Inherit the Bones by Emily Littlejohn

Inherit the Bones (Detective Gemma Monroe Novels, #1)

by Emily Littlejohn

Secrets and lies can't stay buried forever in Cedar Valley. In the summer, hikers and campers pack the small Colorado town's meadows and fields. And in the winter, skiers and snowboarders take over the mountains. Season by season, year after year, time passes and the lies, like the aspens and evergreens that surround the town, take root and spread deep. Now, someone has uncovered the lies, and it is his murder that continues a chain of events that began almost forty years ago. Detective Gemma Monroe's investigation takes her from the seedy grounds of a traveling circus to the powerful homes of those who would control Cedar Valley's future. Six-months pregnant, with a partner she can't trust and colleagues who know more than they're saying, Gemma tracks a killer who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets buried. Beautifully written with a riveting plot and a richly drawn cast of characters, Inherit the Bones is a mesmerizing debut from Emily Littlejohn.

Reviewed by dpfaef on

3 of 5 stars

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In Emily Littlejohn's debt novel we are introduced to Gemma Monroe, a pregnant police detective. A clown with a traveling circus that has stopped in Gemma's Colorado mountain town turns up dead. This death unleashes Gemma's nightmare's about the bones she found of two boys who died over thirty years ago, how does the death of the clown tie to what Gemma found three years ago? Gemma's dogged persistence makes for a well tuned police procedural. The book is well-written and plotted, there is an ease between the characters that works well.

I look forward to her second novel, A Season to Lie due out later this year.




This review was originally posted on The Pfaeffle Journal

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  • Started reading
  • 20 February, 2017: Finished reading
  • 20 February, 2017: Reviewed