Dr. Bones Mysteries

Bones in the Blackout

Murder in Haunted Cornwall

On the eve of World War II, Dr. Benjamin Bones is at war with himself. While most young men are being sent away to fight the Germans, Ben is chosen to serve on English soil. Ordered to move to wild, beautiful Cornwall, he must trade his posh London office and stylish city life for the tiny village of Birdswing, population 1,221 souls. But leaving his home and shelving his career ambitions aren’t the only sacrifices facing Ben. His unfaithful wife, Penny, is accompanying him to Cornwall in a last-ditch effort to save their marriage. But moments after their arrival, Penny is run down in the street, and Ben is almost fatally injured. And while the villagers assume Penny’s death to be an accident, Ben quickly deduces it was murder.

As he convalesces in Fenton House, which the locals call haunted, Ben meets Birdswing’s eccentric inhabitants. Mr. Gaston, the volunteer air warden, obsessed with defending his remote village against Nazi spies; Mrs. Cobblepot, a thoroughly practical housekeeper who believes in fairies; and Lady Juliet Linton, a prickly, headstrong aristocrat who won’t take no for an answer. While adapting to life during Britain’s War at Home, a time of ration books, victory gardens, bomb shelters, and the Blackout, Ben sets about solving the mystery of Penny’s murder– with a little help from Lady Juliet and the Fenton House ghost.

BONES IN THE BLACKOUT (Dr. Benjamin Bones Mysteries #1) is the first of Emma Jameson’s romantic wartime mystery series. BONES AT THE MANOR HOUSE is book #2. Dr. Bones and Lady Juliet are also featured in BONES TAKES A HOLIDAY,  book #3 in the series.

Bones at the Manor House

Two ghosts troubled Dr. Benjamin Bones. One he feared would never release him. Another he worried might slip away, however much he tightened his grip…

So begins the long-awaited second book in Emma Jameson’s wartime cozy mystery series. Return to Birdswing, a tiny Cornish village, in the bitter winter of 1939 and revisit old friends as they embark on more amateur sleuthing. Lady Juliet is vexed by the return of her ne’er-do-well husband, Ethan Bolivar, while Ben’s obsession with the Fenton House ghost deepens. When a bloodless, naked corpse is discovered in a great house in the nearby village of Barking, Ben and Juliet uncover lies, theft, illicit affairs, and a butler who just might have done it. Brimming with historical details and warm humor, Bones at the Manor House is already being called “worth the wait!”

Bones Takes a Holiday

Holiday Magic in Cornwall

The third book in the Dr. Bones Mystery Series, BONES TAKES A HOLIDAY, is a change-of-pace from the usual whodunit. The holidays in question are Christmas 1939 and Valentine’s Day 1940. The world is at war, and the first of many hard winters has begun. But for Dr. Benjamin Bones and Lady Juliet Linton, love has bloomed amid the fear of an uncertain future.

Part One: Dr. Bones and the Christmas Wish

A few days before Christmas 1939, Dr. Benjamin Bones is in a “Bah, Humbug,” sort of mood. It’s the coldest winter on record, his country is at war, and his love life has run aground. But magic as well as mysteries abound in Cornwall. When Ben makes a bargain with an elfin little man, it leads him to an old woman who longs to make amends–and a chance for Ben to show that certain someone how much he cares.

Part Two: Dr. Bones and the Lost Love Letter

There’s no such thing as privacy in the tiny village of Birdswing. Everywhere Dr. Benjamin Bones turns, someone is spying from a window, listening through a wall, or gossiping over a garden fence. “The birds sing in Birdswing,” says the vicar, Father Cotterill, and in February 1940 this is more true than ever. Waiting for Hitler to make his move and turn this “Phony War” into the real thing, Ben’s fellow villagers are desperate for a distraction. But his blossoming affair with Lady Juliet must remain absolutely secret.

So when a seemingly trifling “case” arises–a love letter misplaced for almost thirty years, still in search of its intended recipient–Ben and Juliet jump at the chance to investigate, simply to steal a bit of time together. But as they try to deliver the letter, they discover two lonely people who might get a second chance at love… through the magic of Cornwall.

NOTE: This book was originally published as two separate novellas: DR. BONES AND THE CHRISTMAS WISH and DR. BONES AND THE LOST LOVE LETTER.

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