Review: Bone to Pick by TA Moore

Title: Bone to Pick

Author: TA Moore

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Length: 240 Pages

Category: Mystery/Suspense

At a Glance: TA Moore brings readers a solid, well written, suspenseful mystery in Bone to Pick. The plot is multi-layered and peppered with suspicious characters who had me fooled almost to the very end.

Reviewed By: Maryann

Blurb: Cloister Witte is a man with a dark past and a cute dog. He’s happy to talk about the dog all day, but after growing up in the shadow of a missing brother, a deadbeat dad, and a criminal stepfather, he’d rather leave the past back in Montana. These days he’s a K-9 officer in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and pays a tithe to his ghosts by doing what no one was able to do for his brother—find the missing and bring them home.

He’s good at solving difficult mysteries. The dog is even better.

This time the missing person is a ten-year-old boy who walked into the woods in the middle of the night and didn’t come back. With the antagonistic help of distractingly handsome FBI agent Javi Merlo, it quickly becomes clear that Drew Hartley didn’t run away. He was taken, and the evidence implies he’s not the kidnapper’s first victim. As the search intensifies, old grudges and tragedies are pulled into the light of day. But with each clue they uncover, it looks less and less likely that Drew will be found alive.

Review: Deputy Cloister Witte doesn’t want to be a hero. His main goal is to work with his K9 partner and good companion, Bourneville, and to help find missing persons. When ten-year-old Drew Hartley disappears, Drew’s older brother, Billy, feels guilty and faces the blame for the disappearance. Cloister, having a similar experience, and having a special connection with kids and dogs, knows what Billy is going through.

FBI Agent Javi Merlo has his own issues: he’s somewhat closeted and looking for a promotion within the FBI. Javi has also had his own taste of failure; it was his mentor, Saul, who helped him get back on track. And the missing boy, Drew? He happens to be the grandson of the deceased Saul, which adds extra pressure to Javi wanting to solve this case. He’s had a run-in with Cloister before—they’re like oil and water. Javi is always quick to criticize Cloister and Bourneville, but no matter how irritating Javi is, Cloister and Bourneville come through, which even uncovers some mysteries from the past. Javi also has to face the fact that Cloister has a better connection to the people, even if Cloister doesn’t think so. With them both fighting an odd attraction, they must find a way to at least tolerate each other and work together to find this lost boy.

TA Moore brings readers a solid, well written, suspenseful mystery in Bone to Pick. The plot is multi-layered and peppered with suspicious characters who had me fooled almost to the very end. I was impressed with Bourneville and the K9’s role in the storyline—he really stole the show. Cloister and Javi are definitely opposite characters with some intriguing events in their backgrounds that certainly can be expanded on. As the book doesn’t end in an HEA, I’m looking forward to a sequel.

You can buy Bone to Pick here:
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