Name: Beastly Bones
ISBN: 9781616206369

William Ritter

When dinosaur bones from a recent dig mysteriously go missing, and an unidentifiable beast starts attacking animals and people, leaving their mangled bodies behind, Abigail and her eccentric employer R.F. Jackaby, investigators of the supernatural in 1892 New England, find themselves hunting for a thief, a monster, and a murderer.

Beastly Bones

“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, members of a particularly vicious species of shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens. A day later, their owner is found murdered, with a single mysterious puncture wound to her neck. Then, in nearby Gad’s Valley, dinosaur bones from a recent dig go missing, and an unidentifiable beast attacks animals and people, leaving their mangled bodies behind. Policeman Charlie Cane, exiled from New Fiddleham to the valley, calls on Abigail for help, and soon Abigail and Jackaby are on the hunt for a thief, a monster, and a murderer. Beastly Bones, the second installment in the series, delivers the same quirky humor and unforgettable characters as Jackaby, the book the Chicago Tribune called “Sherlock Holmes crossed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” A 2016 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Title

A Jackaby Novel

Cindy McKee

Book 2 in the Jackaby series is really good. A bit more character development, a good mystery and some new characters. Better yet, it sets up the next case Miss Rook and Jackaby are ready to solve.

Sade A

well this was definitely an improvement on the first Jackaby book. I still think it takes way too long for anything exciting to happen though. As in the first one, things only started really popping by the 70% mark. Still though, the monster vs characters fight was tres great!!
I doubt Jackaby will ever be a five star read for me but it's definitely an enjoyable book. One more complaint though, Abigail really needs to start wearing trousers. Not sure how it's even possible to evade paranormal malignant shit wearing a dress that gets in the way of everything.

Briar Rose

*Review also posted at Briar Rose Reads

Far from suffering "second book syndrome," BEASTLY BONES was, I thought, superior in nearly every way to its predecessor.

JACKABY was a fun book, but suffered a bit from lack of originality. It read like a mashup of "Sherlock" and "Doctor Who," with just enough likable characters and original concepts to keep it afloat. BEASTLY BONES takes flight from where JACKABY left off, advancing the world-building and the characterization of existing characters, and introducing several fascinating new players and supernatural beasties.

Characters and events that seem unrelated all tie back together in the end, culminating in a suspenseful, explosive finale that I did not see coming. And have no fear--the lovable character from JACKABY who seemed to have been Put On A Bus at the end is present and accounted for here. This book takes place in his new home.

Unlike many second books of trilogies, BEASTLY BONES refuses to end on a maddening, scream-inducing cliffhanger. It ties up the storyline in a satisfying way, while also effectively setting up the villain and story of the third book.

Mary Horton

A rather boring, forgetful book. I could have done without all the language (there were about 10 instances of swearing), and I didn't care that much for the majority of the characters. Plus, it just paled in comparison to the first book (which I adored).

However, the ending + all the endearing Jackaby moments made it a somewhat enjoyable read. :)

2.5 stars

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

The second instalment in the historical, paranormal thriller and surprisingly funny Jackaby series does not disappoint! As Jenny Cavanaugh, the agency's resident ghost, begins to spiral out of control, adventurous assistant-cum-sidekick Abigail Rook and her boss, eccentric detective R. F. Jackaby, set off into the New England countryside to solve another confounding mystery where people are turning up dead with a single puncture wound and bruise on their throats. Meanwhile, massive, prehistoric bones of an unidentified creature discovered at a local farm bring on a wide variety of characters--rival palaeontologists, police officer/shape-shifter Charlie Cane whom we met in the first Jackaby adventure, our detectives, a resident tracker that in many ways resembles a more cutthroat version of Harry Potter's Hagrid with equally dangerous fantastical beasts---and keeps everyone guessing about what kind of bones they are and whether there is another monster on the loose until the very end. This book takes place offstage from Jacaby's office in the city of New Fiddleham, an adventure highlighting the worsening situation with ghostly Jenny who is beginning to have frightening breaks with reality, wreaking supernatural destruction on her former home, and causing both Jackaby and Abigail to realize that Jenny might be finally ready to deal with her own gruesome murder from ten years before. Despite Jackaby and Abigail no closer to solving the murders that they set out to investigate due to being interrupted by the discovery of the beastly bones, the diversion is a particularly clever one, a rollercoaster ride of an adventure that has it's fair share of gruesome deaths and, after a dash of the romance heating up between Abigail and Charile, sets up the ominous return to Jenny and solving her murder in the next book, Ghostly Echoes.

This series is the perfect read alike for fans (like me and my family) of Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co. novels, too. Recommended for grades 6 and up.

Christian Huss

William Ritter is back with another tale featuring one of my favorite characters: R. F. Jackaby -- an odd, quirky, eccentric, and unforgettable detective capable of seeing all manor of supernatural entities.

I've had my hands on Beastly Bones for quite some time now. However, with series that I love, I tend to put off reading the next installment until the book following the one in my possession is almost ready to be published. It's kind of my fail-safe to make sure that I won't be kept hanging at the end of a book. And if I am, I will have the next book available fairly soon. Not to mention, it keeps the story fresh in my mind when going to read the next installment (which usually helps me determine how well the story was written and if it progressed forward in a positive way). I wasn't disappointed by choosing to wait to read Beastly Bones, and now I can't wait to start the third book!

After completing Jakcaby (the first book in the series), I was hoping that Ritter would be capable of retaining the amazing personality of the character Jackaby that I fell in love with in the first book -- and I was so happy that he did! There was no shortness of Jackaby-esque humor and hilarious comments that most take offense to, but, in Jackaby's mind, they are nothing more than his simple opinion. For example, there's a conversation between Jackaby and a character named Charlie, who also happens to possess the gift of turning into a large dog:

“Charlie helped with the dig as well?"Jackaby said.
Charlie nodded.
"Surprising-I should think that unburying bones would go against generations of instinct to do just the opposite, wouldn't it? Ouch! Watch your step in the dark, Miss Rook-you just kicked my shin. Where was I? Right-I was saying that coming from a family of dogs-ouch! You've done it again, rather hard that time. Really, the path isn't even bumpy here.”

Abigail/Miss Rook does attempt to keep Jackaby's mouth in line, but he can be utterly oblivious as to how his words may impact another. This just adds great humor to the story, and it's one of the best perks to Jackaby's character.

Even though Jackaby's personality was left intact, I do feel that the character was a bit distant to the plot and story itself. Jackaby and Beastly Bones are both told from Abigail's perspective, but Jackaby seemed to play a less pertinent role in this installment than he did in the first book. This was a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy Abigail as a character, but I feel that Jackaby should have played a more important role, especially due to the fact that the books revolve around Jackaby's supernatural cases and his gift of "seeing beyond the veil." 

A lot of reviewers did complain that the plot was a bit boring, and although it may not have been as spectacular as the plot explored in the first book, I don't think it was terrible. I like the fact that dragons and their lore were introduced. So, while some reviewers grumbled that the story was nothing but digging, I feel as if this isn't true. In fact, Jenny Cavanaugh's past and current ghostly state are explored, and it seemed that Beastly Bones was examining Jenny a bit more in order to set up the plot for the third book: Ghostly Echoes. 

A supporting character named Hank Hudson is also introduced. He is an old friend of Jackaby, and he seems to be a character that's modeled after Hagrid (from Harry Potter) -- they are both depicted as very large and hairy men who love all manor of spectacular, magical beasts. The only difference is that Hudson enjoys hunting and collecting large and supernatural game. In the end, Hudson seemed to be a bit of an archetype, and while I don't mind some archetypes, Hudson was just a little too typical.

In the end, I enjoyed the story even though there were some aspects that left me a bit disappointed. Plus, I am consoled by the fact that Jenny's murderer will hopefully be revealed. And the most exciting aspect is that Jackaby's very own Moriarty may have just been introduced in Beastly Bones! What's a supernatural detective without his ultimate rival?!

Without further adieu, I shall leave you with some advice from Jackaby:

“So often,” Jackaby said, “people think that when we arrive at a crossroads, we can choose only one path, but—as I have often and articulately postulated—people are stupid. We’re not walking the path. We are the path. We are all of the roads and all of the intersections. Of course you can choose both.” 


SPOILER -- Major plot spoiler! Read at your own risk! 
You have been warned!
The only major disappointment was that the living and breathing dragon wasn't really a dragon at all. I really had my hopes up that they weren't as extinct as Jackaby had originally thought. Ritter did dash my hopes in this regard

If you enjoyed this review, you can find more here: http://knightingalereviews.blogspot.com/

Maria

Faith

Wow wow wow I just gobbled this book up! I could not stop reading. I continue to love these characters so much: the almost-sibling relationship between Abigail and Jackaby, the extremely slow burn romance, even the side characters are memorable. The mystery in this one took a little longer to grip me for some reason, which is weird considering I love paleontology, but even so it was a compelling read. My favorite thing about these books is that they're such short, fast reads, but they still feel fully fleshed out. I cannot wait to pick up the next one.

Jennifer Merchant

Candyce Kirk

Viry

"Some girls work in shops or sell flowers. Some girls find husbands and play house. I assist a mad detective in investigating unexplained phenomena—like fish that ought to be cats but seem to have forgotten how. My name is Abigail Rook, and this is what I do."
  

b o r i n g. I considered DNF'ing this book plenty of times but I couldn't bring myself to do it because I like certain characters a lot. The last book was very paranormal whereas this book had a different feel it to, maybe more scientific and not as humorous as the previous, I don't know but I wasn't a fan of this one at all. The plot line had me bored out of my mind and it ended in a way that gives us a intro to what the third book is going to be about. I'm highly intrigued since the third revolves around one of my favorite characters (who is a secondary character) but this book was such a let down, I haven't decided if I will continue with this series.

Yoomi

4 1/2 stars

I enjoyed this even more than the first. It is a great setup for a bigger story arc. And it seemed to focus more on Ms. Rook and her feminist values. Fun read! I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Alejandra Bran

More like 3.5. The story is not bad... I’m just not crazy about it. I’ll read the next book for sure.

Okay so I’m about to start the 3rd book on this series and I wanted to make sure I put down all my thoughts before.

Thing that I like about the book:
• I don’t find the characters annoying.
• The type of story is not something I’ve read before, a detective of the supernatural, solving cases about magical creatures killing people, while living with a ghost and a cursed assistant who is now a duck. And also our main character a girl of science and reason, who is now helping the detective to solve illogical cases. I like the premise, I really do.

Things that I kinda don’t like about the book.
• the pairing of the romance couple, is not of my liking. Call me crazy, but I really though Jackaby and Abigail were a good match.
• There is so much dragging that feels like a waste of time and pages. Sometimes short and concise it’s better than long and all over the place.

I like the character and just for the sake of it I’m reading the 3rd book, I really feel this story has so much to give!!!

Megan Weber

** spoiler alert **
           3.5 dragons are cool

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 vicious shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens, and a day later, their owner is found murdered. 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 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.

Beastly Bones

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