Customer Reviews

Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Book 1)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Aurora "Roe" Teagarden is your typical librarian: thick, coke-bottle glasses, long brown hair, sensible librarian-like clothes, single, lives in a small town - you get the picture. She doesn't have much of a social life and has resigned herself to having her Saturday nights free. But, once a month, on Fridays, she meets with her fellow murder-mystery enthusaists and they discuss a real murder. This Friday it is Roe's turn to present the case of the Wallaces. She spent hours preparing and arrives a little early at the community center to make sure that everything is ready. However, she cannot find the woman who unlocked the building, laid out the cookies and coffee and set up the chairs. When she does find her, she wishes that she hadn't as she has been murdered and displayed in the kitchen in a gruesome fashion. Even though Roe is in shock, she cannot help but notice that this murder bears a startling resemblance to the Wallace case. Could one of the club members have taken their little hobby a little too far? When other bodies begin to pile up, all copycat murders from famous past crimes, Roe cannot help but wonder which victim she resembles...

This is a fun, short, easy mystery read that I sat down and read in a couple of hours. Roe is a likeable character whom most readers will relate to as being in her shoes at one time of their lives or another. The other characters are also fairly interesting, but not as fully fleshed out as I would like. Charlaine Harris doesn't really present the plot in such a way where you would be able to solve the mystery on your own with the clues presented so the ending has a surprise twist, but it was a nicely paced story. The romantic subplots were a little perfunctory, but added a nice touch to the story. I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it, but I really loved the Lily Bard series and highly recommend those books. Keep in mind that most of the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard books are out of print, but they are worth hunting down - especially the Lily Bard series!

I picked this up because I've totally adored Harris' Southern Vampire series and I figure anything she writes has got to be good. Real Murders does have a lot of the qualities that I love in the Southern Vampire series - a sense of place, a way of incorporating the quotidien, really perceptive one-liners that somehow manage to describe a character in a complex and subtle way. The small-town setting, the way she writes about people and manages to make them utterly normal while also extraordinary and fascinating is another similarity between the two series.

This book is more of a whodunit and it's got a fabulous premise: the Real Murders club is for people who are interested in true crime and get together to learn about various murders of the past together; then people start dying in ways that are obviously intended to re-create famous murders of the past...leading to the conclusion that the murderer happens to be a member of the club.

I don't think that the execution is nearly as good as the hook, however; maybe I don't read enough mystery novels, but I wasn't spotting the clues. The murderer seemed to remain a mystery for most of the novel because there were good reasons to suspect almost everyone and no reason to suspect one person more than another.

That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone else.

This book introduces us to Aurora Teagarden, an amusing, intrepid and self-deprecating almost-30 librarian. She shares her interest in historic murders with a group of crime buffs who have formed a group called Real Murders. They meet once a month to discuss murders and murderers of the past. Strangely enough, murders begin to occur which mirror these past murders and which include members of the group. Aurora teams up with the Arthur, a local policeman and member of Real Murders, and Robin Crusoe, a mystery writer, to solve the murder cases. No one is above suspicion, but the solution is a surprise. This is fun, light reading.

As I anxiously wait for the next installment of the Sookie Stackhouse books (late June 2008!) I reviewed other titles by Charlaine Harris including books 1 and 2 of the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. I bought the first two together in case I needed to read the 2nd book right away (and couldn't wait for 2 day shipping). I'm sorry to say I could have waited.

The pace is slow, the writing a little childish, and Ms. Harris never manages to capture interest with her plot or her characters.

I'll probably read more of these books when I need a predictable, formulaic read to help transition me to sleep... but I'll buy them used.

Back to counting the days until Sookie arrives.

With "Real Murders", Arkansas author Charlaine Harris introduces us to an unlikely heroine caught in a bizarre series of gruesome murders. Aurora Teagarden, local librarian, leads a calm, quiet existance but has one curious hobby--a fascination with sensational murders. She and several other townsfolk have formed "Real Murders", a discussion group dedicated to discussing famous murder cases. But among their members is a person whose interest in the details of the world's most sensational crimes is more than a mere curiosity--it is academic. At once amusing and chilling, "Real Muders" is an enthralling read that engages the reader in the small-town world of its characters and leaves them anxios for the next installment.

"Real Murders" by Charlaine Harris is the first book in the Aurora Teagarden mysteries. Aurora 'Roe' Teagarden is a librarian who belongs to a club called 'Real Murders'. On the night that Roe is set to give a presentation on the Wallace murders, she discovers a fellow club member dead. That's not the only problem. The woman killed is arranged exactly the way that Julia Wallace was years ago, down to the very last detail.

The club decides not to meet anymore, but it seems it is too late. Another murder takes place, this time copying another famous killing. Who is doing it? Is it the new neighbor and famous writer Robin Crusoe? Police officer Arthur Smith? Well, considering Roe is going out with both of them, she hopes not. But it could be anyone, and time is running out!

I loved this book, and it kept me guessing till the end. Don't forget to read the rest in this series. Next is A Bone To Pick: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Book 2, followed by Three Bedrooms, One Corpse: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, 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")

I love Sookie Stackhouse. I'm reasonably fond of Lily Bard. I'm not so keen on Harper Connelly (from "Grave Sight"). I mention this as a frame of reference, because I was deeply disappointed in this book about a likable librarian plunged into the midst of a series of real murders committed against the fellow members of a true-crime lecture society.

The book's engaging characters and interesting story line, typical of Harris, are not enough to make up for its threadbare plot. The murder mystery has an arbitrary, almost irrelevant solution. Far worse, Harris forces her heroine (and relatives) to violate every tenant of good sense in order to trump up a high-danger climax.

Compounding all this, the various relationships--which form the book's strongest appeal--are left completely unresolved. Sure, it's the beginning of a series, but in my opinion, a good series book leaves the barnyard door ajar. It shouldn't strand all the cows out in the pasture.

Overall, a diasppointing book from a talented writer who--with more effort--rivals the best of them.

Reviewed by Knevits Stephens

Aurora "Roe" Teagarden is 28 years old and single. She lives in Lawrence, Georgia, works as a librarian, and is a member of the Real Murders Club.

The Real Murders Club started about three years ago. A dozen or so people get together once a month to go over a famous murder case. They review the evidence and contemplate who did it and why, among other things. Or, sometimes they just watch a movie.

Tonight is Mamie Wright's night to open the meeting spot and set up chairs. Roe gets to the meeting and sees that Mamie's car is in the parking lot along with another car. The Wallace murder case is supposed to be the topic tonight, with Roe as leading the talk about the murder case. When the phone rang, Roe answered. Roes starts to worry about Mamie because of the unusual call, and searches for her friend. Roe finds Mamie dead, rearranged on the floor so that her killing represented the Wallace murder case.

Roe calls a meeting of the club members to her house. She believes that someone in the Real Murders club is the murderer. Nobody likes the concept and members start to leave-which leads to this being the last meeting of the Real Murders.

Now Roe is trying to piece together the clues and help the police as much as possible. Can Roe and the detectives find the killer and answer the question why? Is it a member of the club or is a psychopath on the loose?

This book kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was next.

Armchair Interviews says: Find an easy chair and start reading.

First I devoured all the available books in the Southern Vampire series. Excellent, but no new book until May! Next, I finished the 3 Harper Connely books. Also good, but no new book until later this year. Finally, I decided to give Aurora Teagarden a try, since I like Ms Harris' work so much. There is nothing supernatural or paranormal about this series, but Real Murders was just as entertaining as I'd hoped it would be. Finished in a few hours and will probably read the others in the series too. It reminds me of the old Angela Lansbury TV show...entertainment with a little murder and mayhem thrown into the mix, all neatly resolved in an hour's time.

"Real Murders" is a reprint of the first book in the wonderful Aurora Teagarden series. This series is probably the tamest that Harris has written; there are no vampires or werewolves, & Roe is a generally sunny character. As always, Harris uses a small town, southern setting (GA this time), & she creates a wonderful cast of characters.

The mystery itself is one that I found to be very interesting. There are a series of murders that resemble famous murder cases from the past. Though the subject matter could be grim, Roe's disposition makes this series heartwarming.