The Skeleton Stuffs A Stocking by Leigh Perry

Series: Family Skeleton Mystery, #6
# of Pages: 280
Publication: October 15th, 2019
Source: ARC from Publisher
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Sid is back with a murder that’s sure to send a chill down your spine in Leigh Perry’s festive new mystery. Dr. Georgia Thackery is back at home with her parents after finding a new adjunct position at Bostock College. Everyone is excited for their first family Christmas with nothing to hide. Why? Because Georgia’s daughter Madison is now in the know about Sid, their walking, talking family skeleton. But their Christmas cheer is interrupted when the Thackerys' dog Byron goes missing on a cold December night. When he’s finally found, he has a femur clutched between his jaws, and Georgia and Madison race to apologize to Sid for letting the dog gnaw on him yet again. Except that all of Sid’s bones are present and accounted for. This bone is from somebody else, and when they trace Byron’s trail to an overgrown lot nearby, they find the rest of the skeleton. It’s the normal kind, not moving or telling jokes, and when the police come to take charge, they’re sure it was murder. And one of Georgia’s adjunct friends could be implicated.

I think that it's important to note that I'm a sucker for cozy mysteries. While I didn't discover them until a few years ago, I've now become obsessed with reading as many as I can. When Diversion Books presented me with the opportunity to review a new cozy mystery coming out, I jumped on the opportunity to read it. The Skeleton Stuffs A Stocking is the 6th book in the Family Skeleton Mystery series. Although I have not read the first five books in the series, it was easy to get acclimated to the characters. This installment in the series follows Dr. Georgia Thackery as she moves back home to live with her parents. Accompanying her in this move is her daughter Madison and her skeleton best friend Sid. When Madison finds that their dog has found a skeleton bones she briefly assumes that it belongs to Sid; however, they quickly find that it is an actual human bone connected to a 10 year murder investigation. When Georgia figures out that her colleague could possibly be connected to the murder she makes the decision to investigate with Sid. Diving into the plot of this book was both easy and interesting. With unique characters and fun, quirky dialogue the reader is thrown into a intriguing, quick read.

"You're not asking. I'm offering. In fact, I'm telling. Charles, I want you to promise me that you won't go to the police until I've done everything I can to find out what happened to Rose."

One of the most unique aspects of the book was the cast of characters. I've never read a cozy mystery, let alone any book that features a skeleton as a main character. Sid, Georgia's closest friend, is hilarious and adds a different dynamic to the mystery. Unlike other cozy mystery characters that I have encountered, Sid is able to conduct research without typical human limitations. This makes the plot of the mystery move faster and justifies the characters' ability to find more in-depth information at a faster rate. Sid also serves as a balance to Georgia's character. He calms her down in tense situations and provides her with guidance when needed. One thing that I did notice was the fact that Sid was slightly co-dependent on Georgia. Without having read previous novels in the series, I did not have in-depth insight to how their relationship had affected Georgia's personal/intimate relationships; however, I did get a brief glimpse from Georgia's conversation with her sister Deborah. Georgia did not feel that it was appropriate to be in a relationship without the individual being aware of Sid. This naturally held her back and created an unhealthy dynamic between herself and Sid. Nevertheless, I did see this resolve itself towards the end of the novel.

"Sid can do many things, most of them highly unlikely. In all honesty, his whole existence was the pinnacle of unlikelihood, and the fact that I've known him for most of my life didn't make it any less so."

The plot was intriguing, but faltered a little bit towards the end. I found that following the timeline of events and the research done by Georgia and Sid to be flawless; however, by the time I got to the last 10-15 pages some aspects of the book felt a little too convenient as if the author was attempting to wrap up everyone's storyline with a ribbon and a bow. Unfortunately (without delving into spoilers), the plot becomes relatively confusing and while I was happy for two of the characters, I did feel as though that aspect of the plot should have been explored more and delved into deeper if the author intended to include it in the story. Another flawed plot of the book was the romance between Georgia and another character. This could be skewed on my end because I don't have any prior knowledge from past books. As of this novel, they weren't communicating; however, they were instantaneously in love with each other after a week. It didn't feel realistic. Nevertheless, I did not take this into consideration for my rating due to prior history that these two characters may have had earlier in the series.

"What actually happened was me grabbing him, kissing him, crying, more kissing, and then more crying. He wrapped his arms around me and said, 'I love you, too.'"  

Overall, I thought that this cozy mystery was really good and I look forward to checking out some other books by this author. The characters were amazing and dynamic, I just saw some issues with the plot. If you're looking for a new and intriguing cozy mystery I would recommend checking this out.