The Bones of You: Exclusive Excerpt

The Bones of You is the debut thriller by Debbie Howells where the seemingly perfect daughter of an even more seemingly perfect family is murdered (available June 30, 2015).

Read this exclusive excerpt from Chapters 6 and 7 of The Bones of You! And then comment for a chance to win a copy of Debbie Howells' debut thriller!

I have a gardener’s inherent belief in the natural order of things.  Soft‑petalled flowers that go to seed.  The resolute passage of the seasons.  Swallows that fly thousands of miles to follow the eternal summer.

Children who don’t die before their parents.

When Kate receives a phone call with news that Rosie Anderson is missing, she’s stunned and disturbed. Rosie is eighteen, the same age as Kate’s daughter, and a beautiful, quiet, and kind young woman. Though the locals are optimistic—girls like Rosie don’t get into real trouble—Kate’s sense of foreboding is confirmed when Rosie is found fatally beaten and stabbed.

Who would kill the perfect daughter, from the perfect family? Yet the more Kate entwines herself with the Andersons—graceful mother Jo, renowned journalist father Neal, watchful younger sister Delphine—the more she is convinced that not everything is as it seems. Anonymous notes arrive, urging Kate to unravel the tangled threads of Rosie’s life and death, though she has no idea where they will lead.

 

I discover, too, that grief is different things to different people. Comes in many guises. In shocked silences and closed doors around our village, as people try to shut it out. That a blank face or fleeting smile can hide the worst, most private kind of agony.

I leave it several days longer than I planned before I call round to see Jo, expecting drawn curtains, locked doors and no one to answer. It would be easier, too, because I can leave the flowers I’ve picked from the garden in the shade of her porch. Post Grace’s card. Not have to look at her and see from the pain in her eyes how real this is.

As I pull up outside, there are several parked cars in a road that is usually empty. The press? But though I feel eyes watching, they don’t approach me, even as I raise my hand to knock and the door opens.

“Jo . . .” I look at her, then hold out my arms, suddenly unable to speak. For all the time I’ve spent thinking about this, prepared what I’d say if I actually saw her, there are no words.

She lets me hold her and I think, She’s still Rosie’s mother. She’ll always be Rosie’s mother. Nothing and no one can change that.

“I’m so sorry, Jo. I didn’t want to disturb you. I just wanted to leave these.”

“Oh. They’re lovely . . .” She barely looks at the flowers I hand her. Her eyes are glassy, her words thick with medically induced evenness. “Will you come in?”

“I won’t, Jo. I don’t want to intrude.” I step back.

“Please . . .” There’s a pleading note in her voice, as she glances up the road to see who’s watching her. “Please come and have a cup of tea.”

I follow her inside, awkward, because I don’t know her well enough to be here, dimly recalling how tea and grief are as synonymous as fish and chips. Then as we pass from the hallway into her sitting room, I stop to gaze in astonishment. There are flowers and cards covering every surface, so many and so beautiful it’s almost wrong.

She doesn’t pause, just walks down the steps into the huge live-in kitchen. I can’t help thinking that if we were closer, I’d gently bully her to sit down while I made the tea, perhaps sneak a drop of medicinal brandy into it. But we’re not close. And Jo’s private – if not about the shops she buys her designer clothes from, or the gala balls and charity events she and Neal go to, then about the real stuff. The nuts and bolts, the nitty-gritty of cherished hopes and dreams, and how her family, like anyone’s, is everything to her.

Today, even the kettle looks too heavy for Jo. She’s so thin, so brittle, ethereal in her grief with huge eyes and pale skin. I notice her hair, the same shade as Rosie’s, only fractionally shorter, so that from behind, you could almost – but not quite – mistake them.

“Is Neal here?”

“He’s with the police . . .” The mug in her hand shakes. “I should have gone . . . Couldn’t face it . . . They’re tracing calls to her phone . . .” Her voice wobbles.

“Can I do anything? Anything at all?” I ask quietly.

She shakes her head, then gathers herself and pours boiling water into the mugs, while I look around the spotless white and steel units, the massive range-style oven. Immaculately clean and tidy. And expensive, I can’t help thinking, hating that I even notice.

She brings the mugs over and pulls out a chair opposite me.

“It’s nice of you to come, Kate. I appreciate it. People send things . . . They don’t come here. It’s like it’s contagious.”

 

Rosie

I’m not sure where the wish comes from, but when I’m eight, more than anything in the world I want a puppy. I can’t know it’s because my heart bursts just to love, that it craves to be loved in return, only that Lucy Mayes has a small spaniel that’s old and doesn’t play. She says he’s boring and he smells bad, but his fur is soft and his eyes melt when he looks at me. When I ask my father, he says I have to wait until I’m older. So I do what he says. I use the time to learn about puppies. How to train them, about walking them and feeding them, about how tail-wagging can mean all these different things. Then before my next birthday, I wait until Mummy’s there too and Delphine is sleeping upstairs.

My father’s sitting next to her, on the new white sofa that Delphine and I aren’t allowed on. I wait until he’s finished telling Mummy about the assignment he’s just come back from, where there was shooting and their hotel got blown up. How frightened everyone was, but how lucky we are he got out alive.

It’s the perfect moment. He’s survived. It should make him the happiest man there is. Mummy looks at him, then kisses his cheek. But even before anything happens, I’m nervous. Snakes-in-my-insides nervous – which is what Lucy always says, because it feels like snakes curling and wriggling inside you. Or when I’m less nervous, maybe worms.

When I ask, my father looks at me crossly and says, ‘If you really want a puppy, you’ll have to wait, Rosanna, until you’re twelve,’ even though Mummy places her hand on his arm, says, ‘Please, Neal. A puppy would be really lovely for the girls . . .’

But he pulls his arm away, gets up, stands there, his back to us, while Mummy catches my eye and shakes her head, looking worried, because his anger is like a storm cloud. We both know it’s decided. And the room turns into a horrible, cold place that I don’t want to be in, full of people I don’t want to be with. But there’s nothing I can do.

When. I’m. Twelve. Seems too far away to be real.

Soon after that, I remember my skin erupting into dry, scaly patches that itch. The doctor saying I have eczema. My mother saying it’s in the family. How can they not see?

I know what it is. Not eczema, but disappointment, a parasite in my blood, circulating round my body, eating me away, gnawing at my skin first until it flakes off, then deeper inside, at my belief in people.

The next year before my birthday, I know I shouldn’t ask, but there’s a picture in my head about how it would be, having a puppy. Cuddling it, feeding it, watching it grow. And I find an ember of hope. Ask again. Even though I know.

‘How dare you,’ says my father. ‘Don’t you remember? I said twelve, Rosanna. Twelve.’

Then he takes the ember, snuffs it out, tramples it under his boots and buries it in ice until it’s dead.

When it gets to my twelfth birthday, I don’t ask. But the week before, even though I don’t want to, my father makes me go to look at some puppies, a whole litter of them, squirming and wagging and whimpering. My wish comes back, stronger than before, and I know if I can have one of these, I will never ask for anything again.

They are all beautiful and it’s hard, but I choose one – a little black and white girl puppy, with a springy tail like a piece of rubber, who nibbles my chin, then washes my face with kisses.

All the way home, I think, The best things really are worth waiting for. Even four years – that’s how long it’s been. But my father’s kept his word. In my head, I have lists of names, then decide there really is just one name that’s perfect for her.

It’s Hope.

The night before my birthday, I can’t sleep. I’m wondering where my parents are hiding Hope, straining my ears for little whiny puppy sounds, imagining that small, wriggly body in my arms again, knowing it’s my last night without her.

The next morning, when I open my presents, I ask where Hope is.

‘Oh,’ says my father, ‘we changed our minds. We’ve bought you a guitar instead.’

Then he laughs.

And the love that was waiting inside me, the huge, bubbling, bottomless well of it, leaks away until it’s gone.

Excerpted from The Bones of You by Debbie Howells. Reprinted by arrangement with Kensington Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2015 Debbie Howells.

To learn more or order a copy, visit:

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The Bones of You Comment Sweepstakes: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.  A purchase does not improve your chances of winning.  Sweepstakes open to legal residents of 50 United States, D.C., and Canada (excluding Quebec), who are 18 years or older as of the date of entry.  To enter, complete the “Post a Comment” entry at https://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2015/06/the-bones-of-you-exclusive-excerpt-debbie-howells beginning at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) June 25, 2015. Sweepstakes ends 11:59 a.m. ET July 2, 2015. Void outside the United States and Canada and where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Macmillan, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.


Debbie Howells is the author of The Bones of You, her debut thriller which sold internationally for six-figures in several countries. While in the past she has been a flying instructor, the owner of a flower shop, and a student of psychology, she currently writes full-time. Debbie lives in West Sussex with her family, please visit her online at DebbieHowells.com.

Comments

  1. Gordon Bingham

    very well written…

  2. DebP

    Ièd like to read more.

  3. Susan Dobie

    I’m really wanting to read more! That was a great teaser.

  4. Andra Dalton

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  5. Peter W. Horton Jr.

    Beware of puppy haters! Yes!

  6. Patricia Hill

    Looking forward to reading more

  7. Joy Adams

    Joy Adams
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    I really want to read this book

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    Thanks for the exerpt and the opportunity!

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    Wow, what an excerpt. And thank you for the chance to win.

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    And…. what happens next?!?!?!?!

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    AWESOME teaser, looking forward to reading more

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    Oh, would love to read this. I’m a crime buff, so I love these types of books!

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    Great excerpt. I would enjoy this novel.

  30. Lori P

    Very compelling preview, and some very troubling signs of cruelty by Rosie’s father. I feel for her.

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    The story maks me feel I would probably get lost in it.

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    I would love to win this and see how it all turns out!

  33. T

    Oh, this definitely makes me want to read more. What a cruel and heartless thing for a parent to do to a child – my heart goes out to little Rosie. I am very curious as to how things are resolved.

    Good luck, all.

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    I always love the opportunity to read a new author. Thanks.

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    Clearly the father has made many enemies throughout his life/career, not excluding his family and friends. The possibilties are endless but I suspect somenone clse to him.

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  39. Marsha Taylor

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  47. Linda

    I hate the way the father went back on his word. Sounds like good read. Would love to read more.

  48. Anna Mills

    Clearly I’ll be leaving all the lights on all night!

  49. Susan Pertierra

    This excerpt piqued my interest and I’d love to read the entire book!

  50. Sallyw

    I look forward to reading this book, I already dislike the father for giving and taking away her new puppy. Definitely on my to read list.

  51. Enid Caccavelli

    What kind of father would be so cruel to his child? It’s one thing if they honestly decided a dog was not something the family could handle at the time but to let her pick one out, take it away on the pretense she would have to wait until her actual birthday, but to then just turn around and not give it to her at all??? Sick puppy is that dad!! Would love to read where this goes.

  52. L L

    sounds interesting

  53. Cecile Fleetwood

    Who would kill the perfect daughter? why, the perfect murderer! Can’t wait to read the rest of the book!

  54. Michael Carter

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    Yes, please enter me in this sweepstakes.
    Thanks —

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    Rosie’s Family were not what they seemed to be. Would really enjoy reading this book, and would love to win a book in the sweepstakes.

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    Every parent’s nightmare, their daughter goes missing and is later found dead. I haven’t read any other books by this author. I’m a huge fan of a good thriller and would really enjoy this book

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Comments are closed.