A Bone to Pick (1992) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

show spoilers

• Aurora Teagarden: "Roe" - A librarian; Resident manager of her mother's townhouses; Is four-eleven and wears big round tortoise-rimmed glasses; Has long brown hair and brown eyes; 29 years old; Former Real Murders Club member
• Aida Brattle Teagarden: "Aida Queensland" - "Aida Brattle" - Aurora's mother; John's new wife; Owner of Select Realty; Looks a lot like Lauren Bacall; Is five-four and elegant to her fingertips
• John Queensland: Roe's new stepfather; Aida's new husband; Avery & John David's father; A wealthy real-estate-rich man; Has creamy white hair; Former President of the Real Murders Club
• Phil Teagarden: Aurora & Phillip's father; Betty Jo's husband; Aida's ex-husband; Is from Texas; Head of the advertising department for a newspaper
• Phillip Teagarden: Roe's half-brother; 7 years old; Has perpetually tousled light brown hair and startlingly blue eyes
• Betty Jo Teagarden: Roe's stepmother; Phillip's mother; Phil's second wife
• Amina Day: Roe's best friend; Hugh's fiancée; A legal secretary; Lives in Houston; A slender brown-eyed freckle-faced extrovert with bottle blonde hair; Is five-five. Amina had dated so many men. Since she’d reached fourteen, her incredible dating career had only been interrupted by one brief marriage.
• Hugh Price: Amina's first husband. He was positively good-looking, he was positively rich, he was positively good in bed.
• Aubrey Scott: Lawrenceton's new Episcopal priest; A widower; Is in his late 30's; Is six-two with dark graying hair, gray eyes and a neat mustache
• Robin Crusoe: A famous mystery writer; Roe's former neighbor; They dated a bit; Is very tall and lanky with longish red hair, a beaky nose and wire-rimmed glasses over his little hazel eyes
• Arthur Smith: Roe's ex-boyfriend; Lynn's new husband; Father-to-be; Burglary Detective; Is short and solid with coarse curly pale hair and pale blue eyes; 32-33 years old; Former Real Murders Club member
• Lynn Liggett: "Lynn Smith" - Arthur's new pregnant wife; Homicide Detective; A tall woman with straight, short brown hair
• Faron Henske: Police Detective Roe knew from the time she dated Arthur.
• Jane Engle: Roe's friend; A retired school librarian who substitutes at both the school and the public libraries; Mortimer House board member; Wears her silver hair in a chignon; Is in her late 70's; Former Secretary of the Real Murders Club.
• Parnell Engle: Jane's aging cousin; Leah's husband
• Leah Engle: Parnell's wife
• Mrs. John Elgar Engle: Jane's mother
• Madeleine: Jane's gold tabby; Named for Madeleine Smith, a favorite murderer of Jane's.
• LeMaster Cane: Owns a dry cleaning business; A stout African American middle-aged bearded man with huge brown eyes; Former Real Murders Club member
• Bubba Sewell: Jane's lawyer; Has been divorced twice; Is dating Lizanne Buckley; Has thinning light brown hair and small brown eyes
• Lizanne Buckley: "Elizabeth Anna" - Roe's friend; Is dating Bubba Sewell; A local beauty; Has shiny chestnut hair; Receptionist at the Power and Light Company. Lizanne was beautiful and agreeable, slow-witted but sure, like honey making its inexorable progress across a buttered pancake.
• Teentsy Crandall: Jed's wife; Roe's neighbor; Has eight grandchildren; Has gray curls
• Jed Crandall: Teentsy's husband; Roe's neighbor; Has eight grandchildren; A retired farmer; A gun collector
• Bankston Waites: Roe's former neighbor; Melanie's ex-fiancé; Was a loan officer at Associated Second Bank; 33 years old; Has scanty blond hair, a pleasant round face and mild blue eyes; Former Real Murders Club member
• Lillian Schmidt: A librarian; Roe's co-worker and frenemy.
• Sally Allison: Roe's sort-of-friend; Reporter for the Lawrenceton Sentinel; Perry's mother; Is dating Paul Allison; Is in her late 40's; Has permed curly bronze hair and tan eyes; Former Real Murders Club member.
• Paul Allison: Police Detective; Sally's ex-brother-in-law; Perry's uncle; Is dating Sally; Is in his late 40's; Has thinning brown hair, broad shoulders, sharp blue eyes and a suggestion of a gut. Paul was a loner, a man never married who did not join in the police force camaraderie with much gusto.
• Perry Allison: Sally's son; Roe's former co-worker; Is mentally ill
• Macon Turner: Editor for the Lawrenceton Sentinel; Sally's boss; Is dating Carey Osland; Used to date Aida, Roe's mother; Has thinning, brownish-gray hair that he combs across the top of his head to give his scalp some coverage; 48-52 years old.
• Edward Turner: Macon's son; Is in his early 20's; Left for India and hasn't been heard from in a long time
• Melanie Clark: "Mel" - Bankston's ex-fiancée; Was a secretary at Gerlad Wright's insurance office; 34-35 years old; Has conservatively cut, straight dark brown hair; Former Real Murders Club member
• Torrance Rideout: Jane's neighbor; Marcia's husband; A barrel-chested man; About 45 years old; Has muddy brown hair with only a few flecks of gray, brown eyes and a dark tan; Sells office supplies. Close up, Torrance Rideout looked like a man who’d once been handsome and still wasn’t without the old sex appeal.
• Marcia Rideout: Jane's neighbor; Torrance's wife; A housewife; Mortimer House board member; Is deeply tanned with chin-length, dyed, pale blonde hair and dark blue eyes
• Carey Osland: Linda's mother; Bubba's first wife; Later married Mike Osland; Is dating Macon Turner; A pretty, plump woman; Her dark chestnut hair is lightly threaded with gray; Works at Marcus Hatfield; 42 years old
• Mike Osland: Carey's second husband; Linda's father; One night went to buy diapers for their little girl and was never seen or heard from again; People believe he just took off
• Linda Osland: Carey & Mike's daughter; 7 or 8 years old; Has chin-length, wavy, dark hair and big dark eyes under her glasses
• Burger King: The Osland's dog; Was run over by a car
• Waldo: Carey & Linda's dachshund
• Ms. Darwell: Library patron
• Jack Burns: Detective Sergeant; Is married to a school teacher; Has two kids in college; A tall, heavy-set man with long Elvis sideburns
• Ben Greer: Not a nice guy; Works at the grocery chopping meat; The Rideout's former tenant
• Mark Kaplan: A housepainter; The Rideout's former tenant
• Eileen Norris: Aida's second-in-command at Select Realty; A dark-haired big woman; Is about 45 years old. Eileen was something of a town character in Lawrenceton, and she could talk you into buying a house quicker than you could take an aspirin.
• James Artis: Mystery writer & college professor; Recently had a heart attack
• Phil: Is subleasing Robin's apartment
• Joe Nell Day: Amina's mother; Owns a dress shop; A very attractive, fair woman; Is in her mid 40's. She’d been young when she had Amina, her only daughter. Amina’s younger brother was still in graduate school. Miss Joe Nell was very religious. Miss Joe Nell was a loving woman and sympathetic.
• Mr. Day: Joe Nell's husband; Amina's father; A bookkeeper. He sang bass in the church choir.
• Laura: Older Episcopalian church goer
• Sam Derrick: Head Librarian; Roe's boss; Is married with four daughters.
• Carl Underwood: Georgia State Representative for the last three terms
• Sally Saxby: "Sally Hunter" - Roe's friend; Has been married for ten years; Has a son and a daughter; Roe was a bridesmaid in her wedding
• Linda Erhardt: Roe's friend
• Franny Vargas: Roe's friend; was a bridesmaid in her wedding.
• Patty Cloud: Receptionist at Select Realty; 25 years old
• Mackie Knight: A young African American new realtor at Select Realty
• Idella Yates: Realtor at Select Realty; A frail, pretty woman; Is in her late 30's. Works for Aida's realty business.
• Avery Queensland: John's oldest son; John David's brother; Is married and expecting a baby
• John David Queensland: John's youngest son; Avery's brother; His work requires him to move a lot
• Mr. McMan: Jane's neighbor
• Mrs. McMan: Jane's neighbor
• Mr. Lavery: Jane's former neighbor
• Mrs. Lavery: Jane's former neighbor
• Mr. Ince: Jane's elderly neighbor
• Mrs. Ince: Jane's elderly neighbor
• Margie Ince: The elderly Inces' daughter-in-law
• Alfred de Marigny: Sir Harry Oakes' son-in-law; charged, but then acquitted for his murder
• Paul Allison: Paul Allison was a policeman, a detective about ten years older than Arthur. Paul was a loner, a man never married who did not join in the police force camaraderie with much gusto. He had thinning brown hair, broad shoulders, sharp blue eyes, and a suggestion of a gut.
• Sir Harry Oakes: Was found partially burned on a bed with feathers stuck all over it.

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Lawrenceton, Georgia: a suburb of Atlanta
• Lawrenceton Public Library
• California
• Houston, Texas
• The Bahamas
• Shady Rest Cemetery
• The Jasper Building: One of the oldest office buildings in Lawrenceton and a familiar landmark
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Marcus Hatfield: The "Lord & Taylor" of Lawrenceton
• Mortimer House: An orphan's home
• Europe
• Beaufort, South Carolina
• Great Day: Women's clothing shop; Owned by Mrs. Day
• India
• Italy
• St. John's Episcopal Church
• Eastern National Bank

Organizations edit see section history

• Real Murders Club: Add a description of this organization.
• Lawrenceton Sentinel
• Power and Light Company
• Select Realty: Aida's realty business

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Real Murders, and followed by Three Bedrooms, One Corpse.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Charlaine Harris (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3558.A6427 B6 2011
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Authors, A-Z › ( H ) › Harris, Charlaine
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery › Women Sleuths

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Charlaine Harris website: The Aurora Teagarden series page

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history