Bones & Drones

A Pine Grove Mystery, Book 1

By: K.A. Goodsell

Narrated by: Carrie Coello

Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hanging out in a cemetery isn’t every girl’s idea of a good time, but for Paislee Grimes, the dead can be the best company.

Raised in the sleepy Connecticut town of Pine Grove by an undertaker and a coroner, Paislee has seen more than her fair share of death, and she’s right at home amid the morbid and macabre.

She’s happy enough to spend her last months before college cobbling together a history of the place she loves most and studying the lives of the people buried in her backyard, but when the body of a classmate turns up face down in the lake, it’s Paislee’s time to shine.

Armed with a fierce drive and a gift for forensic anthropology, Paislee dives headfirst into the biggest shock Pine Grove has ever seen.

Suddenly, everyone is a suspect - friends, love interests, and even the mayor. And in a community as tight-knit as hers, no one wants to believe the killer could be one of their own.

But where there’s a murder, there’s a murderer, and with more questions than answers, it’s beginning to look like Paislee is the only one who can connect the dots. 

©2019 Katie Goodsell (P)2019 Katie Goodsell

Fun Teen Murder Mystery

This story is about a senior in high school who's parents own and run the local funeral home. She's grown up with death and is completely comfortable with it until she finds herself facing her first murder scene and victim who is a boy from her own school. Other then some mild language (no f-bombs) it's a really clean read and I wouldn't have a problem with my middle school aged kids reading this one. The narrator did a great job and was definitely fun to listen to. I am looking forward to the next in the series.

*** I did notice that one of the chapters either 15 or 16 had two of three sound editing issues with repeating lines/redone lines.

—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Recommended clean mystery

Actually...this is quite a good who dun it, l was interested thru the first half and totally committed thru the remainder. It was cleverly done and l didn't guess the culprits identity.
Nicely narrated. loved the cemetery.

Teen Sleuths Uncover Dark Secrets in Small Town

A body at the lake turns young Paislee’s thoughts from college admission to investigation in a heartbeat. Reared by an undertaker and a coroner, Paislee is comfortable with the dead and her favorite place to hang out is the local cemetery visiting with the graves of those long since passed. She also enjoys helping her father work on cold cases using her historical and cemetery research hobbies to solve the cases. But now, the mayor is in an election year and wants the cased solved swiftly so he brings together Paislee with a surprising partner who uses tech to work on a case that is definitely not cold.

Bones and Drones was an engaging surprise. I liked the idea of a teen who is not typical by any stretch working to solve a murder. Well, she is typical in some ways since she thinks and acts her age, but has a unique skill set and interests which her supportive parents encourage. This was right up my alley because I grew up with similar interests- at least in cemeteries and town histories.

The story is a mystery at the core, but the mystery is only one of the elements. This is also a teenager’s life story, too. Paislee in transition to college, figuring out relationships with guys, navigating home life, prepping for her career, and learning to be part of a team.

At first, I was enjoying the story, but felt it was only moderately engaging. For me, the entrance of her partner-competition in solving the case, Gage, was the element needed to make the story have some sparkle. Paislee seemed to have things her own way because she is unique, but now she is forced to learn that another person has connected interests and can contribute strongly. It was fun seeing Gage confuse and amuse her out of her Lone Ranger attitude that included a sense of superiority.

The mystery itself stayed background to the set up of the story for the longest time, but it all built to those riveting moments near the end. I had no idea who or why and could only follow along. Things are left dangling, but this is a series that progresses the story into the next book.

Carrie Coello is a new to me narrator. She was a perfect match for a teen girl main character and a wide range of voices from both genders surrounding Paislee. She nails the tone and paced the story well especially as it got near the end. The book was enhanced by her audio work.

In summary, it was an amusing coming of age blended with small town murder mystery that will continue on in a series of books. I can definitely recommend it to YA mystery fans.

When you come from a family of death....

What a fun little mystery. I loved Paisley and her quirky ness. Her family’s weird traditions. The small town she lives in. It was all great.

When a body is found, with an ominous note it throws the town for a loop. Who would have killed him? Why would they leave a note like that?

Perfect sweet mystery with unique characters

I loved this book. Paislee is a 17 year old girl who lives in a small town, Pine Grove. She has been surrounded by death her whole life; her mother is the town funeral director, her father is the medical examine and she wants to study forensic anthropology. So yeah she is very comfortable with death.. That is until one of her classmates is found dead. She teams up with Gage who has never really spoken to her. They form a really adorable friendship as they work on the case together. I am very intrigued by both of these characters. Paislee is unapologetic in her love for the macabre. She is a very smart and ambitious girl and I can't wait to see what happens next for her. Gage is actually a lot like Paislee in his ambition. He wants to create drones that will change investigations. I loved that both of these young characters know what they want and go for it!

If you enjoy a good mystery and characters that you will instantly fall in love with, then I highly, highly recommend this book.

I listened to the audiobook and Carrie Coello was a phenomenal narrator. I think she captured Paislee's inner voice perfectly.

The author kindly gave me the audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

loved it

The story is fantastic and the narrator is great. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes small town mysteries.

A very different detective to the norm!

A murder mystery in a small town. However, the go to person to solve the problem is a 17 year old girl, with a very strange family background, that gives her a head start on forensic evidence.
A different type of story!

Bones and Drones

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the family in this book and all of their quirkiness they add to the story. I love mysteries but with this one having comical parts made it all the way better. The conclusion of who the murderer was so fun to watch it unfold. A great listen to pass the time.

Bones & Drones

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery.

Paislee has been around death her entire life with her parents being the coroner and funeral home director for Pine Grove. It’s a good thing her interests lie in forensic anthropology. Now she can put her skills to good use to help discover what happened to the young man who was found at the docks.

K.A. Goodsell did a great job of presenting the details in this mystery. There were enough red herrings to keep you guessing and keep you interested in the story. I also found the characters very likable.

Carrie Corelli did a nice job with the narration. Her voice was very age appropriate for the characters. There were a few little hiccups with the production, but they didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the performance.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Great book to listen to

I enjoyed listening to this book. I have not read or listened to any books by this author before but I know I will again in the future. The writing flows well and the plot keeps you listening. I really enjoyed Paislee's character. She was quirky and interesting. I liked the fact that she was a bit morbid too. There is a good balance of mystery and a little romance. The narrator was great as well. She had a pleasant voice that I could listen to all day. She was good at giving each character a voice. I would listen to more books narrated by her. I might even pick a book outside my normal comfort zone if she was the one reading it.

Them bones, them bones make for great read

I really like this book. I think it was the unusual plot line that made it so captivating. I was worried that the story was going to be a bit weird or sci-fi which isn't my normal choice of genre but it sound interesting so I gave it a go. Glad I did I enjoyed it and not a ghost in sight- the main character just liked the quiet of the graveyard and while there talked to the grave stones. I bit quirky (as the she didn't even know them) but somehow it worked for the character, who was fun and likeable. I liked her home life and could understand why she liked the cemetery so much. There was a number of characters and suspects so it kept it interesting and a number of them had unusual names. I will definitely be looking out for the next book in the series.
Paislee has had a crush on her best friend since grade school but after a stolen kiss she decides she would rather keep him as a friend than risk losing him altogether. But letting him down gently isn't easy and the very next morning the mayor is at the door in listing her and her father's helps because a body has been found. In the very spot that Paislee said good bye to Elgort. It is only after arriving at the scene that she learns it isn't her friend but it is someone she went to school with and someone had murdered him. The only clue they uncover is a note with connections to the founders of the town. With all the time and research she was put in learning about the town the mayor wants her to find out more about the name on the note and more importantly find the grave in case it has connections to the murdered boy. The mayor also in list Gage (paislee best girl Paul's brother) to find the grave first with his drone. Will the two pitted against each other be able to work together and find the grave or more importantly find a killer?
I liked the narrator and thought she spoke clearly and had fun with the characters, I also liked the odd accent she had to use.
All round a fun quirky book that I really enjoyed.
I was given this free copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Well... Not at all what I expected!

I requested a free copy of this book from the website Audiobooks Unleashed in exchange for a unbiased review and though this book is a little out of my comfort range, I was quite glad I did.

Bones & Drones is the first in a continuing series of books detailing the adventures of Paislee Grimes around the town of Pine Grove, Connecticut. Paislee is the towns Nancy Drew, though she has a lot more in common with forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan from another series of books.

Paislee, or Temperance Jr. as I came to think of her, is the daughter of a mortician and a medical examiner and lives in the grounds of the local cemetery so she is, as you'd expect, literally surrounded by death. Her best friends include Raimy, the local wannabe-journalist, Elgort, track star and wannabe-boyfriend, and Sarah, a two-hundred year dead girl who is her main confidant.

Paislee wants to catalogue the unknown graves of the old cemetery, giving names to those who have been forgotten and weaving them in with the history of the town. She wants to bring life back to the dead and in this way she want to honour them; but there are more pressing concerns when a local boy turns up dead and everyone in the small town seems implicated.

What unfolds in Bones & Drones is a cosy mystery not unlike the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books many of us read in our youths. However the stories main concern isn't a weaving narrative of intrigue but rather Paislee's life and how the tragedy affects it. There's more than a little soap-opera in Bones & Drones and normally this would have rapidly made me loose interest in the book; but with this one it didn't.

Bones & Drones true strength isn't in the mystery of its story-line, its in the unfolding mystery of youth growing into adulthood that many of the characters are experiencing. The reader is discovering things about Paislee, Raimy, Elgort and, yes, even Sarah that feel real and has gravitas. Despite the book being labelled as a Young Adult book there's none of the juvenile outbursts we often see in such work, rather we see characters trying to understand their abilities and limits while these vie against their dreams and needs.

K. A. Goodsell has managed to create a collection of extremely likeable characters that manage to transcend the story itself, the murder plot often falling into the background as Paislee's life overtook it in importance to the reader. What became important wasn't necessarily if and when the perpetrator was brought to justice, but how this would affect those around Paislee when it happened.

If you are looking for a hard hitting thriller then Bones & Drones is about as far away from that as you can get, but if you like tales that are character-driven where you'll want to read to the end not to get to a conclusion but rather just for the act of knowing more, then this book might just be for you.

Personally I have decided to continue with Paislee's journey with the second book.

I have to congratulate K. A. Goodsell on a great book, as well as thank Audiobooks Unleashed for introducing me to her.

To conclude I have to point out the one negative concerning the book. Unfortunately there are at least three narration errors that managed to bypass the editor, one of them pretty big, spoiling a great narration from Carrie Coello. This isn't a deal-breaker but it did irritate me quite a lot when I heard them as they were all pretty close together and I didn't feel right posting this without commenting on them.