“The Skeleton Takes a Bow” by Leigh Perry

 

Book Cover - The Skeleton Takes a Bow

“The Skeleton Takes a Bow” is the second entry in Leigh Perry’s series featuring Georgia Thackery and her very own skeleton, Sid. Sid has been Georgia’s best friend since she was a little girl and as long as she’s known him, he’s been a skeleton. Adult, clackety, walking, talking, intelligent, able to separate head from body, and with a somewhat mysterious past. Yup, just the qualities you’d want a best friend to have.

 

Georgia’s daughter, Madison, is in the bare bones high school production of “Hamlet” and needs help with props. Sid, being the ham that he is, is more than happy to comply and step in as Yorick. Nobody outside the family knows that the ‘alive’ Sid exists, except for the occasional Halloween or Manga/anime outing, so Sid’s skull will be transported back and forth in a bowling bag. The plot thickens when Madison accidentally leaves him at school and while Sid is waiting in the auditorium to be picked up, he hears a murder being committed. 

 

Problem is, there is no body and no evidence left at the scene – the very public school auditorium. Georgia believes Sid’s story, but what can she do? Sid can’t call the police and report the crime; Georgia can’t call it in from her home phone. How would she explain knowing about the murder?

 

So, you guessed it – they have to figure out who disposed of the body so that the police will have something to go on. What happens as “The Skeleton Takes a Bow” unfolds, places everyone in Georgia’s circle in jeopardy at one time or another while multiple suspects are revealed and ruled out. Sneaky professors, gossipy colleagues, slimy parents – nobody is left out of the “Whodunit?” possibilities. Another murder is discovered and the mixups and misunderstandings multiply.

 

Cool new characteristics of this original character, Sid-the-computer-skilled-skeleton, are introduced. With Madison’s help, he learns how to manipulate his bones more effectively with hilarious results for the plot. Sid still hides when outsiders show up at the house and is probably the biggest eavesdropper on the planet, but we love his protective interference. 

 

As in “A Skeleton in the Family,” Perry explores the serious side of the life of an adjunct professor. In a cost-cutting move over the years, colleges have employed more adjuncts and it has become harder to move into tenured positions that provide benefits and living-wage salaries. Not knowing whether or not there will be a job the next semester, or whether the family has to move again, is a constant worry in the back of Georgia’s mind.

 

Not to give too much away, but another subplot addresses a very real problem facing colleges today and a scam that has been around for decades. Georgia stumbles upon the wrongdoing and doesn’t want an old friend to be implicated, but as the subplots overlap, life gets complicated for everyone.

 

Relationships within the family are developed in “The Skeleton Takes a Bow,” and as we get to know this very likable group of people, we can’t wait to see what they will do together next. Thoroughly entertaining read!

 

Read the review of “A Skeleton in the Family” here.

 

Please visit www.leighperryauthor.com for information about Ms. Perry, Sid and her future projects.

 

 

 

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