November 13, 2017
This auspicious series debut from Furlong (Peaches and Scream and two other Georgia Peach mysteries) introduces Brynn Callahan, a Marine veteran who did three tours in the Middle East before she and her human remains detection dog, Wilco, were discharged after being injured in an IED explosion. Brynn is now recuperating in Bone Gap, Tenn., the home of her maternal grandparents, who are Irish Travellers, or Pavees, as they call themselves. While rescuing Wilco from a rocky pit in the woods, Brynn discovers the body of a woman with a bullet wound in her temple. After Brynn’s grandmother identifies the victim, Sheriff Frank Pusser asks her and Wilco to help solve the crime. Brynn is trusted by neither the Pavees (because she’s cooperating with the police) nor Bone Gap’s settled residents (because she’s associated with the Pavees). The discovery of a second murder victim raises the stakes. Readers will want to see more of the intrepid Brynn, who must face her personal demons as she tries to find her place in a hostile community. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary Agency.