The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White

She’s come back to solve the mystery of her father’s death and confront her own dark past.

When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he killed himself.

To prove it, she needs the help of Ash Haugen, the man she left behind. But Rebecca and Ash share more than broken hearts. Something darker lies between them, and the investigation is stirring it back to life. Clues lead them to the home of Olivia West and her deeply troubled twelve-year-old daughter, Tori. The child knows more about the murder than anyone can imagine, but she’s too terrified to say a word.

And as a cold-blooded killer resurfaces from the past, Rebecca and Ash begin to fear that their own secrets may be even harder to survive.

Book 2
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

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

Rebecca is a mounted Canadian police officer who was heartbroken by her childhood sweetheart. When she left behind her small town to pursue bigger career aspirations, she always thought that she would have time to return and that her dad would always be there for her. When she receives a cryptic call from her dad, Rebecca isn’t quite sure what to make of it. However, when her dad winds up dead under strange circumstances, Rebecca has to return to her hometown to figure out what happened to her dad.

Ash tried so hard to get out of his hometown. But even though he tried everything he could think of, he became stuck. When Rebecca left, he understood, but it didn’t hurt any less. He tried to keep an eye on her dad over the years. He felt like his dad too since Ash’s own parents were less than stellar. Secrets have a way of making their way to the surface and when his secrets start to come to light, Ash has to decide if it’s worth keeping those secrets hidden.

This story has a lot of setup. You read the past and the present together and while it’s not confusing to know which you’re reading, it does take up a lot of the first half of the book. However, after the first 50%, the story really takes on a life of its own. And while it’s not a cliffhanger, White leaves enough of a hint that there could be books and a story after this one, which I hope there is.


Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
The Dark Bones is an excellent murder mystery. Rebecca North returns to her hometown after years away due to her father’s apparent suicide. Because the story is told from various points of view, we know that Rebecca’s father’s death was not a suicide and that there is much more going on in this little town and it appears to all link back to the disappearance of two teenagers 20 years prior. Glimpses of the past in this story give us just enough information to suck us in and have us asking questions and in my case, coming up with different theories about what happened then and what is happening in the here and now.

Loreth Anne White does such wonderful job laying out of the different strands of the story and pulling them together, including a love story between Rebecca and her high school boyfriend, Ash, which is playing out in the middle of the murder investigation. The author is also great at setting the atmosphere of the freezing Canadian winter – I was cold reading this book.

I loved The Dark Bones. It is the second book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone. I have not read the first book in this series, but I’ll be adding it to my To-Be-Read list. If you are a fan of romantic suspense stories, The Dark Bones is well worth reading.

Loreth Anne White is an internationally bestselling author of thrillers, mysteries, and romantic suspense. A three-time RITA finalist, she is also the 2017 Overall Daphne du Maurier Award winner, and she has won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Romantic Crown for Best Romantic Suspense and Best Book Overall, in addition to being a Booksellers’ Best finalist and a multiple CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice Award winner. A former journalist and newspaper editor who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now resides in the Pacific Northwest with her family.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Dark Bones (Dark Lure #2) by Loreth Anne White to read and review.