John J. Delaney’s murder mystery, A Dangerous Fossil (a Jurassic Jemma Mystery), is set in the small coastal town of Lulcombe, England where two-hundred-year-old seams of fossil-filled rocks from the early Jurassic period attract fossil hunters and tourists. When native-born, 43-year-old Jemma Thorne and her Springer Spaniel, Dino, head out to scour the beach for fossils following a storm, she has no idea how it will change her life.
Dressed in heavy boots and a long-waxed
coat she steps out into the dark of a windy, rainy early morning with
her rucksack, dog, and hopes of beating the local fossil hunters to what the
waves have kicked up on shore. Dino’s barking draws her attention to a large
section of cliff that slipped during the storm, and Jemma makes a lifetime discovery. A plesiosaur skull. And it gets better. The whole
skeleton is preserved. And it is huge. A major find. “Jurassic Jemma” is
excited. Not only will it put Lulcombe on the map but it will also save the museum from being bought out and replaced by a large development that would ruin
the sleepy little town. But time is not on her side. The tide is rising.
A Dangerous Fossil book review
This cozy mystery murder takes place in the museum. Delaney masterfully weaves a tangle of complicated relationships linking several people with possible motives in this entertaining whodunit. Jemma’s independent lifestyle becomes cramped with surveillance. All she wants is her independence back. When the police can’t come up with answers, Jemma makes a plan of her own. It puts her life at risk, but she’s willing to take the chance if she can get her life back and, if she’s lucky, get “Plessie” back in the process.
A Dangerous Fossil features a strong independent female protagonist in Jemma Thorne. Fossils are her passion and her home life as a divorced, single mom with a college-aged daughter and detective boyfriend let her personality, independence, strengths, and weaknesses shine. I recommend this page-turner to fans of cozy mysteries, detective novels, and soft-boiled mysteries. If you enjoyed reading the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths or Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series by Deborah Crombie, this book is for you. Delaney provides plenty of neatly packaged clues for readers to follow. A Dangerous Fossil is a five-star cozy mystery winner filled with layers of enigmas and secrets ready to be unraveled.
* * * *
As BookHookup, I am a longtime book reviewer, and I received a free review copy of this book and have not been compensated for reviewing or recommending it. Some links in this post are affiliate links. We participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliate sites.
About author John Delaney
Since 1999 John has written plots for thirty murder mystery party games (boxed and downloadable) with worldwide sales in excess of 100,000 copies, mainly in the UK and USA.
John has written three musicals (Directions, Dream Home and 68 The Musical ) and a pantomime. He has also written an opera called Tir na Nog and one of the arias from the opera, This Mortal Man, was included on the composer's album which reached number 1 on the Classical charts in the UK and number 18 on the USA Billboard chart.
A Dangerous Fossil is John’s first novel and features sassy fossil hunter ‘Jurassic’ Jemma Thorne. A tale of discovery, greed and murder set on Dorset’s Jurassic coast.