A BONE TO PICK

Aurora Teagarden, the author's sweet, southern heroine (Real Murders, etc.), having lost her policeman lover Arthur to another, finds comfort in the substantial legacy willed her by Jane Engle- -even as she wonders at the strangeness of it, since they weren't close friends. Jane's small house is part of the legacy, and—in the aftermath of a break-in there—Aurora finds a skull hidden in a camouflaged window seat. The skull's identity and how it ended up in Jane's house comprise a puzzle that languishes until the final chapters...as Aurora relates details of her chatty encounters with friends and neighbors; shopping expeditions; dates with the local minister and getting-to-know-you sessions with Jane's pregnant cat Madeleine. A breezily written, harmless but insipid non-happening.