Song of the Bones

Chantalene Mystery #2

by M.K. Preston

Tetumka, Oklahoma's friendly postmistress, Thelma Patterson, and Chantalene Morrell's surrogate aunt, -retains Drew Sander's legal services-with Chantalene as his assistant. Billy Ray Patterson, the younger man Thelma married thirty years before, disappeared soon -after. And now Thelma needs to find him. An oil company wants to lease Thelma's land for exploration, but Billy Ray's name is still on the property and she needs to clear the title. They assume he's dead, that is until a handsome cowboy claiming to be Billy Ray shows up in Tetumka and moves in with Thelma. After a few days, Thelma is convinced the man living in her house is not her husband.

Meanwhile, Chantalene has problems of her own. -Personal items are missing from her house, and she's haunted by waking dreams of a strange, lost girl she doesn't know. Is she losing her mind? Chantalene has mounting suspicions that someone is stalking her.

Chantalene learns the story of Thelma's once-in-a--lifetime romance with her handsome younger man and follows his cold trail to New Mexico. Once Chantalene comes to the conclusion that the man in Thelma's house is not Billy Ray, but his long-thought-dead brother Donnie Ray, things turn sinister. And the danger is just beginning . . .

Genres: Mystery

300 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2003

About the author

Marcia Preston (M.K. Preston) grew up on a wheat farm in central Oklahoma. From her father she learned the art of storytelling; from her mother, a reverence for books; and from Oklahoma's red earth, a love of wildlife and the outdoors.

Reviews

[Suzanne]

Easy reading; good mystery. This is the kind of book you carry with you so if some waiting time or down time comes along you've got this good, short story to read.
Great book for travelling.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlene Morrell and her boyfriend Drew run the local Attorneys office. Drew the lawyer, and Charlene the office manager. Although madly in love with Drew, Charlene has always wanted a life of adventure and she is in a small town in Oklahoma, where she thinks she will never see any.

All of a sudden her life is turned upside down, her best friends husband returns after being missing for thirty years, or is it the husband? An oil company wants to lease her friends farm, or is it an oil company, a crazy man is stalking her, and she doesn't even know it.

On top of that, when trying to find out about her friends husband, there is an attempted murder on herself, she is hard to kill is Charlene as some one else tries to kill her too! Several murders, kidnapping and stolen monies from times gone by. If that is not enough, Drew's ex wife turns up, and tries to lure him back with a high paying job in New York. Will Charlene live, will she get back Drew, will her friend Thelma be found, and who dun it? Just have to read to find out.

[So-Cal Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent mystery. I have read this author before but certainly read some of her other books.

Set in a small town in Oklahoma, the husband of the postmistress returns after a 28 tear absence. As you might imagine many questions are raised. There are several plot twists and two totally took me by surprise and most others were at least mildly surprising. Bt that I mean I worked out several possible outcomes to a given situation and one was usually right. Never the less the book was a real page turner.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well told. A bit more suspenseful than I like but--could I have read this before, sometime in the last 16 years since its publication? Or is the centerpiece another trope, like having your vehicle forced off the road?

[NK · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this story and the characters. It is a quick read and the 2nd of 2 in a series.

[OMalleycat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Local mystery with a fairly complex plot satisfyingly resolved. The main character, Chantalene Morrel, has lots of backstory as well as current love and work conflicts.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read the first book, but there are explanations as you go along. The only problem is that both first and second books have very complex plots with difficult backgrounds for apparently all the characters. The descriptions of Oklahoma in spring are evocative enough to make you want to book a flight immediately, although I think her lilacs are blooming a bit early. Drew Sanders, the lawyer Chantalene works with, is recovering from a nasty New York divorce, Chantalene was apparently abandoned by everyone in her family, and the postmistress, Thelma Patterson, was abandoned by her young husband more than twenty years ago. Everything would move along smoothly, Drew's office would complete the tax returns for the farmers around, if only an agent of a petroleum company hadn't come around wanting to lease part of Thelma's land, but insisting that her husband must sign the lease, unless someone can prove he is dead. There is also an old man having dreams of a girl who ran off but is haunting him. There is a connection in all this but things have to become much worse before we discover what.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Chantalene Morrell
SETTING: Oklahoma
SERIES: #2 of 2
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Postmistress Thelma Patterson is approached by an oil company looking to lease her land in a small town in Oklahoma. She asks her surrogate niece, Chantalene Morrell and her significant other, attorney drew Sanders to try to find her husband, Billy Ray, shows who disappeared decades earlier. He shows up on his own the next day, but Thelma soon comes to feel that he is not her husband. Chantalene investigates and finds herself in danger; soon there is a death and Thelma is gone. Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award in 2004, I can see why--excellent non-cliched writing. Medium boiled and not cozy, as that award might lead you to expect.

[Marcelle Dube · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed M.K. Preston's Song of the Bones. The premise--a maybe long-lost husband returning maybe to claim half of a valuable property--kept me interested and wondering right up to the end. I love how the author wove otherwordliness into the story--just enough to foster a sense of "cool." Every character felt real, and even the not-so-pleasant characters had reasons for their behaviour. I couldn't wait to get back to the story every time I had to put it down.

I enjoyed this book so much I plan to search out the first one in the series: Perhaps She'll Die. How can you resist a title like that?

[Adaire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mystery. This book is a sequel to Perhaps She'll Die. I liked this book better than the first. I think one of the things I appreciated most was that the author didn't spend a lot of time on the back story. Nothing irritates me more than a sequel that spends half the book explaining what happened in the first book.

[Rod Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun and nostalgic read, with eccentric characters- set in SE Oklahoma not far from where my parents grew up and I attended 8th grade. The main character Chantalene commuted to East Central SU in Ada. My dad and sister graduated there in 1968.