Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer

Hi, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Susan M. Boyer's third Liz Talbot mystery, Lowcountry Boneyard.

The disappearance of Kent Heyward has been all over the news of late. And when Liz is hired to dive into the investigation, she's both apprehensive and excited. Kent, a twenty-three-year-old working in advertising, recently graduated from college. She also recently announced her relationship with FIG head chef, Matthew Thomas, something her upper crust parents have been less than keen about. Given the circumstances and lack of evidence otherwise, the police have determined that Kent left of her own accord. But her family disagrees. Now it's up to Liz to either find the evidence to support the police department's determination or find the missing heiress.

I had two concerns going into Lowcountry Boneyard: first that it would be a bit too cute for my taste. I do love a good PI mystery, but I'm not a HUGE cozy fan. I mean I'm not opposed in general, but they are usually just too darn cute for me. My second concern was that with this being the third in a series I might be a bit lost. In spite of these, though, (suck up moment) I love what Henery Press is doing and have been interested in reading more of their titles so I figured it was worth a shot.

Fortunately, mystery fans, neither of these potential issues turned out to be issues at all. What I got from Lowcountry Boneyard was a super fun - and yes, a little cute - mystery packed to the brim with southern charm. There were indeed some references to previous cases, but nothing about this title was overly dependent on those previous installments - at least not to the point that it hindered my enjoyment anyway.

Liz is insanely likable and battling with an issue that pits her loyalty to home against her partner/lover - this made for a great subplot to the book and a little conflict as well. She's got a guardian spirit by her side to help her out (yeah, that was a little cutesy), but she's a good PI as PI characters go in my opinion.

The best part, though, is the strong sense of place. The series is set in Charleston, much of it focused on the fictional island of Stella Maris. Boyer spends such a great amount of time building the little details of Liz's life here that it not only feels like a real place, it feels as though it could be one of the characters.

Lowcountry Boneyard is a solid mystery and a great introduction to Liz and Stella Maris - it's sold me on this being a nice new PI series to add to my to read list as well.

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Susan and her work, you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.