ARC Review: The Secrets of Bones by Kylie Logan

The Secrets of Bones
Author: Kylie Logan
Series: A Jazz Ramsey Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 5, 2020)

Description: Second in a new series from national bestselling author Kylie Logan, The Secrets of Bones is a riveting mystery following Jazz Ramsey as she trains a cadaver dog.

Assembly Day at St. Catherine’s dawns bright and cloudless as professional woman gather from all around Ohio to talk to the schoolgirls about their careers ranging from medicine, to NASA, to yoga. Jazz Ramsey has also signed up to give the girls a taste of her lifelong passion: cadaver dog training. Her adorable new puppy Wally hasn’t been certified yet, so she borrows the fully-trained Gus from a friend and hides a few bones in the unused fourth floor of the school for him to find.

The girls are impressed when Gus easily finds the first bone, but then Gus heads confidently to a part of the floor where Jazz is sure no bones are hidden―at least not any that she’s put there. But Gus is a professional, and sure enough, behind a door that no one has opened in ages, is a human skeleton. Jazz recognizes the necklace the skeleton is wearing, and that it belonged to Bernadette Quinn, an ex-teacher at the school who’d quit her job abruptly one Christmas break. But now it seems Bernadette never left the school at all, and her hiding place makes it clear: this was murder.

Bernadette in life had been a difficult personality, and so there are a plethora of suspects inside the school and out of it. As Jazz gets closer to the truth she can’t help but wonder if someone might be dogging her footsteps...

My Thoughts: Jazz Ramsey is a school secretary at an exclusive Catholic girls's school in Cleveland. Her hobby is training cadaver dogs. Since she is currently training a new puppy named Wally, she borrows a retired cadaver dog from a friend when she is suddenly brought in as a substitute for a no-show at the school's career day. They go up to the unused fourth floor of the school for their demonstration when the dog finds something Jazz had not previously hidden.

Gus finds bones in a closet that housed the old heating system. Clothing on the body seems to indicate that the victim was a former teacher who had problems with students and other faculty and who was in danger of being fired. Most of the staff was relieved when a resignation letter arrived at the end of Christmas Break three years earlier.

Now Jazz is determined to find out who killed Bernadette Quinn. She doesn't want to suspect her boss Sister Eileen but Eileen did argue with Bernadette before Christmas Break and who was worried about Quinn suing the school. Of course, the killers could have been three students who delighted in tormenting the very religious teacher. Or maybe the parent of the girl Quinn discovered plagiarizing her college admittance letter. Or maybe the mysterious man the cleaning lady saw around the school. Or maybe the cousin who seems to have taken over her life and home.

I liked that Jazz was persistent and curious. I liked that she was working on her relationship with police officer Nick after a break up because they were moving too fast and were having trouble working around their demanding jobs and hobbies. I liked her relationship with her new puppy Wally and the information about search and rescue dogs and cadaver dogs.

The story was fast-paced and exciting.

Favorite Quote:

It wasn't until they were gone that Jazz wiped her suddenly sweating palms against the legs of hr pants and crossed the room to where Gus waited.

Not a squirrel.

Not a raccoon.

Not a dead rat.

Gus knew better than to signal on an animal.

Gus had been trained to detect only one scent.

Human death.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Edelweiss. You can buy your copy here.