Book 1

Reading the Bones

by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Published 1 January 2008

Due to circumstances beyond her control, 12-year-old Peggy Henderson has to move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, British Columbia, to live with her aunt and uncle. Without a father and separated from her mother, who's looking for work, Peggy feels her unhappiness increasing until the day she and her uncle start digging a pond in the backyard and she realizes the rock she's been trying to pry from the ground is really a human skull.

Peggy eventually learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, a woman named Eddy, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can -- by reading the bones.

As life with her aunt becomes more and more unbearable, Peggy looks to the old Salish man from the past for help and answers.


Book 3

Bone Deep

by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Published 29 October 2014

An expedition to investigate an old sunken ship teaches Peggy lessons about herself.

When archaeologists discover a two-hundred-year-old shipwreck, Peggy Henderson decides she'll do whatever it takes to take part in the expedition. But first she needs to convince her mom to let her go, and to pay for scuba diving lessons. To complicate matters even more, Peggy's Great Aunt Beatrix comes to stay, and she's bent on changing Peggy from a twelve-year-old adventure-seeking tomboy to a proper young lady. Help comes in the most unlikely of places when Peggy gets her hands on a copy of the captain's log from the doomed ship, which holds the key to navigating stormy relationships.


Book 4

A Bone to Pick

by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Published 21 November 2015
Peggy is off to a Viking site in North America where she unearths the remains of a brave young warrior.



It's a dream come true for Peggy Henderson when her friend, Dr. Edwina McKay, lets her tag along to the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows National Park in Newfoundland, where Dr. McKay will be teaching archaeology field school for the summer. Peggy already knows a lot about archaeology - having been on three previous excavations - but does she need to brag about it so much? After alienating herself from the other students with her know-it-all attitude, Peggy accidentally discovers a Viking burial cairn. The students and archaeologists are ecstatic. But when it comes time to excavate, she's banned from participating in the dig. Will Peggy's trip to Newfoundland end just as badly as the Vikings' did? She's afraid it will - that is until she learns an unexpected lesson from a Viking warrior.

Book 4


Broken Bones

by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Published 1 January 2011
A vandalized burial in an abandoned pioneer cemetery brings 12-year-old Peggy Henderson and her elderly archaeologist friend Eddy to Golden, British Columbia, to excavate. The town dates back to the 1880s when most of the citizens were tough and rowdy miners and railway workers who rarely died of old age. Since the wooden burial markers disintegrated long ago, Peggy and Eddy have no way of knowing the dead mans identity. But when Eddy discovers the vertebrae at the base of the skull are crushed, a sure sign the cause of death was hanging, they have their first clue. Peggy's tendency to make quick judgments about others leads her to the conclusion that only bad people are hanged, so the man in the burial must have gotten what he deserved. Hoping to learn more about him that proves her beliefs, she is soon digging through dusty old newspapers at the small-town museum. It's there that Peggy learns that sometimes good people do bad things.

This four-book bundle collects the adventures of twelve-year-old adventurer and bone expert Peggy Henderson. Includes: Reading the Bones - #1 Circumstances beyond her control make Peggy move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, B.C. to live with her aunt and uncle. She learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5,000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can ... by reading the bones. Broken Bones - #2 A vandalized burial in an abandoned pioneer cemetery brings Peggy and her elderly archaeologist friend Eddy to Golden, British Columbia, to excavate. Since the wooden burial markers disintegrated long ago, Peggy and Eddy have no way of knowing the dead man's identity. But when Eddy discovers the vertebrae at the base of the skull are crushed, a sure sign the cause of death was hanging, they have their first clue. Bone Deep - #3 When archaeologists discover a two-hundred-year-old shipwreck, Peggy decides she'll do whatever it takes to take part in the expedition. But first she needs to convince her mom to let her go, and to pay for scuba diving lessons. To complicate matters even more, Peggy's Great Aunt Beatrix comes to stay, and she's bent on changing Peggy from a twelve-year-old adventure-seeking tomboy to a proper young lady. Help comes in the most unlikely of places when Peggy gets her hands on a copy of the captain's log from the doomed ship, which holds the key to navigating stormy relationships. A Bone to Pick - #4 When Peggy finds her way into an archaeological dig on the coast of Newfoundland, she discovers a long-lost gravesite while wandering the grassy hills. But will her attitude keep her from participating in the excavation of a brave Viking girl?