Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I’m always on the lookout for a good police detective/Private Investigator book featuring a woman. I really love Sue Grafton’s Kinsey, Ingrid Thoft’s Fina & others. So, I was excited to see this book- it just sounded so great.

However, for me, it was just ok. Gemma has possibilities, but she was mired down in talk of trying to figure out if her boyfriend was cheating on her again or not. We never actually met the boyfriend in this book- he was away for business, but we heard quite a bit about him.



What I liked:

The cover.

The actual mystery. How Emily Littlejohn weaves together 2 stories and makes a mystery that twists in all the right places!



Bottom line: For me, this was just ok. I have requested the 2nd book in the series to see if I enjoy it more. We’ll see!

If you can get past the clown (it’s a dead one, if that helps), Inherit the Bones is a super debut mystery featuring Deputy Gemma Monroe and an impressively diverse cast of supporting characters.

When the identity of the clown is discovered, the small town of Cedar Valley, Colorado, is forced to face dark secrets that have been hidden for decades.

The clown is just the newest in a long line of tragedies, including the disappearance of two boys, the discovery of a woman’s body on a riverbank, and the seemingly accidental slip-and-fall death of the mayor’s son.

Along with a partner she doesn’t fully trust and a freshly minted recruit, a very pregnant Gemma must mine the town’s past crimes in order to solve its most recent. Any good that comes from taking a shovel to buried secrets in a small town is always coupled with more violence, and Littlejohn keeps the anticipation high by weaving the past and present together in fine fashion.

Littlejohn has created numerous characters with the depth to make them intriguing while never distracting from the action. Her beautiful writing always keeps the story moving forward, and despite increasingly numerous subplots, the author deftly pulls them all together. She has a great start to a new series on her hands.

This is the first book that I've read by this author. I enjoyed Detective Emma's personality. She could hold her own in the police department and had great instincts. Finn was harder to like with his unnecessary remarks and somewhat shady ways. The author tied the mystery of the circus death and the previous deaths together in a very believable way. Looking forward to reading the next book. Highly recommended.

The first in a series, with Detective Gemma Monroe who is pregnant and has already had a life full of tragedy and events now ends up in the middle of a murder investigation that will bring up things from the past.

The only thing that didn't sit right with me with this book happened mostly in the beginning, but I felt as though I wasn't reading book one, but more like book three or four. There were times where I felt as though I had missed something and wasn't starting in the beginning with these characters. I had to check a few times that I was really starting with the first book.

Beyond that feeling, I loved the story, the characters and the mystery. The characters - Gemma Monroe is fantastic, I love when a mystery has a woman at the forefront and the men that surrounded her seemed as equals to her and I loved it. The story and the mystery were so good. They interwoven with the small town, its history and maybe a few mysteries were happening at the same time. I loved how the clues were dropped in and how it unfolded.

I was ready to keep up with Gemma Monroe and see her in the next book and see how here character would change from being pregnant to a mother and how that would affect her as a detective.

Thanks so much for the ARC! I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would, though.

Minotaur Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Inherit the Bones. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Detective Gemma Monroe is 6 months pregnant, trying to do her job to the best of her ability while dealing with outside stressors. When a 19 year old young man was found murdered at the fairgrounds with his throat torn out, the police department is stunned at the discovery of the boy's identity. Having ties to one of the most prominent families in town, the police first have to determine why Nicky disappeared in the first place under suspicious conditions. When the investigation reveals that Nicky was looking into the 30 year old cold case of the McKenzie boys, murdered by the so-called Woodsman, what will the police uncover that draws the attention of someone who would rather keep the truth hidden?

Inherit the Bones has a good pace and well developed characters, although some of the background information was presented in such a way that it felt like I had skipped reading a previous book. Some of the plot did not seem believable, especially in regards to the fact that the police were seemingly clueless some of the time. Overall, Inherit the Bones was a good read which kept my interest all the way through. I would like to read more books featuring main character Gemma Monroe, as her story does not seem to be complete. Readers who like police procedural thrillers will like Inherit the Bones.

Wow! This book was amazing! The mystery, the suspense - I could NOT put this book down! The writing was totally engaging and the story was one of the best I have ever read! I can't wait to read whatever this author writes next!

http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.ca/2016/11/inherit-bones-emily-littlejohn.html

Inherit the Bones is Emily Littlejohn's debut novel - and the first book in the Detective Gemma Monroe novels. (I always enjoy getting in on the ground floor a new series!)

Littlejohn opens up the book with a pretty topical crime - clowns. Well, only one clown - found viciously murdered when a travelling circus stops in town. But when the identity of that victim is discovered, old crimes, old cases and old fears are reignited. Two young brothers were abducted and killed years ago in Cedar Valley. Gemma was the one who found those bodies also - deep in the Colorado woods. The killer was never found - but lives on in infamy as The Woodsman.

Gemma is such a great protagonist! Gemma has made her home in the small town of Cedar Valley, Colorado since she was a child and is now part of the police force. I was immediately drawn to her in the first few pages. She's intelligent, determined, no pushover - and six months pregnant. (I had a Fargo moment when I read this.)

Littlejohn has set the stage for the next entries in this series - the settings and descriptions of time and place have given me a solid mental image of the town and surrounding area. Littlejohn makes her home in Colorado - and the details drawn from a personal view add much to the book The supporting cast of characters are well drawn and fleshed out. We get to know the rest of the police force. Finn is the partner forced on Gemma - I enjoyed their banter and struggle to build a functional working relationship. Littlejohn gives Gemma an interesting personal storyline as well. Her partner (and the baby's father) does not make an appearance until the final pages of the book, but we learn of their troubled relationship as the book progresses.

Littlejohn's plotting is quite inventive. There are many suspects to choose from, but she kept me guessing until the last bit of the book. Well done! I really enjoy solving the crime along with the detectives, putting the pieces together as they work through the clues. There's some really great creepy suspense filled scenes as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other cases Littlejohn comes up with for Gemma and the Cedar Springs force. And now that Gemma has a child, it will be interesting to see how she handles being a parent with being a detective

Summary from Goodreads:

"Secrets and lies can’t stay buried forever in Cedar Valley.

In the summer, hikers and campers pack the small Colorado town’s meadows and fields. And in the winter, skiers and snowboarders take over the mountains. Season by season, year after year, time passes and the lies, like the aspens and evergreens that surround the town, take root and spread deep.

Now, someone has uncovered the lies, and it is his murder that continues a chain of events that began almost forty years ago. Detective Gemma Monroe’s investigation takes her from the seedy grounds of a traveling circus to the powerful homes of those who would control Cedar Valley’s future.

Six-months pregnant, with a partner she can’t trust and colleagues who know more than they’re saying, Gemma tracks a killer who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets buried."

My Thoughts:

I just finished this one and am still reeling from how good I found this book to be. This has to be some of the most gorgeous writing that I have found in all of the mysteries and thrillers that I've read so far this year. I found myself highlighting multiple passages as I was reading so that I could go back to them. There were even times that I just had to stop and reread so that I could fully appreciate the author's talent and way with words. What a great reading experience I had from the writing alone. Add in an intense mystery where nothing is as it seems and I was completely hooked by this book. I love when I find a book like this with a new to me author! This looks to be this author's first book which is even more impressive. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!

One of the things that really stood out to me in this book was the main character Gemma Monroe. Gemma is one of those characters that I really enjoyed reading about. She is pregnant and trying to deal with this high profile murder which is enough in itself. But she is also struggling with other issues including her family's past and trust issues with her significant other. It all combined into this intense puzzle that needed to be solved by Gemma while we also watched her to attempt to resolve these personal issues. I'm not even sure that I'm doing this book justice but just believe me when I say that it was so, so good! I was also pleasantly surprised by how creepy I found this book to be at times. The setting of a traveling circus for a murder....clowns....it all combined into a few downright intense scenes. You've got to love a book that not only manages beautiful writing but also then gives you chills a few chapters later. The ending of this book was absolutely perfect in my opinion. I loved it because the author wasn't afraid in the choices that she made with the ending. It just all worked really well for me and I was left so excited about about this author.

Overall, I am so glad that I didn't let this book languish on my e-reader and listened to a recommendation to give it a try! I will definitely be reading more by this author, and I'm especially excited because it looks like this is a beginning to a series. Heck yeah! This is one of those books that keeps you thinking about it for days afterwards. Even now I'm planning on going back and rereading some of my favorite passages that I saved because I can't resist how gorgeous the writing really was. I would highly recommend this book to both suspense/thriller fans and mystery lovers as well. Highly recommended!

Bottom Line: A book that will most likely be on my top reads list this year!

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book thanks to the publisher.

** spoiler alert ** Awww man....this could have been a solid 4 star read for me. Other parts make it a very wobbly 2 star read for me. I'm actually a bit angry as well as disappointed. I don't know how else to rate it except a 3 star...and if I am being honest, the parts that made it a poor read for me rub me so much that I think the 3 stars is being very generous. I'm sorry to the author for having said that, but I always try to be completely honest in my reviews regardless of how bad they might be. Up until that parts that really bothered me, I thought this was an engaging and very well written novel.

I will just quickly go over the things I really found...okay....errrr....stupid...not just stupid but unbelievably stupid...there are only a couple of them really...

**SPOILERS WITHOUT SPOILERS**

I just don't believe any police officer would have someone break into their homes and not report it for several days. Especially if they felt it might be tied to an ongoing murder investigation. I don't buy it and no matter how many people wish to tell me they believe it, I don't. Espcially considering other things about this officer (to mention those things would be giving too much away)...

I also don't believe that not one but TWO police officers know the name of a murderer and withhold that information from their commander. I don't believe that they would want to wait until they had the "full story" to share what they've uncovered. Part of police work is meant to include discussing ongoing cases with other officers and your commander, especially when he is asking you point blank...it's not to hide and withhold evidence so you can come in at the end and have it all solved in a neat package all by yourself.

Lastly, the ending...seriously? I'm not upset with bit players at the end and the whodunit or even the whys (okay, it was all a bit too neat, but I could have lived with that) but I could almost see the scene in the kitchen played out in my mind in some two bit small town production where the actors are meant to overact and to over exaggerate everything almost in an attempt to make fun of the whole thing. Only this wasn't meant to be bad acting or over exaggerating...but it so was...I could almost see someone falling to the floor in a 5 minute long dying scene that the audience can't help but to laugh at...and then the other players say, "oh well, that's all sorted. Time to go home." and just pack up and head offstage left...

yes, to me, it really was that bad!

Why why why?

ARC provided by the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review