Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 2) (Kindle Edition)

by Charlaine Harris (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
At the start of Harris's winning second supernatural caper to feature Harper Connelly (after 2005's Grave Sight), a skeptical anthropology professor, Clyde Nunley, tests Harper's gift of clairvoyance in a historic Memphis cemetery, where Harper correctly senses a fresh corpse in the wrong grave. Strangely, the body turns out to be a missing 12-year-old girl, Tabitha Morgenstern, whom Harper failed to locate in Nashville on a case two years earlier. The hotel suite of Harper and her manager and stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, both of whom fall under suspicion, becomes a magnet for a medley of amusing characters, including Memphis cops, Tabitha's assorted relatives and a drunken Clyde Nunley, who, shortly after accusing Harper of fraud, is found dead in the same grave as Tabitha. Peppered with the author's trademark deadpan wit, this book should help make Harper and Tolliver as popular as Sookie Stackhouse, the heroine of Harris's vampire mystery series (Definitely Dead, etc.). Author tour. (Sept. 26)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
After Harper Connelly was struck by lightning as a teenager, she developed an unusual ability--she is able to locate bodies and see how the victims died, although she cannot identify the murderers. Harper and her stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, are at Bingham College doing a demonstration for a class, identifying bodies and causes of death in an old graveyard, when Harper finds the body of Tabitha Morgenstern, a kidnapped young girl she had failed to locate months ago. To clear their names--the police consider Harper and Tolliver suspects in the crime--they set out to find the real killer. Harper and Tolliver are likable, well-developed characters whose unhappy past binds them together as they care for one another and work together. Harper craves normalcy as she wonders whether her talent is a gift or a curse. The supernatural elements are integrated believably into the plot in this engrossing mystery, the second in a series. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 203 KB
• Print Length: 295 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; 1st edition (March 3, 2007)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000O76OBI
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #654 in Kindle Store (See Bestsellers in Kindle Store)

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• This is item 2 in The Harper Connelly Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent sequel, September 28, 2006

By	ellen "ellen in atlanta" (Atlanta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I must tell you I didn't quite like Grave Sight, the debut book of this series. But, this sequel, Grave Surprise, fell into place and looks to be another great series for Harris.
Harper and her half-brother Tolliver tried to find Tabitha Morgenstern in the past, and while doing a demonstration in a Memphis cemetery 2 years later, find her in an old grave. The mystery deepens as the police, FBI, and family of the lost girl as well as Harper and Tolliver deal with the mystery of how did the child end up from Nashville to Memphis.
The relationship between Harper and Tolliver is believable, though complex. What I felt in the shadows of the first book was confirmed in this book. The writing is crisp and well paced. The only thing I don't like in any book is longer chapters. But if that is the only minus..no prob.
I will look forward to more in this series.
And the Southern Vampire series we all love.
Grave Surprise is a good read.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tighter Mystery, Good Read, October 3, 2006

By	Sires (It's a Toss Up Right Now) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I think Ms. Harris has found her footing with this second mystery in this series. While I enjoyed and recommnended the first book, the mystery was a bit all over the place. However, in this one she has created a tighter mystery that is both a bit ghastly and intriguing. I guessed who before the end but not exactly why.

Harper and Tolliver are interesting characters and I think bringing in Xzylda and Manfred was a very good idea. I hope they appear again in the future. Harris has a way of surprising the reader with who the good guys in the world are.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unexpected Detection, July 30, 2007

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Grave Surprise (2006) is the second fantasy mystery novel in the Harper Connelly series, following Grave Sight. In the previous volume, the final confrontation and shootout exposes the secrets of almost everybody. Harper and Tolliver are lucky to get out of town alive.

In this novel, Harper is hired to give a demonstration for an occult studies class in a newly documented graveyard in Memphis, Tennessee. The contract is issued by Bingham College for the class of Professor Clyde Nonley. As far as Harper is concerned, the Professor is a professional jerk.

The graveyard is on the grounds of the college and a detailed list of burials and causes of death had been discovered about three months previously. At first, the professor enjoys directing Harper from grave to grave, but her detailed answers to his queries are beginning to upset his preconceptions. Then he directs her to a grave up against the fence around the cemetery.

At first, Harper declares the occupant to be a young girl and the professor gleefully states that she is wrong. Then Harper notices that another set of bones lies in a coffin below the girl's body. Then she suddenly recognizes the identity of the most recent body.

Tabitha Morgenstern had disappeared in Nashville about eighteen months prior to her rediscovery. Harper had been called in a month after the disappearance and had followed every possible lead within the Nashville area before giving up on the case. Maybe the body had been in Memphis even before she had started her search.

In this story, Joel Morgenstern and his first wife were originally from Memphis, but had moved to Nashville during their marriage. Whitney Morgenstern birthed Victor and then died from cancer in Nashville. Two years later, Joel married Diane and she raised her stepson from a baby. Then their daughter Tabitha was born in Nashville.

Since Harper had only known the Morgensterns in Nashville, she is definitely surprised to learn that the family is now living in Memphis. Joel had apparently brought his wife back home about a year ago. Since then, Diane has become pregnant and is expecting a son. She is very close to birthing the baby.

The Morgensterns are very grateful to Harper for finally finding the body of their daughter. They invite Harper and Tolliver over for lunch to share the food offerings from their friends. There Harper meets other members of the family, including Fred Hart, the father of Whitney and Felicia. Of course, both Harper and Tolliver know Felicia Hart as Victor's aunt. They also meet Joel's parents -- Judy and Ben -- and his brother David.

Harper and Victor had previously shared a moment of shared grief in Nashville, so he confides several bits of information with her at the luncheon. Interrupted before he can finish his confession, Harper is pleased that Victor later shows up at the hotel. Unhappily, so does his uncle David, who speaks somewhat coarsely at Harper and gets punched in the stomach by Tolliver.

This story seems to be a setup, for Tabitha had obviously been moved from another grave. Who had instigated the hiring of Harper to read the occupants of the old cemetery? Their only lead, Professor Nonley, is killed shortly after Tabitha's exhumation and then placed in the open grave.

This case reminds Harper of her missing sister Cameron. She had vanished while on her way home from school. Only her backpack had been recovered, despite years of searching by Harper. At least Tabitha's body had been found to provide closure for her parents.

Since this reviewer tends to become absorbed into the story, the conclusion came as a surprise. However, it would seem to be more obvious by hindsight. Harper should have been savvy enough to sense the murderer much earlier from personal contacts. Or maybe the truth is just easier to see after the facts are laid out for inspection. After all, Harper is not able to read the living as well as she does the dead.

One wonders why so many reviewers insist on comparing the author's different series, often to the determent of this series? Often authors start new series to try different ideas and maybe different treatments. So many reviewers of the first book in this series rejected it because of its dissimilarities with prior series. Should the author just keep on writing the same storyline long after the enjoyment has withered away? At least this volume seems to have been accepted so far without cries of dejection from disappointed reviewers.

Highly recommended for Harris fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of esoteric talents, personal development, and slowly budding romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin