I had read and enjoyed some of the early titles in the Rafferty and Llewellyn series by Geraldine Evans, so I was happy to be offered an ARC of the most recent title in the series, Game of Bones, in exchange for my honest review. As it turns out, I enjoyed catching up with that seemingly mismatched pair of detectives. And not having read some of the books in the middle of the series didn’t really impair my enjoyment of this one - although the mind boggles at Rafferty with a baby daughter…

Police procedurals are one of my favorite types of mysteries, and this turns out to be a nice example of that sub-genre. I especially enjoyed the byplay between Rafferty and Llewellyn, which was pretty consistent with the earlier books I had read. Since I’ve spent way too many years in various universities, I also enjoyed the town/gown tensions that inject themselves into the story. And, it was just fun watching Rafferty and Llewellyn go down various paths, get elated or dejected as they did or didn’t work out, and then see things get neatly tied up in the end.

There is also a nice little twist (without being too spoilerish) at the end that gives Evans a chance to riff on traditionally published vs self-published authors, which I thought was kind of fun – and apt.

All-in-all, I liked Game of Bones a lot and hope that more titles in the series are coming. And I’ll probably go back and try to pick up some of the in-between titles that I haven’t read. It’s probably worth noting that the first title in the series, Dead before Mourning, seems to be a perma-freebie at many e-book retailers, so if you read e-books, you can try the series out for free. And most of the books in the series are pretty reasonably priced anyway.

My thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. And also please keep in mind that I try to fight “star-inflation” a little bit. I reserve 5 stars for a very few of my most favorite books, ones I’m likely to read and reread time-and-again, and 4 stars is a great rating from me.

Game of Bones is a great mystery with fantastic characters. It is well written and has well developed characters.

I really enjoyed this book which is sort of a combination police procedural/traditional/cozy mystery. A few years ago I read and enjoyed some of the earlier books in the series and I can see that the characters have developed further. I enjoy the relationship between the two detectives, the references to their families, and especially enjoy Rafferty’s “ma”, even though she’s a pretty minor character. The story flows well, there is subtle humor, the plotting is good and the writing is well done. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy a mystery without a lot of violence, and gore.

I'm happy I requested this ARC because I discovered a new to me entertaining and well written series.
I liked the well crafted plot, the fleshed out cast of characters and the setting.
I look forward to reading other books in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.