The Skeleton Takes a Bow
By Leigh Perry
After years of hiding in the Thackery family house, Sid the
skeleton is delighted to finally have his moment in the spotlight. He’s
starring in a high school production of Hamlet. Well, not so much starring in
as being a prop. At least part of him has a part—he’s using his head to play
Yorick of “Alas, poor Yorick” fame. Every day, Georgia Thackery’s daughter,
Madison, who’s also in the play, brings in his skull, and every night, she
takes him home...
Until one night when he’s accidentally left at school—and
hears the sounds of someone being murdered. But the next day, there’s no body
and no one seems to be missing.
Sid is not a numbskull—he knows what he heard. Georgia
thinks he imagined it—until a week later when a body is found. Now Georgia and
Sid will both need to keep their heads as they stick their necks out and play
sleuth to catch the conscience of a killer.
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Bio:
I was recently asked why I'd chosen to write a mystery about
an ambulatory skeleton. I replied that it was because of the old adage: Write
what you know. After all, we're all skeletons under the skin. And flesh, and
tendons, and all that other messy stuff. After that, the woman decided not to
ask me any more questions.
Seriously, I'm not sure why I decided to write about a
walking, talking skeleton named Sid. All I remember for sure is that I can
track the idea back to May of 2004. I told my husband about Sid-he was always
named Sid-then wrote a few pages and sent to my beta-reading pals to see if
they thought there was a book in it. All three of them seemed to think it would
work, and I did some initial research and planning, but other projects
intervened and I didn't pick it up again until 2011. That's when I was pitching
ideas for a new series to my agent and editor, and I put together a packet of
eight. Both the agent and editor them zoomed in on Sid's story. I guess they're
skeletons under the skin, too.
As you might guess from the idea of a walking, talking
skeleton, A Skeleton in the Family is a paranormal mystery. I was inspired by
old TV shows like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir to
write about a world that's pretty much like the real one, with one key
difference. In this case: Sid.
This is my first mystery, sort of. Under the name Toni L.P.
Kelner I've published eleven novels and twenty-somthing short stories, and have
co-edited five urban fantasy anthologies with New York Times best seller
Charlaine Harris. I've adopted a pen name because this is a new series, and
because paranormal novels are a departure for me. But it's still me! So if you
like Toni L.P. Kelner's books, you might like the Family Skeleton series, too.
If you don't like Kelner's books, forget I said anything-I never even heard of
that Kelner woman.
Though I was born in Pensacola, FL and raised in Charlotte,
NC, I've been living north of Boston, MA for 26 years or so. I share the house
with my husband, two daughters, two guinea pigs, and a ludicrous selection of
books. While the population of people and guinea pigs remains constant, the number
of books is on an ever-rising curve.
A skeleton instead of a ghost is a great idea. Read both books, loved them.
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