only to find that her mother was involved in running a massive property scam. But I didn’t enjoy the book. I’m not sure exactly why but I didn’t find any of the characters memorable or particularly engaging. The story seemed kind of ridiculous at times, although it did have some humor which saved it in parts. I wouldn’t recommend buying this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thirty-One Bones by Morgan Cry (pseudonym for author Gordon Brown) is a highly recommended mystery.

Daniella Coulstoun travels to El Descaro on Spain Mediterranean coast to bury her deceased mother, Effie. The two have had a distant relationship for twenty years so Daniella has little knowledge or information about her mother's life in Spain. She knows Effie left Scotland when Daniella was sixteen to move to Spain where she owned and ran a pub, Se Busca. Se Busca was patronized by British expats and certain criminals, and apparently Effie was the leader of the group of misfits who called themselves Expatriots. What Daniella didn't know was that the ExPatriots had a money making scam going on and had conned would-be-investors out of 1.3 million euros. The money was to be divided between members of the group to give them a new start in life. Now Effie is dead and no one knows where the money went.

As soon as Daniella arrives in Spain, her mother's friend and ex-lawyer, George Laidlaw, is surly and confrontational with Daniella. He wants to know where the money is and he is holding Daniella culpable for recovering it, under a threat of violence. Daniella, of course, has no idea what he is talking about so she must uncover not only what he is talking about but try to figure out where her mother, whom she didn't have a close relationship with, would have hidden the money. Threats and cons seem to be coming from all sides and Daniella quickly realizes she can't really trust anyone and she must rely on her own wits to find the cash.

This crime novel is really more of a madcap scramble of uncovering clues and fraud while facing lunacy and threatening physical intimidation. Thirty-One Bones is surprising lighthearted and humorous at times, even when physical violence seems an obvious conclusion to Daniella's search for the truth - as when she is threatened with having thirty-one bones broken if she doesn't provide the information sought. Daniella is a well-written character and likeable, so readers will hope she uncovers the truth, while also, maybe finding a new place for herself in El Descaro. Cry (Brown) does a credible job writing this novel through Daniella's point-of-view.

The writing is excellent. The chapters mainly focus on Daniella's search. In-between these chapters are brief excerpts of a police interview of the various players in the con. Humorously, these chapters all end with someone replying to a question, "It's complicated." The plot starts out at an even pace and picks up speed as Daniella's investigation begins to follow clues and uncovers new information. The ending wraps everything up neatly, almost too neatly, but it seems appropriate for this clever novel of misfits in the sun.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Simon & Schuster in exchange for my honest opinion.
The review will be submitted for publication on Amazon, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Barnes & Noble.

Effie Coulstoun is pulling a scam to get $20,000 from a man, she hides the money, but dies from a heart attack before she is able to tell anyone where the money is. But, there are people who want their share of the money and they are going after Daniella, Effie's daughter, to get it.

Daniella travels to Spain for the funeral and meets detective/ Captain Lozano who doesn't believe Effie's death was caused by a heart attack. In a new country and having been estranged from her mom for 20 years, Daniella doesn't know who to trust. You can totally fee Daniella's anxiety and desperation.

The narrative also included police interview, which really gave insight into the other characters.

4/5

Thank you to #netgalley for the complimentary copy of #ThirtyOneBones in exchange for an honest review.

This book is available to the public on May 4, 2021

A fun book with good twists and a convincing Spanish setting. The first half of the book is terrific as the innocent yet savvy protagonist finds herself in am Alice in Wonderlike-setting with a bizarre group of criminals. The second half is a bit of a letdown as the events become more improbable and the surrounding characters become increasingly inconsistent. Nevertheless it’s a fun ride

This is entertaining, well written and with great characters, but there's just too much nonsense to be top notch.