Sarah Booth Delaney Books In Order

Publication Order of Sarah Booth Delaney Books

Sarah Booth Delaney is a southern belle and fallen daddy’s girl who has no job or husband and north of thirty, and at the start of the series, finds herself about to lose the family’s plantation, Dahlia House, located in the fictional town of Zinnia, Mississippi, which is located in the Mississippi Delta. She is also an orphan, the last in the line of Delaney’s and an only child; with her social credentials, she still has no money. She goes from southern belle and former daddy’s girl to a private detective, very unladylike territory for Sarah to be in. She has not done like most ladies do and get married and have kids; she has tried to be her own person, to stand on her own two feet, not rely on a man to get her out of her bad situations. Becoming a private investigator is what winds up saving the family plantation.

On the plantation is the ghost of her great-great grandmother’s nanny and former slave, Jitty, she is the one who gave Sarah the idea to kidnap the dog of her friend, as well as reminding her that she needs to quickly have kids before time runs out. The ghost is giving Sarah ideas or her opinion on certain things and appears in different clothes depending on the situation, she is quite the snappy dresser.
“Them Bones” by Carolyn Haines, the first book in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries, was released in 1999, and Haines’ debut novel. Southern lady Sarah Booth Delaney is hired to solve a murder. She has to figure out if Hamilton Garrett V and his sibling killed their mother and father two decades ago or not. The father was a leading citizen in the town. Sarah, in a moment of desperation to make some quick money, ransoms her friend’s valuable yorkie to pay the mortgage on the property. It is this friend that also asks her to look into the murder. Through no fault of her own, she becomes a suspect of another murder that pops up, after she starts digging into what happened to Hamilton’s parents. Bodies start to drop once she takes on the case, as well. He is a love interest for Sarah, as is another man that wants to help her out of her money problems. Some reviewers have said that this book contains a love interest for Sarah, Hamilton, that is like one Janet Evanovich would write into one of her Stephanie Plum novels, the book has a few funny moments found in it, the book is well written, and the social commentary that the book has in it was praised. The characterization and setting have also drawn praise; readers have felt like they get whisked away to Zinnia, Mississippi every time they read a book from the series. Fans of the Stephanie Plum series will enjoy these books too. One reviewer found the striving to be an individual and break away from fixed gender roles depicted in the book, as well as unflattering details that come to light about a society living person was more interesting than the criminals in the novel. It’s been called a fun mystery with southern sass, and it features a good twist that you won’t see coming. Someone has criticized the fact that some of the women in the book are alcoholics and over-eaters and seem to be air headed. Another person was critical of the fact that the book was weak on plot. “Buried Bones” by author Carolyn Haines, the second book in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries, was released in 2000. This one picks up after the work Sarah did in the first book to save Dahlia House. She still is living there as is Jitty, who is trying to save her from becoming a spinster. A dinner party thrown by Lawrence Ambrose, a man who made a name for himself writing southern letters and world traveler, is trying to make a comeback, with the help of an ex-model to write a tell-all with him. He is so sure that it will be huge he tells his dinner guests that the book will shed light on all the dirtiest and darkest secrets the town of Zinnia. All the guests have secrets and want to keep them hidden; he does not realize that they do not mind killing to keep their secrets buried. Each person who attended the dinner is a suspect in the case. The next morning, the biography’s gone and there is a corpse. Sarah Booth takes the case to try to find out what happened; she has to be careful before she joins the dead person. Her love life is still on rocky ground, the man she is with runs hot and cold. At one moment giving her a dog and the next, he’s shutting her off. He was once a gentleman and has now become something ugly. Praise has been given to this book for it’s atmosphere, likable characters that are well drawn, especially the lead, the ghost of Jitty because of her ability to make readers laugh, and Carolyn’s ability to leave the audience guessing on who the killer is until she’s ready to say who it is. Some reviewers have criticized the fact that Lawrence Ambrose is not developed more and there is more focus on Sarah talking about the color of people’s eyes. The reviewers critical of this book think that she dumbs down her talent to appeal to more readers. Readers have compared Sarah to Sharon McCone.

She never marries in the later books; Sarah does have a fiance by the fourteenth book, but it winds up not working out and they end it. The author has said she does not want Sarah to get married as she does not see that her character is able to juggle a career and family, including in the family is kids. The series has won some awards. Two of which include top five mysteries of 2004 by Library Journal for “Hallowed Bones”, the fifth entry in the series, and Best Amateur Sleuth.

One Response to “Sarah Booth Delaney”

1. Judy: 12 months ago

   I love every one of these books, some better than others but I have read every one except the newest one, Tell Tale Bones.

   Reply