jbronderbookreviews

Book Description:

A pit of corpses. An ancient cult. A quest for redemption that could leave her dead… New Mexico, 1952. Archaeology grad student Ruby Delgado is plagued by guilt after losing her son. So when her latest excavation drops her down a sinkhole filled with suspiciously mutilated bodies, she’s driven to bring the murderer to justice. But when digging deeper brings her dangerously close to a sinister religious sect, she could be their next sacrifice… Discovering some of the victims were crucified, Ruby pushes hard to give the evidence to the authorities. But when her trail crosses the path of a beaten man left for dead in the desert, she realizes she may be the only person who can save the community. Can Ruby stop the sacrifices and slay her inner demons, or will hers be the next body laid to rest? Bones of the Redeemed is a hair-raising standalone Southwestern mystery. If you like complex heroines, cult conflict, and hard-won redemption, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s grisly tale.

Author Interview

• Please tell us how you came to be a writer.

I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember. When I was seven years old I got a toy typewriter for Christmas. Although it was a toy, it still worked and I banged away on it for as long as it held up. Then in middle school and high school I started journaling and writing poetry. I majored in English Lit in college, so there was a lot of writing involved with my major. I finished as much of my required coursework early so I could focus on writing exclusively my senior year. I took three independent studies with three of my favorite professors. One was in short story writing, one in playwriting, and one in screenwriting.

I wrote my first novel right out of college, but it was sort of an experiment and that book will never see the light of day! After my first child was born I started my second and third novels – real attempts this time. The third novel got me my first agent. We worked together for a couple of years getting it just right, but then he left the agency. I was heart-broken. The agency assigned me to someone else, but she just didn’t have the passion for my work as the first agent. The book didn’t sell, and I became a very busy mommy. I put my novel writing on hold for about a decade and a half, and started back up when our youngest was a junior in high school. I’ve been working on novels ever since. I can’t imagine not writing now.

• How did you do research for your book?

The research for this book started long ago. So long ago, I forgot where exactly I got some of the information. My late father, who was such an inspiration to me, told me about the Penitente Brotherhood, a lay confraternity of Spanish-American Roman Catholic men who are active in New Mexico and Colorado. Bones of the Redeemed is very loosely inspired by this brotherhood, but takes their practices quite a bit farther. My book poses the question of what might happen if leadership in one of these types of organizations went off the rails—which, as we know can happen in deeply religious communities.

I did a lot of reading on the Brotherhood, and I also interviewed a couple of Catholic priests, one whose father and some of his brothers were members of the Penitente Brotherhood here in New Mexico.

For the archaeology aspect of the book, I actually took some graduate courses in anthropology and archaeology at Millsap’s College in Jackson, Mississippi when I lived there. I had a very early draft of the novel and I asked my professor to read it. He helped me tweak where necessary. More recently, I have a friend who is a retired archaeologist and she reviewed the book for me as well.

• What is your favorite non-reading activity?

Horses have been a part of my life since I was about ten years old. I feel such a connection with them. Aside from college and my early married life, I’ve always had at least one horse, and I’ve had up to seven at one time. Right now, I have four, and they have a forever home with me. One of them is completely retired, and she is just a pasture ornament, but I ride the other three. I used to compete, but now I just enjoying being around them. I’ve been practicing Natural Horsemanship for the last decade, and I keep learning that I have so much more to learn! It’s very similar to writing that way.

• Do you believe you write the kind of book you’d want to read?

Absolutely. I believe that if a writer is not completely invested and interested in what they are writing, no one else will be. Writing a novel is hard enough! If there wasn’t enjoyment in the challenge and process, I don’t think it would be worth doing, at least for me.

• What is the best compliment a reader has ever given you?

My favorite compliments go something like this: “I loved your book so much. It was so interesting! I had no idea that (fill in the blank) happened, or that (character from real life) did that, so I had to go look it up myself and find out more about it, or her, or him.”

I love when I have inspired someone to dig deeper, educate themselves more, or to unlock an area of interest for the reader that they never knew they had. It’s like I’ve created an instant connection with that person and we have something in common. It’s that feeling of being in conversation with someone and you both keep saying, “I know! Right?” It’s so fun.

• As an author – what do you enjoy most about writing process? What feels like a chore?

It’s really fun for me to create a world and characters from my imagination. When I taught middle school I used to tell my students that when you write, you can be or do anything you want. It’s really so liberating. I also enjoy when I get into the zone and the words just tumble out. Characters will do and say things I never expected and then I find myself saying, “How interesting! Now, what am I going to do with that?” It’s always fun and always a challenge. The chore part, if you could call it that, is all of the publicity, promotion, and marketing that come along with the author’s life. That part alone could be a full-time job in itself, and it takes me away from what I really love which is living inside my stories. However, it is a necessity and it can be fun in its own way. It gives me the opportunity to interact with readers and get to know people I never would have known if I wasn’t an author. So there’s definitely an upside to being a business person as well as an author.

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I would like to thank iRead Book Tours for the opportunity to be part of this tour and share this book.