Beastly Bones by Wiliam Ritter

Summary (from Goodreads):

“I’ve found very little about private detective R. F. Jackaby to be standard in the time I’ve known him. Working as his assistant tends to call for a somewhat flexible relationship with reality.”

In 1892, New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer R. F. Jackaby are called upon to investigate the supernatural.

First, a vicious species of shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens, and a day later, their owner is found murdered with a single mysterious puncture wound. Then in nearby Gad’s Valley, now home to the exiled New Fiddleham police detective Charlie Cane, dinosaur bones from a recent dig mysteriously go missing, and an unidentifiable beast starts attacking animals and people, leaving their mangled bodies behind. Charlie calls on Abigail for help, and soon Abigail and Jackaby are on the hunt for a thief, a monster, and a murderer.

Review:

Reading this book was like eating a particularly good chocolate truffle. So wonderfully smooth, and rich, and sweet. My only problem is I want a whole box of chocolates now. And I have a feeling I will have a long wait for the next installment. And I do hope for many installments.

I’m so glad I listened to people and read Jackaby (book 1 of this series). In some ways this sequel was less intense than book 1. It’s mostly accepted (by any of the characters who matter) that the supernatural is real. So, in some regard, the stakes aren’t as high. Jackaby and Ms. Rook know the right people will believe them. They are even approached by the notorious non-believer from book 1 to work on the new case.

However, the mystery feels a lot more dangerous than the previous one. The new case involves stolen dinosaur bones from a dinosaur dig! The bodies and the destroyed livestock create a very dark atmosphere. Oh, and there’s all kinds of strange mythological creatures to learn about and see. There’s battling scientists, kindly farmers, supernatural hunters, and more dead bodies. There’s a lot of new characters. There’s the return of my favorite characters from book 1 (aka: Jenny, the ghost and Charlie, the police detective). Also, there is just so much fun, sassy, dialog between Jackaby and Ms. Rook.

Jackaby is the supernatural version of Sherlock and Ms. Rook is just as good, if not better than the standard Watson. The mystery, the creatures, and the setting make for a fun story. And the amazing characters and excellent, snarky writing style make this just an excellent book, period.

I loved the crush that is more developed between Ms. Rook and Charlie. I love that she gets advice from all of her acquaintances. While the most awkward, I loved the advice Jackaby gives about matters of the heart. He also just says some of the most astute, wise comments sometimes that make me step back and re-read. This book is very quotable. Though, I don’t really like to quote ARC’s, I have to this one time. In a discussion of failure, Jackaby tells Ms. Rook, “-the greatest figures in history are never the ones who avoid failure, but those who march chin-up through countless failures, one after the next, until they come upon the occasional victory” (266).

I loved this book. I give it a 10/10. And I cannot wait to see what happens next to these favorite characters of mine.