On Spine of Death

Tess Harrow and her teenage daughter Gertrude are beginning to settle in Winthrop . Their cabin is fixed up, and Tess is renovating the hardware store she inherited from her grandfather into the town’s first independent bookstore. But when they unearth bones from a cold case, the whole town becomes convinced that her grandfather was a serial killer. Tess has no choice but to call in a fellow horror author to help her solve a mystery more than thirty years in the making.

I read the first book in this series (Buried in a Good Book) and thoroughly enjoyed it, and this was the case again! Tess and Gertie’s relationship is a great mix of friendly ribbing and genuine connection. It’s obvious the events of the last book have brought them closer and in this installment, Gertie gets to act more like a real teen than a jaded killjoy (which got a little old after a while last book). Her enthusiasm for forensics and morgue work was an enjoyable throughline (she grew up with a thriller author for a mother who liked to test out her plot ideas, what did Tess expect?) Especially since almost no teen girls in cozies express interest in STEM. Tess and Sheriff Boyd’s relationship deepens too, (but honestly, I’m just not feeling it. Boyd is a nice straight-laced opposite for Tess’ loveable chaos), but it’s not a pairing I could see lasting, even tho I know he’s most likely endgame. (Also call me crazy , but Tess and Adam Peabody have a weirdly charged energy to their scenes together and I would definitely be interested in seeing where that could go. ) While I ended up correctly guessing the killer, it wasn’t because it was obvious, just a feeling they had more to do with it than they were letting on. All in all, a funny read with a genuinely intriguing mystery.

Since the majority of the plot revolves around a book, I crocheted one for my review!