Book Review: Silver’s Bones by Midge Bubany

Silver’s Bones     
Cal Sheehan #2     
Midge Bubany
North Star Press of St. Cloud, March 2015
ISBN: 978-0-87839-787-7
Trade Paperback

This is a fine, well-put-together story. It is second in what may become a long-running series of detective novels. Chief among the many excellent characters is young county investigator, Cal Sheehan. He’s still finding his way as a member of the county sheriff enforcement unit. His fellow investigator is a cranky and older experienced cop who has just lost the election for sheriff to a woman, Patrice Clinton.

That’s only part of the complex social net the author weaves around the investigator in this sequel to her first novel, The Equalizer. Sheehan is now married to a cop, a widow who comes with two young boys. The book opens with Cal Sheehan just back on duty after his honeymoon when he gets a call from an ex-girlfriend. A skeleton has been unearthed on her property.

The story quickly devolves into a turbulent bog of detection and vandalism, domestic abuse, internal competition and other developing relationships. Cal has to somehow tread a narrow path between rising jealousy on the part of his new wife and proving his abilities as an ace investigator.  Throw in some dysfunctional family members, a fifteen-year-old disappearance and you realize it takes a careful hand to sort it all out in logical and realistic fashion. That Bubany is able to accomplish these tasks with efficiency, dispatch and all while entertaining and keeping readers attached is a tribute. She’s a good writer and we quickly attach to some of the characters.

As readers of this review will already realize, I liked this novel a lot although I’m not happy with the title. It has a few editing problems, but nothing that is deeply disturbing. I was presented with a copy of the novel by the author in exchange for nothing. I should also call attention to the fact that the publisher of Silver’s Bones is also my publisher. Make of that what you will.

Reviewed by Carl Brookins, June 2015.
http://www.carlbrookins.com http://agora2.blogspot.com
The Case of the Purloined Painting, The Case of the Great Train Robbery, Reunion, Red Sky.