Riddle of Spirit and Bone    by Carolyn Korsmeyer Order:  USA  Can Regal House, 2025 (2025) Softcover, e-Book      Reviewed by Rheta Van Winkle After graduating from college with a lot of debts in 2015, Dan started digging ditches for his uncle who gave him a summer job with his company. His uncle's company held the contract to dig a deep trench to replace aging gas mains in a city neighborhood. When a bone dropped at Dan's feet after he loosened some dirt around dead tree roots, he picked it up to toss out of the way and was shocked when he realized that it was a human bone. He called his supervisor Carl over and handed it to him, telling him he thought it was a femur, and all work had to be stopped while the authorities were called to investigate. The police lost interest when it was determined to be such an old bone, probably up to 150 years old, and a crew of archeologist students began work to extract the rest of the skeleton from the tangle of tree roots. Because their professor was away, the young woman who had been left in charge of her fellow students allowed Dan to help, and he became an unofficial part of their crew, so consumed with interest in the bones that he wouldn't have stayed away even if they hadn't welcomed him. It became clear to them after further digging that the woman had been murdered. The story shifted back and forth between 1851 and this archeological project. We met Aunt Madeleine, whose husband George had died and left her out of his will. Her two nieces, Jane and Lydia, had been living with the married couple for the three years of their marriage, and suddenly it appeared that the three women were all going to lose their home to Madeleine's two stepsons and their wives, who inherited the house. At George's funeral, Madeleine met Mr. Lewis, who comforted her with information about the spiritualist movement, and she decided rather suddenly to go to see if he and his fellow spiritualists could help her hear from George. She seemed to think that George might be able to help her regain her house, which Jane and Lydia privately thought was ridiculous. The two girls went along with their aunt because they had no other relatives who could take them in, and all three became heavily involved in seances. The spiritualist movement was just getting started in 1851, and we learned a lot about how it worked, but we also thought that it was probably one of these three women whose bones were found in 2015, and that mystery was central to this story. Jane didn't trust Mr. Lewis but Lydia began to see spirits. The character development was excellent in the story, and the writing kept me enthralled. I worried about the women as Jane became more certain that Mr. Lewis was taking advantage of them somehow, and when she found out that Madeleine was giving him money and jewelry, she tried to warn them. I think anyone who enjoys a good historical mystery would have trouble putting this book down before finding out what happened. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews