4 ½ stars
I absolutely love this series, the books are getting better and better as they go along. The characters are so great starting with Georgia the main character and narrator then the skeleton himself Sid rounded out by Georgia’s daughter Madison. They form such a perfect family, even though Sid is Georgia’s BFF not significant other. Jen is the guest character that made this book come alive for me. The socially awkward gamer girl fits so well into the nerd family of Georgia, Sid, and Madison. I had no idea until very late in the book that Ridley was the killer/arsonist/forger, but the motive makes perfect sense.



Another thing I love about Sid, how an inanimate object expresses emotion.

He gave me an aggravated look, which isn’t easy with a bare skull.

“Can you smell that?” I whispered. Of course, it made no sense that Sid could smell, since he had neither nose nor nerve endings, but he insisted that he could, in fact, smell, so who was I to argue?

There are lines like this all through the text, which highlight how human-like Sid is.

Cozies Reading Challenge

[b:The Skeleton Makes a Friend|39289071|The Skeleton Makes a Friend (Family Skeleton Mystery #5)|Leigh Perry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1540090334l/39289071._SY75_.jpg|60857873] ( )

2020 list, mystery, cozy mystery, murder, adult, family, relationships, teaching, universities, skeletons, paranormal, massachusetts ( )

I always look forward to the next installment in the Family Skeleton series, more so this year when The Skeleton Makes a Friend soothed me in the cacophony of voter suppression efforts and election news. Invariably, I enjoy the returning characters, new characters, and plot. I love the Perry manages to have a cozy that is so topical and includes geek culture. ( )

This creatively written cozy mystery swept me up and carried me away, through lots of danger with plenty of suspects that kept me guessing while I laughed my way through it, step by step, with fabulously funny characters and dialogue. ( )

Um. I love this series with a passion bordering on fangirl.

Despite this, I have, for some reason, never felt inclined to write, or been able to formulate, a review for any of these books.

Come to think of it, I find this happens often with books I love beyond all reason.

Maybe because I feel like no review could ever do the books justice?

Or, I feel like somehow their magic may dissipate if I share my passion for them with the world?

Or maybe it's simply the fact that everything I say about them will sound trite and boring ("great characters, great world, great writing, great editing, well-thought-out story") because there is nothing wrong with them?

Or, perhaps I fear that thinking about the book too critically will expose some flaw I missed in the past that will ruin the book for me, like when I reread Harriet the Spy (a childhood favorite) after twenty years and realized I despised it. Books are like friends to me, and so realizing you no longer like them or can relate to them is a little sad.

Whatever the reason, a little bit of weirdness has finally coaxed me into writing something up about with this series.

First, though, I want to talk about why I love these books so much:

- Consistent in their quality

- Protagonist is actually a strong woman (I could write a whole separate post on the issues I have with "strong" women these days, especially in the young adult genre, but I digress)

- Character growth is believable and healthy

- Personalities feel genuine in their identities, quirks, and faults, which makes them feel real instead of like cardboard cutouts of personality types with superficial attributes that were assigned to them in a Scrivener file that the author is constantly referencing

- Mysteries tend to happen around real-life issues that are relevant to society today (examples include lgbtqia+, online art theft, plagiarism, sexual harassment, ethics in academia, prescription drug abuse, SAT cheating, and internet bullying), but in a way that isn't preachy, offensive, or takes away from the "cozy" feeling

- Author might follow a formula (as we know, cozy mysteries are formulaic and that is an expected part of their nature), but it is never so obvious that it is overbearing or painful

- Paranormal but without the typical ghosts, witches, vampires, or magical cats

- Author is a very "clean" writer and the books are thoroughly edited to boot

- I've never found any loose ends to the mysteries, clues, or red herrings

- Intricacies in the plots are never over-the-top or senseless

- World is simple but well-built

- I like the theme of her adjunct professorship, which is a nice change of pace from all protagonists who own a shop

- Protagonist isn't an orphan and hasn't suffered through some trauma that she needs to be healed from

- Narrator for the audio versions is always the same lady (it is very jarring when the narrator is not the same) and she is a seriously talented voice actress

I have listened to the books from this series so many times I have lost count. One part of me I wishes these stories would come out more quickly or that the author would start another series, but the other part of me is SO glad neither of these things has ever happened because I would be heartbroken if this series suffered the fate of so many other cozy mystery series: quantity versus quality.

I have one weirdness to mention about this particular book in the series because I have noticed a discrepancy when listening to it and finally remembered to make a note of it. Near the end when people are rehashing what happened in their individual escapes from the fire, Georgia thinks to herself:

Charles might believe that Judy had rescued herself, but I knew it had to have been Sid...

The reason this is odd is because Charles knows that Judy didn't rescue herself because they had just talked about how Charles found Judy outside the building where Georgia had left her after finding her passed out in one of the downstairs offices and rolling her outside the front door to safety using a desk chair. This sentence is supposed to say "Jen," who was rescued by Sid when he wrapped her in a tarp, then jumped out an upper-level window and kept her safe during the landing. Everyone thinks Jen did this herself, except Jen who concludes the "spirit" of their dead MMORPG party member saved her—only Sid, Georgia, and Madison know the real truth.

I am not sure what happened because, when I went to consult the Kindle version to find this quote to include in this post, that version does say "Jen" there instead of "Judy." So, perhaps the narrator got confused with the J-names and it wasn't caught in final editing for audio or it was an error the publisher/author/editor found in the written version and they were able to fix the Kindle version, but it was too late to fix the audio version? No clue. Either way, just a thing a noticed and it isn't even really an issue because the Kindle version seems fine, so this series continues to be intact for me as one of the finest examples of cozy mystery series available. ( )