A Solid Sequel - The Secrets of Bones

TITLE: The Secrets of Bones (Jazz Ramsey #2)
AUTHOR: Kylie Logan
PUBLISHER: Minotaur Books
PUBLISHING DATE: May 5, 2020

FROM GOODREADS: 

Second in a new series from national bestselling author Kylie Logan, The Secrets of Bones is a riveting mystery following Jazz Ramsey as she trains a cadaver dog. 

Assembly Day at St. Catherine's dawns bright and cloudless as professional woman gather from all around Ohio to talk to the schoolgirls about their careers in medicine, at NASA, and as yoga instructors. Administrative assistant Jazz Ramsey is involved herself, giving the girls a taste of her lifelong passion: cadaver dog training. Her adorable new puppy Wally hasn't been certified yet, so she borrows the fully-trained Gus from a friend and hides a few bones in the unused fourth floor of the school for him to find.

The girls are impressed when Gus easily finds the first bone, but for the second Gus seems to have lost the scent, and heads confidently to a part of the floor where Jazz is sure no bones are hidden—at least not any that she's put there. But Gus is a professional, and sure enough, behind a door that shouldn't have been opened in decades, is a human skeleton.

Jazz recognizes the skeleton as Bernadette Quinn, an ex-teacher at the school who'd never returned after one Christmas break, though letters and postcards from her had seemed to indicate there was no cause for worry. But now it seems Bernadette never left the school at all, and her hiding place makes it clear: this was murder.

Bernadette's strident personality means there are a plethora of suspects inside the school and out of it, and as Jazz gets closer to the truth she can't help but wonder if someone might be dogging her footsteps . . .  

MY THOUGHTS: I read the first book in this series last year and was really excited to get my hand's on the sequel.  I was looking forward to learning more about Jazz and getting to know her new cadaver dog in training, Wally.

This installment opens with an assembly day at the Catholic school where Jazz is employed.  A sudden guest cancellation leads Jazz to do an presentation with her cadaver puppy, Wally and a friend's trained dog, Gus.  The presentation is set to take place in the school attic for lack of a better space, and no one suspected that Gus would find an actual decayed body.

So basically we learn that about three years back, one of the teacher's Bernadette Quinn, left under special circumstances and she always wore the cross found on the body.  The police immediately start to suspect Jazz's boss, but Jazz knows that isn't possible.  She she decides to do some of her own detective work to save her boss and find out what really happened to Bernadette.

Now I have to say, while I find this series really enjoyable, I also think it could be described as a cozy series disguised as a procedural novel.  There's really very little about the actual work done with cadaver dogs and I kind of find myself wanting more.  I do enjoy all the characters and can say that in the first book, I was concerns with Jazz's relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Nick.  This book delves into that some more and I'm much more comfortable with where things are heading.  The mystery was satisfying although in the last 20% of the book I was able to see where the resolution was headed.  It did't quell my enjoyment of the story though.

If you are a fan of cozy mysteries, especially ones featuring dogs, then I would recommend this series.  I'm curious to see what the next book brings and hope it delves more into Jazz's father's death, as it has been eluded that there may be something mysterious behind it.

RATING: 4 PAWS