The Bone Readers
{{Short description|2016 Jacob Ross novel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title =
| name = The Bone Readers
| image =The Bone Readers cover.png
| image_size =
| border =
| alt =
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Jacob Ross
| audio_read_by =
| title_orig =
| orig_lang_code = en
| title_working =
| translator =
| illustrator =
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| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series = Camaho Quartet
| release_number =
| genre = Novel, crime fiction
| set_in = Caribbean and London
| publisher = Peepal Tree Press
| publisher2 =
| pub_date = 24 September 2016
| english_pub_date =
| published =
| media_type = Print: hardback
| pages = 224
| awards = Jhalak Prize
| isbn = 9781845233358
| isbn_note =
| oclc = 969574038
| dewey = 823.92
| congress = PR9275.G73 R678
| preceded_by = Pynter Bender
| followed_by = Black Rain Falling
| native_wikisource =
| wikisource =
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}}
The Bone Readers is a 2016 novel by Grenadan British author Jacob Ross, the second in his "Camaho Quartet."{{Cite news| first= Al |last=Creighton |work = Stabroek News| url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2021/06/20/sunday/arts-on-sunday/caribbean-disunity-the-impoverishment-of-caribbean-writers/|title=Caribbean disunity: The impoverishment of Caribbean writers|date=20 June 2021|access-date= 30 April 2022}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_plcDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Bone+Readers%22+ross|title=The Bone Readers|first=Jacob|last=Ross|date=30 July 2018|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=9780751574470 |via=Google Books}} In 2017, it won the inaugural Jhalak Prize.{{cite news |title=The Booktrekker: Grenada |url=https://glli-us.org/2021/06/20/the-booktrekker-grenada/ |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=Global Literature in Libraries Initiative |date=20 June 2021 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Review no 138: The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross (Grenada) |url=https://readingandwatchingtheworld.home.blog/2021/02/23/the-bone-readers-by-jacob-ross-grenada/ |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=Imogen is Reading and Watching the World: On Books, Film, Art & More |date=23 February 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Onwuemezi |first1=Natasha |title=Jacob Ross wins inaugural Jhalak Prize |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/jacob-ross-wins-inaugural-jhalak-prize-511411 |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=The Bookseller |date=17 March 2017 |language=En}} In 2022, The Bone Readers was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.{{Cite news|last=Sherwood|first=Harriet|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list|title=The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list|date=18 April 2022|newspaper=The Guardian}}
Plot
The novel is set on the island of Camaho, based on Ross's native Grenada (Kalinago: Camerhogne).{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=John Robert |title=Depth and drama in Ross's Grenadian crime fiction |url=https://repeatingislands.com/2020/05/11/depth-and-drama-in-rosss-grenadian-crime-fiction/ |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=Repeating Islands: News and commentary on Caribbean culture, literature, and the arts |date=11 May 2020 |language=en}}
Michael "Digger" Digson testifies in a murder case and is recruited into a plainclothes homicide squad led by the mysterious Chilman, who is obsessed with the disappearance of a young man several years ago. Digger is also researching a cold case: his mother's, who was murdered by police when he was a child.
Reception
The Bone Readers was praised in The Guardian by Bernardine Evaristo, who wrote: "Ross's characters are always powerfully delineated through brilliant visual descriptions, dialogue that trips off the tongue, and keenly observed behaviour. He excels at creating empathetic female characters. […] The Bone Readers is a page-turner, but its insights and language are equally testament to a literary novel of impressive depth and acuity."{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/28/bone-readers-jacob-ross-review-caribbean-sordid-underbelly|title=The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross review – into a Caribbean island's sordid underbelly|date=28 September 2016|work=The Guardian|last=Evaristo | first=Bernardine|author-link=Bernardine Evaristo|access-date=30 April 2020}}
It won the inaugural Jhalak Prize in 2017,{{cite news |title=Caribbean crime thriller wins inaugural prize for BAME writers |url=https://antiguaobserver.com/caribbean-crime-thriller-wins-inaugural-prize-for-bame-writers/ |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=The Daily Observer |date=20 March 2017}} with judge Musa Okwonga describing it as "by turns thrilling, visceral and meditative, and always cinematic", and Catherine Johnson saying that it "effortlessly draws together the past and the present, gender, politics and the legacy of colonialism in a top quality Caribbean set crime thriller".{{Cite web|url=https://www.peepaltreepress.com/books/bone-readers|title=The Bone Readers |website=www.peepaltreepress.com|access-date=20 April 2022}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/20/best-recent-crime-books-review-roundup|title=The best recent crime novels – review roundup|last=Wilson|first=Laura|date=20 March 2020|work=The Guardian|access-date=30 April 2022}} Co-founder of the prize and chair of judges Sunny Singh characterised the novel as "not only as an exemplar of the genre but for rising well above it".
In 2022, The Bone Readers was included on the Big Jubilee Read, a list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors produced to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.{{Cite web|last=Sherwood|first=Harriet|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list|title=The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list|date=18 April 2022|website=The Guardian|access-date=30 April 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4RNfHvd2sxNlHDFFqzTGVKc/the-big-jubilee-read-2012-2022|title=The Big Jubilee Read: Books from 2012 to 2022|website=BBC|date=17 April 2022|access-date=30 April 2022}}