Jade Dupree is a beautician and an undertaker's assistant with a gift for smoothing the ravages of death from the faces of her clientele. But her strange talent isn't the only thing that sets her apart from the townspeople of tiny Drexel, Mississippi. Jade is half-black and the unacknowledged bastard daughter of Drexel's "first lady," the imperious Lucille Longier. Jade's half sister, the pale, fragile, and legitimate Marlena, is married to Lucas Bramlett, the wealthiest man in the region. While the entire town knows of the blood bond between the two women, no one dares speak the truth out loud. Though her talents as a hairdresser are highly sought after by Drexel's elite, Jade accepts that she'll never truly be part of the town and lives her life the best she can. But on one hot summer day in 1952, Jade's world is turned inside out when Marlena, on a tryst with her lover, is savagely beaten and her young daughter kidnapped. Determined to find her niece before it's too late, Jade accepts help from a white sheriff's deputy, Frank Kimble. The forbidden attraction that ignites between them threatens to add to the violence already brewing in town. Carolyn Haines has written several acclaimed mysteries, but here she mines much darker, more serious territory, resulting in a suspenseful, lyrical, passionate, and literary crime novel.

Penumbra

Literature & Fiction

HAINES, CAROLYN

Contemporary

Minotaur Books

With the acclaimed novel Penumbra, Carolyn Haines branched out from the cozy Southern mysteries that made her name and moved into more ominous, more literary territory. She continues that exploration of the darker side of the South with Fever Moon. Set in New Iberia, Louisiana, during World War II, Fever Moon begins when Deputy Raymond Thibodeaux discovers Adele Hebert covered in blood and hovering over the brutally eviscerated body of Henri Bastion, a wealthy plantation owner. In the aftermath of the murder, Adele claims to be the loup-garou, a legendary Cajun shape-shifter that traditionally takes the shape of a wolf, and panic ensues in this small town that already has been living under the pressures of wartime rationing and poverty. Raymond is determined to restore order, but to do so he'll have to prove that Adele isn't a murderer or a monster. In this dark and swirling literary thriller, Carolyn Haines tells the story of a town that is caught up in the frenzy of a murder and a killer who feeds its terror to suit his own purposes.

Fever Moon

United States

Southern gal Sarah Booth Delaney packs up her hound dog and her P.I. business and sets off for Hollywood to take a shot at stardom. No stranger to acting, she aces the screen test for a racy remake of the movie Body Heat alongside leading man Graf Miliau. The chemistry between them is undeniable, and why not? Graf has already starred in one of Sarah’s previous affairs and is well on his way to landing a big part in the sequel. Thrilled as Sarah is, her dream come true comes at a price. She has to leave behind her family’s ancestral home in Mississippi, her closest friends, and the possibility of settling down with her longtime love to film on location in Costa Rica. And it’s not long before rivalries flare, mysterious accidents occur, and this leading lady finds herself in some steamy tabloids without turning up in a single frame of film. Carolyn Haines’s Wishbones takes the sultry romance and colorful friendships of this delightfully Southern series and heads out west for a mystery that is as thrilling off camera as it is on.

Wishbones (Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries, No. 8)

It's time for Sarah Booth to pack up her hound dog and her P.I. business and take a shot at stardom! Soon she aces the screen test for a racy remake of the movie Body Heat alongside leading man Graf Miliau. The chemistry between them is undeniable―and why not? Graf has already starred in one of Sarah's previous affairs…and is well on his way to landing a big part in the sequel.
Thrilled as Sarah is to be in Hollywood, her dream-come-true comes at a price. She has to leave behind her family's ancestral home in Mississippi, her closest friends, and the possibility of settling down with her longtime love to film on location in Costa Rica. It's not long before rivalries flare, unexplained accidents occur, and this leading lady mysteriously finds herself in some steamy tabloids…without turning up in a single frame of film.

Wishbones (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

Sarah Booth Delaney, a Southern belle known for abiding by tradition only when it suits her, is no stranger to drama. A talented actress and a P.I., she’s chosen to pursue a career in Hollywood when she hears that her best friend’s husband is suddenly on his deathbed back home in Mississippi---and he's not the only one. The vicious illness begins with burning fevers and delirium, quickly plunging its victims into a coma. The Centers for Disease Control is on the scene, but they can’t find a cure for it or the boll weevils that are decimating Sunflower County’s cotton crop. With patients in quarantine and the whole town in crisis, Sarah drops everything to stop the outbreak and save the only place she’s ever been able to call home. From feuding scientists to ailing locals, there is no shortage of bad blood coursing through the little town of Zinnia, Mississippi, as Carolyn Haines’s often steamy and always charming series turns equally intense in Greedy Bones.

Greedy Bones (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

Sarah is no stranger to drama. So when this talented actress and a P.I. hears that her best friend's husband is suddenly on his deathbed back home, she snaps into "action!" and gets right on the case…
Turns out others in Zinnia, Mississippi, have fallen prey to the illness as well. The folks from the Centers for Disease Control are on the scene, but they can't find a cure for it…or for the boll weevils that are decimating Sunflower County's cotton crop. With patients in quarantine and the whole town in crisis, Sarah will go out on a limb to stop the outbreak―and try to save the only place she's been proud enough to call home.

Sarah Booth always has had a lot on her plate-working as a private investigator and actress, keeping her ancestral home together, searching for the perfect man. If those "real" concerns weren't enough, there's Jitty, a ghost, who's on her case to have a child to continue the family line. Sarah Booth's just about had it...until her friend, Tinkie, convinces her to leave her worldly concerns behind and join her for a vacation. Is there anything a posh spa and cooking school can't cure? 
The pampering and exquisite meals go a long way toward healing Sarah Booth's soul. But it's a corporate beauty pageant/cook-off that really takes her mind off of her woes. All these women, with their posturing and backbiting-they amuse Sarah Booth to no end. But soon the heated competition boils over and the top contender is poisoned. And, lo and behold, Sarah Booth finds herself hired to work on the case. So much for that much-needed R&amp;R...

Bone Appétit (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

In the midst of a cook-off at a posh spa, southern PI Sarah Booth Delaney gets embroiled in a juicy murder in the latest mystery from Carolyn Haines For many years Jitty, Dahlia House’s resident ghost, has dreamed that Sarah Booth Delaney would have a child to inherit the family’s ancestral home. Sarah Booth has always had reservations about being a parent. There was her work as an actress and PI, taking care of the house, not to mention finding the right man. But when Jitty’s dream finally looks like it’s going to come true, Sarah Booth is crushed when it doesn’t. Depressed, unable to act or investigate, Sarah Booth finally allows her best friend to whisk her away for a luxurious weekend vacation at a special spa and cooking school. The pampering and food go a long way toward making her feel like her old self, but there’s another welcome distraction—there’s a beauty contest/cook-off going on to find the spa’s next spokesperson, and watching the drama really takes her mind off of her woes. Sarah finds the backbiting to be great fun—until the heated competition boils over, the top contender is poisoned, and the prime suspect hires Sarah Booth to clear her name. Between swimsuit competitions and soufflés, Sarah Booth Delaney and her best friend and partner, Tinkie, must find out which of the ambitious young ladies is to blame in Bone Appetit, the latest in Carolyn Haines’s delightfully Southern cozy mystery series.

Bone Appétit (Sarah Booth Delaney)

Bones of a Feather: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery

When PI Sarah Booth Delaney and her partner and best friend, Tinkie, take on Monica and Eleanor Levert as clients, they don’t have much hope of solving the case. The wealthy heiresses of Briarcliff in Natchez, Mississippi, claim that a family necklace worth four million dollars has been stolen, and they think that they can hurry the insurance payout if a reputable PI investigates. Sarah Booth has her doubts, and not just about the payout. All of the evidence suggests that the sisters might be committing fraud. But when they have just started scratching the surface on the sordid past of the Levert family and the blood money that all of their wealth was founded upon, Monica goes missing. The police suspect that the heiresses are playing more games, and Eleanor isn’t doing anything to make them think any different. But how can she? If she says or does anything besides pass on the insurance money to the kidnappers, they’ll kill Monica. With a family history that runs deep and dark and a twisting plot where no one is exactly what they seem, Sarah Booth and Tinkie are the Levert sisters' best and only hope in Bones of a Feather, the latest in Carolyn Haines sparkling Southern mystery series.

Despite the wishes of her overprotective fiancé, Sarah Booth Delaney can't give up her detective work, no matter how dangerous it becomes. It's too much a part of her. On this case, avoiding danger might be impossible―she's on the trail of a porn-star-turned-psychic operating from a haunted estate on the edge of town. Medium Sherry Cameron promises to reunite grieving family members with their dearly departed, but it seems vaguely suspicious that Sherry will only accept emotionally vulnerable and tremendously wealthy clients. Aging billionaire Marjorie Littlefield fits the profile perfectly―her daughter died in a tragic accident as a young girl, she's been estranged from her son for decades, and she's planning to leave her considerable inheritance to her cat.
Convinced she's uncovered a scheme to separate a lonely woman from her fortune, Sarah Booth talks her way onto the estate as a maid, where she finds Marjorie and several other wealthy eccentrics ready to commune with the dead. Between chores, Sarah Booth explores the estate, mingles with the other staff…and finds a few dead bodies. But which guest or staff member might be the killer? Even Jitty, Sarah Booth's personal haint, won't tell until Sarah Booth has uncovered all of Sherry's well-kept secrets.
With spooks and charlatans around every corner, Sarah Booth is the only PI in the southlands who can put an end to this elaborate scam in Bonefire of the Vanities, the charming twelfth entry in Carolyn Haines's sparkling series.

Bonefire of the Vanities (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by HAINES, CAROLYN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by HAINES, CAROLYN

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by HAINES, CAROLYN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Penumbra

Fever Moon

Wishbones (Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries, No. 8)

Wishbones (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

Greedy Bones (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

Greedy Bones (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

Bone Appétit (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)

Bone Appétit (Sarah Booth Delaney)

Bones of a Feather: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery

Bonefire of the Vanities (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery)