Skin and Bone by TA Moore

Cloister Witte and his K-9 partner, Bourneville, find the lost and bring them home.

But the job doesn’t always end there.

Janet Morrow, a young trans woman, lies in a coma after wandering away from her car during a storm. But just because Cloister found the young tourist doesn’t mean she’s home. What brought her to Plenty, California… and who didn’t want her to leave?

With the help of Special Agent Javi Merlo, who continues to deny his growing feelings for the rough-edged deputy, Cloister unearths a ten-year-old conspiracy of silence that taps into Plenty’s history of corruption.

Janet Morrow’s old secrets aren’t the only ones coming to light. Javi has tried to put his past behind him, but some people seem determined to pull his skeletons out of the closet. His dark history with a senior agent in Phoenix complicates not just the investigation but his relationship with Cloister.

And since when has he cared about that?

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/M Mystery, Romance
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

This is the second book in the series and I would suggest that you read book one first. The dynamic between Cloister and Javi will be better understood.

This is a great mystery. It starts with Cloister and Bourneville searching for a missing person. They have a great dynamic and I loved watching Bourneville work. It was neat to see their dynamic grow and how Cloister was able to keep his sanity while on desk duty with Bourneville. I also love how much Bourneville was part of the story.

Then you have FBI agent Javi. We see him again and see that he is still trying to make up for some past issues. While he knows that it wasn't entirely his fault, he still carries immense guilt. To make things worse, his superior doesn't like him and would like nothing more than to see Javi fired. I am hoping that some of the questions that Javi raises in this book will be answered in book three, as I too, want to know what, if anything, he finds out.

While I really enjoyed the mystery in this story, I was able to figure out the ending about half way through. However, I didn't feel that took away from the story. I wished that Cloister and Javi were more of a duo in this book. It felt that their relationship was more of an afterthought to the mystery and their chemistry was lacking in this book.

Overall, I enjoyed the story a lot and look forward to seeing if there is more Javi and Cloister.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆
This follow up to Bone to Pick is another fabulously dark and gritty crime thriller. Javi and Cloister’s patch of Southern California is full of secrets and institutional corruption. Once again, morality is murky and everyone is a suspect.

I’m a little bit sad that I actually liked both Javi and Cloister by the end of this story. They’re both still assholes and they still can’t communicate but in this second book, we get glimpses of the softer sides of both men and we almost see the start of an actual relationship. The sexual connection between them is crazy hot and I love that they are starting to work together as partners.

This is a beautifully written thriller. The crime storyline in this second book is probably a little less gruesome but just more complex than the first book. I love the puzzle of this crime. It was a challenge to keep up with the investigation and while I guessed most of the whodunnit with fifty pages to go, there were still a few links and clues I missed along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed this second book and I look forward to the next installment.

Also Available in the Digging Up Bones Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our Bone to Pick post.

TA MOORE genuinely believed that she was a Cabbage Patch Kid when she was a small child. This was the start of a lifelong attachment to the weird and fantastic. These days she lives in a market town on the Northern Irish coast and her friends have a rule that she can only send them three weird and disturbing links a month (although she still holds that a DIY penis bifurcation guide is interesting, not disturbing). She believes that adding ‘in space!’ to anything makes it at least 40% cooler, will try to pet pretty much any animal she meets (this includes snakes, excludes bugs), and once lied to her friend that she had climbed all the way up to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, when actually she’d only gotten to the beach, realized it was really high, and chickened out.

She aspires to being a cynical misanthrope, but is unfortunately held back by a sunny disposition and an inability to be mean to strangers. If TA Moore is mean to you, that means you’re friends now.

Connect with TA

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Skin and Bone (Digging Up Bones #2) by TA Moore to read and review.