Brooklyn Bones

Erica Donato #1

by Triss Stein, Xe Sands (Narrator)

Unburying history can have unintended consequences. In Brooklyn Bones, a crime of the past comes much too close to home when Erica Donato's teenage daughter Chris finds a skeleton behind a wall in their crumbling Park Slope home. Erica--a young widow, overage history PhD candidate, and product of blue-collar Brooklyn--is drawn into the mystery when she learns that the skeleton is of an unknown teenage girl and that it was hidden there within living memory. Erica and Chris are both touched and disturbed by the mysterious tragedy in their own home. With her daughter's dangerous curiosity and her own work at a local history museum, Erica follows leads about the mysterious skeleton right back to her own neighborhood in its edgy, pregentrification days, the period when the age of Aquarius was turning dark. Now she finds that a cranky retired reporter wants to share old files, the charming widow of a slumlord has some surprises for her, and the crazy old lady who hangs around her street keeps trying to tell her something. Finally, there are some people--including ones she is close to--who know the whole story and will stop at nothing to make sure it stays buried forever.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Historical Mystery, Murder Mystery, New York, Suspense

Audio CD

First published February 3, 2013

About the author

Triss Stein is a small-town girl who has spent most of her adult life living and working in New York City. This gives her the useful double vision of a stranger and a resident which she uses to write mysteries about Brooklyn, her ever-fascinating, ever-changing, ever-challenging adopted home. Brooklyn Graves is the second Erica Donato mystery, following Brooklyn Bones.

Reviews

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was a teensy bit predictable (I just mean that I guessed it before the end), and the ending was a bit too nicely "wrapped up," but the characters and the rest of the story made up for it. The person who read the book was quite good, and really gave life to the characters. I'm looking forward to more books in this series!

[Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

It felt a bit ponderous trying to get where it was going. Predictable. Not a bad try. I'd like to read some later books to see if the talent develops.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brooklyn Bones is scheduled for release in early February. This is a Poisoned Pen Press publication. The author is Triss Stein. I recieved this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

Erica Donato, a young widow and mother of a teenage daughter, is renovating her house a little at a time. Her friend Joe is helping her do the work and has hired Erica's daughter,Chris to help him out a little. One afternoon, while knocking down a wall, Chris makes a gruesome discovery. The skeleton of a teenage girl was 'buried' behind the wall.
Chris is shocked and can't stop thinking about the girl. She wants to find out who the girl was and what had lead to her death. Her innocent questions start making some people very nervous. So nervous in fact that Erica and Chris start receiving warnings to stop asking questions. Erica, a historian, starts doing a little investigating herself after sending her daughter off to camp. Some people are more than willing to help Erica by letting her look at old pictures,documents, and files. Others are outright hostile about Erica's looking into the past.
One layer peeled back, reveals another layer, then another. Somehow, Erica's own neighborhood and house had been a melting pot of hippies, drug abuse, slumming rich kids, slumlords during the 1970's.
Then out of the blue, another murder occurs that rocks Erica's world. With no help from the police,Erica leans on old and new friends to help her uncover what happened to the murdered girl and to her old friend. But, is Erica too trusting? Does one of her friends or neighbors have a secret they've been hiding all these years?

This is good old fashioned murder mystery. The setting is obviously Brooklyn. The author is very knowledgeable about the area and neighborhood she is writing about, which brings the scene alive.
Erica is a relatable character. She's not wisecracking, silly, or any over the top type character. Erica is just a single mother trying to make ends meet and carve out her own little comfortable place, sharing her life with a few close friends and family. When a new job opportunity, her part time job at a museum and the investigation into the murdered girl start to intertwine, the mystery deepens and the suspense builds up to a cresendo. My e-reader had to be replaced while I was in the middle of this book and I had to wait several days to finish it. It drove me nuts.
I would recommend this book to any mystery lover and maybe even to those who enjoy more of a lighter/cozy type mystery. The language is mild, no sexual content, and no overly graphic violence.
Overall I would give this one a B.

[April Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a new signed paperback copy of Brooklyn Bones from the author Triss Stein in exchange for my honest review.

I loved Brooklyn Bones by Tries Stein. This book was fantastic. Erica Donato is a thirty something widowed mother of one 15 year old daughter Chris. Erica is currently working on her PH.D. in history and is completing a part-time internship at a small local museum. Her home is currently in the middle of a home renovation. One hot summer day she receives a frantic call from her daughter and heads home to find out that a skeleton of a young girl had been fouund buried in the wall. Soon after her Father's best friend, who is like an Uncle to Erica, is killed. The story follows the adventure of trying to solve the many mysteries that some how all?find their way into Erica's lap. The plot has many twist and turns and keeps you guessing until the end. The characters are well defined and have plenty of room to grow. I highly recommend this book. You will enjoy every minute of it.

[Lynne Perednia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erica Donato is making a life for herself and her daughter, going to grad school, working part-time in a museum and renovating their Park Slope home. She misses her husband, who died too young, but she treasures her friends and family. What was a quiet life is shattered when the renovaters, including her daughter, discover the bones of a teenage girl, cradling a teddy bear, hidden in a wall of the house.

Soon, Erica and her teenage daughter, Chris, are encountering strangers threatening them in the street and on the phone. Retired cop Rick Malone, friend of Erica's father, has been a surrogate parent to both of them, but now he's not answering phone messages.

Meanwhile, Erica's friend introduces her to dashing and rich Steven Richmond, who offers her consulting work. He represents developers who want to be highly regarded when they change the neighborhood. Erica is not certain how her historian credentials work into this, but as a grad student and single mother welcomes the extra money to look up material about where she lives. The search is also to try to find out about the early 1970s, when that girl's remains were walled up inside Erica's home.

To help with the historical record, Erica befriends a crochety retired newspaper reporter who broke stories about the gentrification of part of Brooklyn. Leary's old clippings and notes of the days when runaways crashed in Park Slope homes and landlords wanted them out are interesting not just to Erica the historian and homeowner where a skeleton was found, they also attract the attention of those who may not want the past brought to light.

Stein does well in setting up both the main characters -- Erica and her daughter, their friend Joe, the contractor who is renovating the house, and other characters -- and the whodunit. There are times when the story threatens to veer into romance rather than mystery, but it's intentional for both the plot and for the character development of Erica the young widow. The groundwork laid in this novel should provide a sturdy foundation to further books in the series.

One area in which Stein particular excels is in bringing Erica's Brooklyn neighborhood to life. Readers see what it was like back in the day, as well as the vibrant district it is now. Families have roots of several generations or as newcomers make a block their own. The interactions play a key role in solving the mystery of the skeletal remains, but also show what makes Brooklyn a special place to the author and her main character.

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel in a new series known as the 'Erica Donato Mysteries.' The question posed is 'What did you think?' The answer is a resounding Great Great and more Greats. This book caught me up in the plot on paragraph one in Chapter one and held me until the last paragraph on the final page.

This was not a cozy genre book, but a true classic mystery novel. We have a young widow, Erica Donato trying to raise a fifteen year old, Chris, while finishing up her Doctoral in History, trying to work part time as an intern, and have a life. Seems like Erica's plate is full doesn't it? That is until, she receives the phone call that will alter her calm life into a full-fledged mystery investigation.

This book is set in the 21st Century, Brooklyn, New York. Quickly, Erica begins to learn Brooklyn, her house, her extended family, and more have secrets that have been brewing for decades. Erica must disclose this dark history of secrets if she has the slightest hope of saving all she holds dear in her life.

I was struck by the reality drawn for us by the talented author, Ms. Stein. As a reader, I was caught up in the history of the times, (circa early 1970's,) real families that are not sugar coated but very realistic, and crimes of the past and current. The supporting 'cast' of this novel are well crafted and feel as though you might leave your house and run into them.

I am truly enthusiastic about the next installment in this series and hope it is published in the near future.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Triss Stein captured me with the first three sentences--I was hooked. I really liked her characters and their development. I could really relate to Erica and her relationships with both her daughter and father. I was intrigued with the way she wove the seemingly unrelated threads into a whole. While I knew that somehow it would come together, I didn't figure out how.

I'm so glad I've discovered Triss Stein and can't wait to read Brooklyn Graves!

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across Triss Stein quite by accident, and read a book that was in the middle of her Erica Donato mysteries. I decided I needed to go back to the beginning and read as much as I could of the series. It’s not that I was lost reading that book, but I liked the characters and setting enough to get to know them better

Erica Donato is a young widow with a daughter, Chris. Erica works part-time at a local museum and is getting her Ph.D. in history. They are renovating their home in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn when they find a skeleton in the wall. Is it from when the home was built? Or was it more recent? Was the person murdered?

Chris, especially, is curious to find out who it was and what happened to them. Erica also starts digging, and they soon find themselves in danger from those who want to keep their secrets buried.

Brooklyn Bones does a marvelous job with the Brooklyn setting. I really got a feel for a neighborhood that was changing and evolving, as what was old was becoming new again, and in the process revealing its secrets. The author introduces us to the neighborhood and its characters through this mystery, as Erica talks to them to try to figure out who the skeleton belongs to.

To read my full review, please go to Brooklyn Bones by Triss Stein – The Past Won’t Stay Buried

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes there's a real advantage to reading series out of order! I read a later one recently courtesy of NetGalley and made tracks over to Audible to get this one. Very glad that I did. The newest one did just fine as a stand alone but I enjoyed it that much. This one is obviously set in Brooklyn, and the main character is a PhD candidate working at a Brooklyn history museum and revitalizing her home in (where else?) Brooklyn. The first victim is found in the walled up fireplace, but the second is a beloved family friend. Lots of family angst, convoluted connections, red herrings, and plot twists!
A fine read!
Xe Sands gives her usual moving audio performance.

[Tara Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick, little mystery with a lot of interesting history about Brooklyn. As a series, I like the idea of a historian as the protagonist. While Ericka wasn't totally convincing as an investigator, mother, risk-taker, I still liked her and think there is potential. I liked the mystery, but there were too many coincidental events. Way too many! Stein could have taken out one (or two) of the major points and still had the novel work and the mystery unraveled. Also, many of the parts meant to be suspenseful or scary were not. But it was still fun to read.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book and will definitely read the next three books. Having grown up in Brooklyn it was fun reading about the various places I once knew. It was like revisiting them. Me. Stein wove a fascinating story and developed her characters well. I like Erica and her daughter. Her Italian neighbors reminded me of my next door Italian family.
You don't have to know Brooklyn to enjoy the story. There's so much to enjoy here; the mystery, of course, and all the secondary characters who play a part in Erica's life.
I highly recommend the book.

[Jim Willse · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too latte Brooklyn for my tastes. If the self-involved protagonist is supposed to be originally from a blue collar neighborhood, she sure doesn't act like it ( see Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan for comparison). DNF.

[Johnna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this title in a contest. Since I had never read any by this author, I received the 1st title in the series. I was so hooked with this Mom and daughter duet. really enjoyed the book and I WILL be getting all the rest of this series!

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unburying history can have unintended consequences. In Brooklyn Bones, a crime of the past comes much too close to home when Erica Donato's teenage daughter Chris finds a skeleton behind a wall in their crumbling Park Slope home.

[Georgina Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for an easy audiobook to listen to while completing some painting. It was an easy quick listen. It was definitely predictable with the who done it piece - but entertaining none the less.

[Susan Reyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. I love the characters and the interesting situation they suddenly encountered. Kept me captivated until the end.

[MaryBeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for a first attempt, enough so that I plan to read the next in the series.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read, I would have liked to have a little more detail in the ending.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a classic procedural mystery -- great characters, enough suspense, a big bang-up ending.

[Diane Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me guessing. There was more than one mystery. No one is who they seem to be.

[Deborah Goins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, a little simple and predictable but overall good.

[Hot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like Sur Grafton books- but worse. Twist was foreseeable.

[Lynette Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. Excellent story!

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Line: It began with a sobbing phone call from my daughter, the kind of call every parent dreads.

Erica Donato's teenage daughter, Chris, has been helping the contractor with the renovations on their old Brooklyn brownstone. She calls her mother in hysteria because she just found a skeleton when tearing down an old wall. The skeleton is of a young girl, and from the looks of the other items with her, she's been holding her teddy bear since sometime in the 1970s.

The police seem to think that Erica and Chris should have no interest in this long-dead girl, but Chris becomes increasingly focused on learning her identity. When the house is broken into, Erica-- a young widow and over-age history Ph.D candidate who's an intern in a local history museum-- sends her daughter off to art camp to get her out of harm's way. But it becomes crystal clear that, as much as Chris wants the young girl identified, someone else is willing to kill to keep the dead girl a Jane Doe.

This book has a fascinating setting, letting us get to know both present-day Brooklyn as well as some of its colorful history, and I also enjoyed reading about the work Erica does for the local museum. The cast of characters is colorful, especially the grumpy old reporter who reluctantly decides to help Erica in her search for information about the girl. Erica's daughter Chris is a typical teenager awash in hormones. From one paragraph to the next, you never know when it's time to hug her to bits... or to pretend that she's temporarily insane.

For all its strengths, however, I had two problems with Brooklyn Bones. One concerns the mystery itself. I had a difficult time believing that the bad guys would go to such extremes to cover up an old crime when the police didn't seem to be all that interested in solving it.

The second problem I had is with the main character herself. Although her behavior is often summed up as "the Brooklyn coming out in her," it usually felt more like a flaky sort of bravado-- over the top, often ill-advised, and sometimes inappropriate. Since I don't know anyone from Brooklyn, this behavior of Erica's may be right on the money, but I do have my doubts. However, I did want to shake her until her teeth rattled over one thing in particular. Her house had been broken into, someone close to her had been murdered, and a family friend had insisted that Chris be sent to art camp to get her out of harm's way. So what does she do when Chris wants to come home for a few days in the middle of all this? Erica lets her come back! The "female in jeopardy" scenario (often referred to as "fem jep") where a female stupidly puts her life in danger (or in this case, her daughter's life) is one that I do not like, and I liked it even less in this book since it involved a mother dealing with her child's safety.

All that being said, I did find a lot to like about this book, and I'm curious to read the next book in the series. Hopefully Erica will part ways with the dreaded fem jep!

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually listened to the audiobook but I enjoyed it.

[Gloria Feit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erica Donato has a difficult personal life: Her mother has passed away, she is estranged from her father after he moved away to Arizona with the new woman in his life, her husband died in a tragic accident at age 26, leaving a 24-year-old widow and three-year-old daughter, now fifteen, and she is trying to raise a teenage daughter on her own. Erica is a historian, in grad school, and working in a museum on a part-time internship, receiving a small paycheck and getting academic credit for the work.

During the course of extensive renovation work in her century-old house in one of the less-upscale parts of Park Slope, Brooklyn, a skeleton is found, hidden behind a wall, apparently that of a young girl, and it appears to have been there since late in 1972. Both Erica and her daughter, Chris, become determined to try to ascertain who the girl was and why she died. Her daughter says “I feel like I found her so I owe her something. I feel like she wants me to find out about her.” Erica agrees, thinking about “this refuge that no longer felt so safe, where a girl my daughter’s age had seemingly disappeared a long time ago. I didn’t want to think about who must have been looking for her way back then, or the terrible sadness if there was no one to look.”

As the two start to investigate the history of the house, bad things start to happen to people in their lives, both of long standing, and new ones, and Erica is repeatedly warned to stop asking questions, to her and her daughter’s peril should she fail to do so.

The tale is an intriguing one. The book seemed to sag a bit in the middle, but quickly picks up again, and I found this a very interesting novel, one that makes me want to read more from this author.

Recommended.

[Vicki M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brooklyn Bones by Triss Stein is expected to be released on February 5, 2013. I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy for my Kindle. This book takes place in my hometown of Brooklyn, New York. (which added a fun little element to the book for me as everything felt so familiar to me). It centers around a single mom named Erica Donato and her daughter, who, while doing some remodeling of their home discover the skeleton of a young girl buried deep within the walls of their home years ago. The mother and daughter pair set on a mission to find out how and why the skeleton ended up in their home. A lot of weird things start happening: someone dies, someone gets kidnapped and there are too many pieces that do not add up. At times I found the book slow ... especially in the beginning, there seemed to be too much "other" stuff happening and the focus wasn't on the skeleton ... I kept wanting the story to switch back to the bones, I needed to know what happened! But by the end I realized that EVERYTHING that was happening was important to the final outcome, which ... was a strange combination of predicable and "OMG! I didn't see that coming!" The final chapter or two of the book ended up feeling a little bit rushed to me. But, ll in all, it ended up all coming together to be a really good mystery!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this mystery, and finished it in two days. It kept my interest and the pacing was good. There were several notable characters in the book and I enjoyed them all. Interestingly enough, I feel like the one that was least fleshed out was the lead character of Erica. It would have been nice to learn more about the issues in her past, helping us learn more about her. She references her relationships with her ex-husband and her father and I would like to learn more about those than we did in this book. I think they would give us more insight into her personality.

One of the things that bugged me in this book was her own personal lack of interest in who the body in the wall is and how it got there. Her daughter has to keep encouraging her to get more information. While other things are going on during this time frame, I know if a body was discovered in the wall of my home, I would be obsessed with finding out who it belonged to and how it came to be there. This seems to be in the back of her mind.

These are probably nit-picky things on my part, however. The mystery was well set up, the characters were diverse and interesting, and the ending was satisfying. Good read.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erica Donato is a Park Slope, Brooklyn mother, graduate student in history and is doing a summer internship at a museum. Widowed in her 20's, she hired a contractor friend to renovate her home when they discover a human skeleton behind one of the walls. The police identify the remains that of a teenage girl along with a note dated 1972. Erica becomes enveloped in a quest to solve the mystery of the girl's identity by first searching old public records. She then meets a retired reporter who grudgingly provides her with information about her building and the neighborhood. She discovers an underbelly of Brooklyn she wished she never knew. Other people stay the same, and some aren't who she thought they were, or even if they ever were.. I enjoyed the writer's style and the overall mystery.

** I was given a copy of this book by the author. I have written an honest review and the thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.