THE SECRETS OF BONES

After a cadaver dog finds a body hidden at a parochial school, the staff is shocked to learn that the departed is a former colleague.

Assembly Day at St. Catherine’s Preparatory Academy for Girls is all about showcasing job opportunities for students, and administrative assistant Jazz Ramsey has a unique career path she wants to share. She’s in the process of training Wally, her Airedale puppy, to become a human remains detection dog, an expert who can assist in police searches to find bodies whose presence people might never discover. Because Wally’s only just learning, Jazz borrows Gus, a retired HRD dog, for her demo for the girls, hoping Gus will find the bone and tooth she’s hidden in the room. When Gus alerts her at an unexpected spot, Jazz hustles the girls out and phones the police, knowing there must be a body concealed nearby. And so there is. It appears from the jeweled cross it sports that Bernadette Quinn, a teacher who resigned from the school some three years earlier, has never really left. Jazz and her boss, Sister Eileen Flannery, are stunned by the discovery. Though Bernadette was controversial because of her strict rules, her religious fervor, and her insistence that she spoke directly to angels, there was never any indication of foul play in her departure. Because Bernadette’s close relationship to the school makes the cops suspect that Eileen might have had something to do with her death, Jazz starts asking questions to help clear Eileen’s name. At first she thinks it’s a good excuse to connect with police officer Nick Kolesov, her ex-boyfriend, and learn more about her former colleague; eventually, she’s disconcerted to learn that Bernadette might have been hiding some major secrets.

Only a puppy would be surprised by the big reveal, but the amiable lead makes the reading worthwhile.