Bone Appetit: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery

Distinctive characters and a clever cooking background make Haines's 10th Sarah Booth Delaney mystery (after 2009's Greedy Bones) the best yet in this Southern cozy series. Sarah Booth, who's seeking solace after a miscarriage, and her best friend and fellow PI, Tinkie Bellecase Richmond, come to Greenwood, Miss., to attend classes at the Viking Cooking School, but soon get involved in a beauty contest/cook-off and mayhem. The trouble begins when contestant Karrie Kompton bites into a chocolate-covered cockroach. Next, Babs Lafitte falls to the stage and goes into convulsions. After Brook Oniada suffers fatal burns during her flaming baton routine and Janet Menton dies after eating poisoned pastry, suspicion falls on Janet's roommate, Hedy Lamarr Blackledge, who hires Sarah and Tinkie to clear her name. Sarah's ever-entertaining ghost companion, Jitty, provides support as Sarah winds up finding the crazed beauty contest gone bad a blessing in disguise. (July)