Customer Reviews

A Bone to Pick (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Book 2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When Aurora "Roe" Teagarden attends Jane Engle's funeral, it is more of a kindly gesture to someone who used to belong to the Real Murders club with her before the club stopped meeting. Roe considered Jane a friend, but didn't really know her that well. So she is startled when Jane's lawyer informs her that she is the heir to Jane's estate. Suddenly, Roe goes from scraping by on a part-time librarian's salary to an heiress with a home, nice jewelry and $550,000 in savings. Roe isn't quite sure what to do with herself and her newfound wealth. However, she realizes that all is not as rosy as it seems when Jane's lawyer keeps hinting that there may be some problem that she needs to solve for Jane. When Roe goes to check out Jane's house, it has been broken into and searched, but nothing was stolen. Roe is determined to figure out the secret and eventually discovers Jane's hiding place and pulls out - a human skull. As Roe waffles between handing the skull over to the police or tossing it in the river, her life takes a few unexpected turns. Her ex-boyfriend, a police officer, moves in across the street with his new, very pregnant wife; she starts dating a minister; her mother gets married; her best friends gets engaged; her new neighbors are throwing welcoming parties for her; she inherits a cat who soon has kittens; everyone in town is gossiping about her relationship with Jane and her inheritance - the list goes on and on. Needless to say, Roe doesn't spend a whole lot of time investigating who the owner of the skull was until the rest of the skeleton is discovered at the end of the street...

This is the second installment in the Aurora Teagarden mystery series (Real Murders is #1) and it is a pleasant, fast read. I read it in a couple of hours and enjoyed it, but it isn't anything that is very memorable. The mystery is rather lacking because we don't know who the skull belongs to, but Roe doesn't really go out and try to figure out who it belongs to - the answer just kind of falls in her lap at the end of the story. Charlaine Harris does introduce some interesting new characters, however, and she keeps up with a few of the old ones from Real Murders so it was nice to see time passing in the small town. I would have liked to see a bit more of a plot regarding the mystery side of this "mystery", but this book is more of a fiction novel with a little bit of a mystery on the side. Still an enjoyable read, but I must say that the Lily Bard series (Shakespeare's Landlord, Shakespeare's Champion, etc.) is far superior than the Aurora Teagarden series.

I have been looking forward to reading "A Bone to Pick" to read how Aurora Teagarden comes into her inheritance. The story opens with Aurora Teagarden attending weddings for both her mother and Arthur Smith and the funeral of Jane Engle. Aurora then inherits Jane's house and finds a sinister surprise inside.
Aurora, as always, has lots of character detail and internal dialogue (love her hair : >), but
I was disappointed to find little charactization for benefactress and Real Murders ex-cohort Jane Engle. There was also little sleuthing in this story. Aurora gets to know her new neighbors through a couple of social events, but does not beat the street to try to solve the mystery. This installment shares the great atmosphere and the small-town setting with the rest of the series, but I didn't buy the mechanics of the story. Neither did I appreciate that Jane Engle just "didn't have time" to put things back the way she found them.
"A Bone to Pick" is effective in that it made me want to read the rest of the series, but mostly to fill in the blanks this story leaves and see if Harris' characterizations develop further.

"A Bone To Pick" by Charlaine Harris is the second book in her series about librarian Aurora Teagarden. (The first being Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 1) In this mystery, Aurora aka Roe is stunned when she inherits a house and a large sum of money from elderly Jane Engle after her death. That's not the only thing Jane left her- there's a human skull in the window seat. On top of that, the people that have just moved in across the street from Jane's house are none other than Roe's ex-boyfriend Arthur Smith and his new pregnant wife.

After some snooping around, Roe finds out that a couple of people in the neighborhood have gone missing. One went out for diapers and never came home; another skipped out on his rent and left during the night. Was one of them killed? Is it their skull? Roe is determined to find out!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I fully recommend the rest in this series. Next is Three Bedrooms, One Corpse: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, followed by The Julius House: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 4, Dead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 5, "Fool And His Honey: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 6, Last Scene Alive (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries), and Poppy Done To Death: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 8.

Or if you'd like to try a different series by Charlaine Harris, check out the Lily Bard mysteries.(Shakespeare's Landlord (The First Lily Bard Mystery), "Shakespeare's Champion", Shakespeare's Christmas", "Shakespeare's Trollop", and Shakespeare's Counselor")

Or her new supernatural Southern Vampire Mysteries (Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 1), "Living Dead in Dallas", "Club Dead", "Dead to the World", "Dead as a Doornail", "Definitely Dead", and "All Together Dead")

In this second book of the series, Aurora Teagarden inherits a house and a substantial amount of money from Jane Engle, a former high school librarian. Aurora is surprised at this bequest since she had not counted Jane as a close friend. However, she becomes even more surprised at what she discovers in Jane's house. She becomes acquainted with the neighbors on Jane's street while assessing the possibility that they were involved in a crime which she thinks was committed in the neighborhood. A light and enjoyable read.

I am a fan of Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly Series. It is imaginative and quirky, but grounded. The first one, especially: Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 1) The last book in that series took a nasty turn and another hasn't come out for me to give the series one more shot. I'm not a fan of vampire stories, so this Teagarden series seemed like a perfect compromise. My thought was that I'd get Harris's tight, clear, wonderful writing and a story with neither overtones of incest nor vampires.

That part is true, but I also didn't get much of a story...so far.

It's not a spoiler to say that after "Roe" receives an inheritance, the police are not called in after two major things happen. This really seemed incredulous and contrived. It defied logic and killed the realism that the police would not be involved if only as an occasional annoyance to Roe getting on with her sleuthing. I'm sure I'm not the only mystery reader who tires occasionally of the "police detective versus the protagonist" line. However, these stories involve murder and the police are typically at least on the periphery when a crime is committed or a murder is discovered. Skillful writers make the stories credible but keep the police out of the way, as needed. Even a cozy needs some logic.

I enjoyed the first few pages of this book so much that I ordered the others in the series right away. It had a good start and I figured I'd finish quickly and wanted the others to keep going. Well, by page 33 or so, I tried to stop the order, but you know how fast Amazon moves.

I'm not sure I'll finish this one. Maybe I gave up too soon or expected too much. But as they say, "Time is too short to read a bad book." Her Harper Connelly series demonstrated that Harris is a skilled writer with vivid characterizations and usually tight plots.

You may enjoy this book. Maybe it's not as bad as I think or won't be bad to you. Can you tell I don't like to criticize authors? :) Just be aware that if you like tight logical cozies, you may have to put that aside just to enjoy her impressive, expressive prose and interesting turn of phrase. Sometimes those elements are missing in cozies. Pick Your Poison. Ha. The name of another book in an interesting cozy. Check it out, especially if you like Texas. The cover art belies a good story in this book:Pick Your Poison (Yellow Rose Mysteries)

I enjoyed this book probably more than I did the first Roe Teadgarden book, "Real Murders". I thought Roe was better fleshed out and a lot more fun to read about. She felt real to me, this time around, which was a bit of my gripe about "Real Murders". Here Roe Teagarden finds herself mourning the quick turnaround of losing her boyfriend and then finding him married, and his wife pregnant. Roe is hurt, she is jealous, and she is just starting to emerge from that 'mourning' period. About this time, Roe learns she has inheirited a house and a bunch of money from her recently deseased friend Jane. Seems 'friend' is a bit of an understatement. They were more like good acquaintences. But when Roe finds a skull in her new house, she learns Jane has also left her with a new mystery to solve. This was not a long book and reading it was very enjoyable. I was happy with the pace, and the characters, and even the mystery seemed more interesting than the previous one. But the ending, was just kind of boring. There was a lot of stuff going on, which was good, but the actual killer was revealed quickly and it was dull in my opinion. There was no suprise revelations, or reasonings and felt almost like an afterthought. I recall feeling somewhat the same way upon the conclusion to "Real Murders". I was disappointed, I guess. Charlaine Harris can write, really, really write. I just don't feel like the actual conclusion was fleshed out enough. This was just another average cozy and what could have been more, in the end, just wasn't.

A Bone to Pick (1992) is the second mystery novel in the Aurora Teagarden series, following Real Murders. In the previous volume, Roe went out to look for her half brother Phillip and was caught by the killers. They broke her collar bone and bruised a few ribs. Then Jed and Robin saved her from the killers.

In this novel, Aurora Teagarden was born and raised in the small town of Lawrenceton, Georgia, in the suburbs of Atlanta. She is the only child of Aida. Roe works at the local library.

Aida Brattle Teagarden is Roe's mother. She owns Select Realty, a very successful real estate firm. She is dating John Queensland.

Arthur Smith is a Burglary Detective in the Lawrenceton Police Department. He has been dating Roe.

Lynn Liggett is a Homicide Detective in the Lawrenceton Police Department. Roe knows her from the Real Murders investigation.

Amina Day is a longstanding friend of Roe. She has dated most of the eligible boys in Lawrenceton. Then she moves to Houston and starts dating men there.

Jane Engle is an older woman who had been a librarian. She is a friend of Roe and also a member of the Real Murders Club.

Bubba Sewell is a Lawrenceton attorney. He acts like a good old boy, but has sharp wits. He has been married twice and is now dating Lizanne Buckley.

Aubrey Scott is priest of St. James, an Episcopal church. His wife had died three years ago of cancer.

Torrance Rideout lives next door to Jane. He is married to Marcia, a homemaker.

In this story, Roe has been to three weddings and one funeral in the past year. The first wedding was for Lynn and Arthur. This had come as a surprise for Roe, who had been dating him before the engagement. Lynn is clearly pregnant at the wedding.

The second marriage was for Aida and John. Amina had come to town to attend the wedding and announced her own plans to be married sometime soon. Roe had been a bridesmaid for Amina's first wedding and is asked to do it again.

The third marriage was for Amina and Hugh Price. Although the couple live in Houston, the wedding is held in Lawrenceton. Roe is the only bridesmaid.

The funeral -- occurring between the second and third wedding -- was for Jane. Although none had known, she had been ill for a while. Jane only had one relative, her aging cousin Parnell Engle.

After the burial, Jane's attorney tells her that she is named in the will. Roe follows Bubba back to his office and rides up on the elevator with him. After rummaging on his desk -- which Roe thinks is an affection -- he finds the folder. Then Bubba tells her that Jane left everything to her.

That is, everything except five thousand dollars and the car to Parnell and his wife Leah if they take Jane's cat Madeline. Roe asks how much remains and is told that Jane has three thousand dollars in a checking account. Roe asks if that is all and Bubba tells her about the bank account with half a million in it.

When Roe reaches her townhouse, Aubrey is leaving a note on her backdoor. Roe invites him into the house and fixes him a seven and seven. Finally Aubrey asks her for a date.

The following morning, Roe meets Bubba in front of Jane's house. He hands her the keys and she opens the front door. Pillows and other items are scattered all over the floor.

Someone has broken into the house. They find that a window has been broken in a back bedroom. But nothing seems to be missing. Even the TV and microwave are still there.

Apparently no one else has keys to the house itself. Torrance has keys to the garage storeroom, but not to the house. Bubba notifies the police, tells Roe to call if she needs anything, and then leaves the house to her.

Roe takes note of the pattern of disorder. Only large drawers and cabinets and some luggage have been emptied. The intruder appears to be searching for a large object.

Torrance -- who has cut the grass while Jane is in the hospital -- comes over to offer to mow the lawn the following week. Then he mentions that someone had been digging holes in the back yard. Roe considers that a large object might have been buried in the yard.

After thinking things over, Roe decides that she knows where the object is hidden. She takes some tools with her and rips out the carpet over the window seat. She finds a skull under the hinged lid.

Then Arthur and Lynn move in across the street. Marcia passes on some neighborhood gossip. Madeline -- Jane's cat -- returns home and has kittens.

This tale has Roe boxing Jane's clothing for Goodwill, cleaning the house, and thinking about the skull. She discovers that the carpet had been installed three years ago. And she discovers two candidates for the skull.

The story leaves Roe feeling guilty and exposed. The next installment -- Three Bedrooms, One Corpse -- brings a new man into Roe's life. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Harris fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of old killings, mental disorders, and inquisitive women.

-Bill Jordin

Aurora Teagarden, part time librarian, is barely over the huge wedding-of-the-year event where her mother, a prominent realtor, married a wealthy bank manager when she learns that an old friend and former member of her "Real Murders" club, Jane Engle, has passed away. And as she's leaving the cemetery, Roe learns from Jane's attorney that except for a small bequest to a cousin she never liked, Jane has left her entire estate to Roe. That was quite a surprise, and finding out the amount of the inheritance (a house and over half a million dollars in cash) was an even bigger one, but it's the skull that Roe finds hidden in the window seat in Jane's living room that is a downright shock. Along with a terse note in one of her many real life murder books ("I didn't do it."), Roe feels determined to try to figure out who the skull belongs to and why Jane had it in the first place, but she's hesitant to turn everything directly over to the police because she feels she owes it to Jane to keep her name out of the headlines if at all possible.

In this second installment of the series, Ms. Harris has hit her stride. The characters that were introduced in "Real Murders" are fleshed out more fully and Roe has become someone I can identify with. As soon as Roe did the little jig in the privacy of the elevator at the lawyer's office building after she learned of her inheritance, I knew she and I were going to get along just fine. I'm looking forward to more books in this series.

Like some reviewers have mentioned, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries are not actually mysteries. Rather, these books are about Roe's life, with a little bit of a mystery thrown in, mostly in the end of the books. I personally didn't mind that. Charlaine Harris has that special talent of describing everyday life of an ordinary person (in this case, Aurora's) and lives and gossip of a small town in a very entertaining manner. Although this series lacks uniqueness of the supernatural world described in the Southern Vampire series, it is still very engaging, and I will continue reading it.

A nice easy read with an interesting story line. If you have read the Sookie Stackhouse books first and enjoyed the steamy romance you will be disappointed with the romance here.