Rock-a-Bye Bones

The appearance of a newborn baby girl on private eye Sarah Booth Delaney’s doorstep early one morning kicks off Haines’s busy 16th cozy set in Zinnia, Miss. (after 2015’s Bone to Be Wild). Sarah’s fellow detective, Tinkie Richmond, offers to care for the baby until the mother is found, but the search for the mother becomes a search for a killer as well after the young man who delivered the baby to Sarah turns up murdered. Meanwhile, Tinkie names the baby Libby and buys her clothes and equipment worthy of a princess. Predictably, Sarah is concerned about what Tinkie’s response will be when—and if—Libby’s mother is located. Sarah’s three suitors are soon involved in the excitement, and her ghostly friend, Jitty, keeps reminding her that she isn’t getting younger. Is it possible Sarah will finally choose one of her beaux? Readers will worry whether Sarah and company can survive all the trouble they get into. It’s a huge relief when they do. [em]Agent: Marian Young, Young Agency. (May) [/em]