Bet Your Bones: A Dinah Pellerin Mystery

Jeanne Matthews
Poisoned Pen Press (2011)
ISBN 9781590589014
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (7/11)


Author Jeanne Matthews has given readers everything they would want in a book: love, mystery, murder and folklore.

Dinah is going to Hawaii to take photographs of her good friend’s wedding. However, when she gets there her friend basically ignores her until she asks her to stand up for her in the wedding.

Claude Ann has been down this road before having been left at the altar. She is sure this is the “one.”  However, what she doesn’t know is that her fiancé is trying to purchase land that is sacred to the locals. In attempts to secure the land, the locals begin threatening the three and the Goddess Pele is mad. The earth rumbles and unexplained accidents happen. Someone has pushed a member of the wedding party into a flow of lava. Everyone’s life is in danger.

Bring in two more lively characters, Marywave and Hank, both religious nuts who quote the Bible every chance they get and condemn anyone who doesn’t agree with them.  Marywave, Hank and Claude Ann’s daughter, is quite sassy for a nine-year-old and Claude Ann can’t stand her. Hank, her ex-husband from college, has found his way to Hawaii and is stalking Claude Ann.

Through her descriptive writing, Matthews is able to make readers feel they are there when all the action is happening. She clearly depicts each person’s hidden agenda and the fear the wedding party feels. She has introduced her characters in a timely manner that is easy to follow.

If you like mysteries, “Bet Your Bones” is the book for you.

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