The Skeleton Makes a Friend

Leigh Perry

Nov 2018 · The Family Skeleton Mysteries Book 5 · Diversion Books

About this eBook

“Whodunits don’t come much funnier… Fans of offbeat comic mysteries will be richly rewarded.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
Georgia Thackery is feeling pretty good about her summer job teaching at prestigious Overfeld College, and she’s renting a rustic cabin right by a lake for herself, her daughter, Madison, and her best friend, Sid the Skeleton. Together again, the trio are enjoying the quiet when a teenager named Jen shows up looking for her friend. Georgia doesn’t recognize the name, but she learns that the person Jen was looking for is actually Sid.
 
Sid reveals that he and Jen are part of a regular online gaming group that formed locally, and one of their members has gone missing. Sid admits that he might have bragged about his investigative prowess, enough so that Jen wants him to find their missing player. Given that Sid doesn’t have many friends offline—none, really, unless you count the Thackery family—Georgia agrees to help. They manage to discreetly enlist Jen, who lives in town, and follow the clues to... a dead buddy.
 
Now they've got a killer on their hands. Probing the life of Sid's friend, they realize a lot is wrong both on campus and in the seemingly quaint town, and someone doesn't want them looking deeper…
 
“You'll love the adventures of this unexpected mystery-solving duo.”—Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Ratings and reviews

The Skeleton Makes a Friend by Leigh Perry is A Family Skeleton Mystery series. Georgia Thackery along with her daughter, Madison and best friend and skeleton, Sid are spending the summer in Overfeld, New Hampshire. Georgia is teaching a creative writing seminar as part of a high school enrichment program at Overfeld College. The three of them are swimming in the lake when Jen Cater shows up looking for Skalle Beinagrind. Skalle is a gaming friend of Jen’s from Runes of Legend who was bragging about his expertise as a private investigator. One of their fellow players, Erik Bloodaxe has gone missing and Jen wants to enlist Skalle’s help in locating him. Georgia quickly deduces that Jen is looking for Sid (use translator on Skalle Beinagrind). While Sid cannot meet with Jen in person (for obvious reasons), he does want to help locate their fellow player. Sid sifts through the online information on Erik to track down his real world identity. Erik works at Overfeld College, but he has played his last game. Sid and Georgia find him dead and it looks like he has been there for a few days which explains the malodorous stench in the building. The duo uncover problems at the college and the culprit has no intention of stopping his deadly game. Can the duo expose the killer in time? The Skeleton Makes a Friend is a humorous cozy mystery with delightful characters. Sid is one of those characters that you cannot help but love. He is a skeleton with a quirky personality and a zest for life. He has been Georgia’s best friend since she was a little girl (he saved her life at a carnival). Thanks to the advent of Wi-Fi, Sid can now have online friends in addition to the Thackery family. The Thackery’s have come up with creative solutions that allow Sid to go out in the world (the bowling bowl tote bag is ingenious). Madison is back in this tale and she gets involved with the mystery. I just love the interactions between Georgia, Sid and Madison along with their creative curse words. The mystery is complex with misdirection. Readers get clues as Georgia and Sid investigate the victim, suspects and the college. While The Skeleton Makes a Friend is the fifth A Family Skeleton Mystery, it can be read alone. Georgia and Sid’s backstory is provided so new readers will not be lost. I thought The Skeleton Makes a Friend was well-written and plotted with developed characters. The story has smooth transitions and moves along at a brisk pace. I especially appreciate that there are no loose ends at the end of the story except where Georgia will work in the fall. The Skeleton Makes a Friend is a light and lively tale that will tickle your funny bone.

I am so happy to see Sid again! If you haven’t met Sid, he is the Thackery family skeleton. No, not the skeleton in the closet – the skeleton who sometimes lives in the attic! It is summertime now, and Georgia, her daughter Madison, and Sid are in New Hampshire. The characters continue to be fabulous, Sid is as entertaining as ever, and the mystery is unique. Georgia is an adjunct professor, having no permanent teaching position. Sid and Georgia have been best friends since she was six years old. He lived in the attic for many years, and when Georgia and Madison moved back to the family home, he was waiting for them. Sid gets most of his input from online searches, chats, and gaming, but has no real friends other than Georgia, her sister Deborah, and Madison. Georgia is teaching at a high school enrichment program at Overfeld College. She is doing creative writing workshops and enjoying it. Madison spends time at the lake or at the local gaming center. Sid spends his spare time gaming, Runes of Legend being his current favorite. One evening, a teenage girl, Jen, and her mother came to their rental cottage searching for Skalle Beinagrind, a player in Runes who she thinks is a detective. Georgia told her that nobody is there by that name, despite the photo of the lake that matches their view that Skalle had posted. A couple days later, Georgia sees Jen when picking Madison up from Wizard Gary’s Game Store. Jen wants help looking for Erik Bloodaxe, the main player in their group, who has disappeared. Sid and Georgia work together, Sid doing internet investigating to narrow down who Erik might be; he is sure Erik works at Overfeld. The two of them, with Sid in his suitcase, attempt to go to the HR rep’s office when a powerful odor drives them back. Sid went bravely in to find Neil Farmer, AKA Erik Bloodaxe, dead for several days, stabbed with Erik’s sword. Off they go on another investigation. The stakes are higher than ever, as people are involved that they never thought, and there are real clues and fake clues. Sid and Georgia are very well-defined. If I see someone rolling a suitcase down the sidewalk, I might have to call “Sid” just in case – I would enjoy a best friend like him. Georgia is pretty cool herself, as are some of her fellow adjunct profs. Gaming is a whole new language that lost me from the first sentence of acronyms, so Madison and Jen are brilliant to understand them! I always look forward to the new A Family Skeleton Mystery having been hooked from the first one I read. Georgia, Sid, and Madison have so much fun together, and I enjoy the skeleton jokes and expletives (such as coccyx!) This is a challenging mystery to solve! It is so challenging that, especially with the plot twists, I didn’t have any idea who the bad guy was or why. The end was a complete surprise, in more ways than one, and I was very satisfied with the results. Friendship is highly valued in this cozy mystery, and like Georgia, I hadn’t considered how lonely Sid could be. Sid made more than one friend in this novel, learning throughout how friends get along together. Learning more about higher education is enlightening, too! I highly recommend The Skeleton Makes a Friend! From a grateful heart: I received a copy of the e-Arc from the publisher and NetGalley, and this is my honest review.

I havent tried this one yet but what I was wondering is can I order the hard back for my own personal library because this looks like a great idea to find books thank you all for viving me life to learn and grow and explore new Avenue's

About the author

Leigh Perry is the author of the Family Skeleton Series: A Skeleton in the Family, The Skeleton Takes a Bow, The Skeleton Haunts a House, and The Skeleton Paints a Picture.