Inherit the Bones

In Emily Littlejohn's Inherit the Bones, the first installment in the Gemma Monroe thriller series, this debut would leave you breathless and give you chills. Welcome to Cedar Valley, Colorado, when Gemma Monroe first discovered the body of a circus clown named Reed Tolliver. She's six months pregnant, while her boyfriend's Brody in Alaska as a geological survey. The scene is a bit grisly for that small town, when she talked to her chief, Angel Chavez, and contacted the ME's coroner. From there, things take a bit of a twisted turn for the worse, when they they've learned Reed's real name, who was the missing son of the mayor, who was presumed "dead" three years ago in a fatal waterfall accident.  Now things get a bit dicey, when they talk to the Bellington family about their son's past and what lead him to hide out in the circus. Gemma and her partner, Finn Nowlin, and newest recruit Sam Birdhead, dig up the clues, that might lead to the Woodsman murders thirty years ago of two boys and before then, one lady.  It's up to Gemma to pick up the pieces into this jagged jigsaw puzzle of clues that had gotten astray, when Sam got hit by a car, Gemma and Finn get threatened, and newly discovered evidence had lead them to a shocking truth of hidden family secrets that would leave you chilled to the core in the end.

This was a real terrific thriller mystery debut from Emily Littlejohn. This was compelling and gripping at the same time to give me chills. I cared about Gemma and how she dealt with being alone and pregnant, while Brody was away in Alaska. And I also cared about how her grandmother took her in as her own, when she lost her own parents at a tender young age, even with her step-grandfather. I did find the Bellington family a bit creepy, especially Annika, Nicky's twin sister. I loved the visual settings in Cedar Valley to make it a picturesque small town. This would send you on a emotional roller coaster ride with some highs and lows and loop-de-loops at the side with non-stop action, drama, intrigue and plenty of suspense in this mystery.

Will you be the one to check out Inherit the Bones today?