Beastly Bones by William Ritter was published in September of this year.
Here’s what Goodreads has to say about it:
“I’ve found very little about private detective R. F. Jackaby to be standard in the time I’ve known him. Working as his assistant tends to call for a somewhat flexible relationship with reality.”
“In 1892, New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer R. F. Jackaby are called upon to investigate the supernatural.
First, a vicious species of shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens, and a day later, their owner is found murdered with a single mysterious puncture wound. Then in nearby Gad’s Valley, now home to the exiled New Fiddleham police detective Charlie Cane, dinosaur bones from a recent dig mysteriously go missing, and an unidentifiable beast starts attacking animals and people, leaving their mangled bodies behind. Charlie calls on Abigail for help, and soon Abigail and Jackaby are on the hunt for a thief, a monster, and a murderer.”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24001095-beastly-bones
And here’s the review from Kirkus:
“Normal teen and abnormal detective unearth more paranormal mysteries in this fast-paced sequel to Jackaby (2014).
Having (narrowly) survived her first investigation with the energetic and eccentric detective R.F. Jackaby, Abigail Rook eagerly assists with his newest case: Mrs. Beaumont’s chameleomorphs, carnivorous shape-shifters masquerading as scaly kittens, presumed extinct but unexpectedly alive in 19th-century New England. Jackaby plunges into one investigation and then another when the police discover Beaumont dead, but Abigail turns her attention to a third mystery—fossils unearthed in Gad’s Valley. A budding sleuth herself, Abigail still craves her paleontologist father’s approval, and when a body is found near the excavation area and the police send for Jackaby, she gets to combine her passions…and work alongside her crush, exiled police officer/shape-shifter Charlie Cane. Accompanied by Charlie and Jackaby’s mountain-man friend, Hank Hudson, the detectives descend on the dig site, where they encounter such secondary but well-sketched characters as a fame-seeking farmer, arguing academics, and a wisecracking female reporter. As bones go missing—and then small livestock—methodical investigation and scientific experimentation yield to madcap chases, slapstick humor, and romance. Ritter’s blends—fantasy and mystery, action and tension, oddball detective and able sidekick—employ but exceed their stock elements. With one case closed but two unsolved, the well-matched, well-written duo will undoubtedly return to fight a more fearsome foe.
A witty and weird adventure equal parts Sherlock and Three Stooges. (Fantasy. 12-18)”
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-ritter/beastly-bones/
Click HERE to order it from our catalog. Enjoy!
The O'Fallon Public Library News 