Beastly Bones by William Ritter

I've found very little about private detective R. F. Jackaby to be standard in the time I've known him. Working as his assistant tends to call for a somewhat flexible relationship with reality . . .

In 1892, New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, are called upon to investigate the supernatural. First, members of a particularly vicious species of shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens. A day later, their owner is found murdered, with a single mysterious puncture wound to her neck. Then, in nearby Gad's Valley, dinosaur bones from a recent dig go missing, and an unidentifiable beast attacks animals and people, leaving their mangled bodies behind. Policeman Charlie Cane, exiled from New Fiddleham to the valley, calls on Abigail for help, and soon Abigail and Jackaby are on the hunt for a thief, a monster, and a murderer. @goodreads 

MY REVIEW:

4 STARS 

This book was just as funny as the first one. I really love Jackaby. Well, I also love Miss Rook, Jenny and Douglas.

Jackaby is like Sherlock but with fantasy and paranormal. Can you image for real?



Jenny, the ghost and Douglas the mallard are in the book again, although, they don't have big parts like they did the first time around. But I have a feeling they will in the next book.



I mean the book just starts right out of the bat. Jackaby and Miss Rook go over to a Mrs. Beaumont's to see what's going on with her -uh- kittens, yeah, kittens.

Mrs. Beaumont led us to a small alcove at the rear of the room. Within the recess were a pile of blankets, a little pink collar with a bell on the front, and a set of silver bowls perched on white doilies. In one bowl was a bit of what looked to be leftover tuna, and in the other were water, a great deal of cat hair, and a live fish. The fish circled uncomfortably, being nearly as wide as the bowl itself.

Jackaby squatted, resting his forearms on his knees and staring into the water. He watched the fish take a few cramped laps, studying its movements, and then he plucked a bit of damp cat hair from the rim, sniffed it, tasted it, and tucked it into a pocket somewhere in the depths of his coat.

I could sit here all day and add excerpts, there are just too many.

Jackaby and Rook have some different cases they are working. They have to figure out what to do with these shape-shifters.

There are some dinosaur bones found on someone's land but there is something strange going on, they start to find scales and dead bodies.

There is a mysterious man around. Jackaby thinks there is a vampire around but the local copper isn't happy with that answer.

There are some things going on with ghost Jenny and it sounds like the next book is going to be about the crew trying to solve her case. It may also have something to do with the mysterious man that has been hanging around . . . .

I love what the culprit is that is causing havoc out at the farm where the bones are located. I don't love that one of the nice peeps gets killed because of said culprit. There were a few people getting killed but this one I really liked.

There are a few funny characters added to this book as well.

I really enjoyed this book and I feel that the entire series is going to be awesome. It's just too freaking funny with paranormal thrown in the mix!

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1970904790