Bones Takes a Holiday: A Romantic Wartime Cozy Mystery

The third book in the Dr. Bones Mystery Series, BONES TAKES A HOLIDAY, is a change-of-pace from the usual whodunit. The holidays in question are Christmas 1939 and Valentine’s Day 1940. The world is at war, and the first of many hard winters has begun. But for Dr. Benjamin Bones and Lady Juliet Linton, love has bloomed amid the fear of an uncertain future.

Part One: Dr. Bones and the Christmas Wish

A few days before Christmas 1939, Dr. Benjamin Bones is in a "Bah, Humbug," sort of mood. It's the coldest winter on record, his country is at war, and his love life has run aground. But magic as well as mysteries abound in Cornwall. When Ben makes a bargain with an elfin little man, it leads him to an old woman who longs to make amends--and a chance for Ben to show that certain someone how much he cares.

Part Two: Dr. Bones and the Lost Love Letter

There's no such thing as privacy in the tiny village of Birdswing. Everywhere Dr. Benjamin Bones turns, someone is spying from a window, listening through a wall, or gossiping over a garden fence. "The birds sing in Birdswing," says the vicar, Father Cotterill, and in February 1940 this is more true than ever. Waiting for Hitler to make his move and turn this "Phony War" into the real thing, Ben's fellow villagers are desperate for a distraction. But his blossoming affair with Lady Juliet must remain absolutely secret.

So when a seemingly trifling "case" arises--a love letter misplaced for almost thirty years, still in search of its intended recipient--Ben and Juliet jump at the chance to investigate, simply to steal a bit of time together. But as they try to deliver the letter, they discover two lonely people who might get a second chance at love... through the magic of Cornwall.

NOTE: This book was originally published as two separate novellas: DR. BONES AND THE CHRISTMAS WISH and DR. BONES AND THE LOST LOVE LETTER.

© 2022 Lyonnesse Books (Audiobook): 9781669653189

Release date

Audiobook: August 12, 2022