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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Roe's getting back on the track..., August 10, 2002
and it's typical that it needed a murder to rouse her. This series seems to have recovered a little of the light-heartedness that had dimmed over the last few books, but it is NOT (despite idiot jacket blurbs) a "cozy." The plot is thinner than is typical in a Harris mystery -- mostly, I think,so readers can get to know the "new" Roe -- a woman who was widowed with shocking suddenness as an almost incidental incident in a series of nasty crimes. Harris does an excellent job with Roe's gradual recovery, though she focuses exclusively on Martin Bartell's death and ignores the trauma and misery that must have resulted from the attendant crimes. And what would be sufficient to distract Aurora Teagarden in her half-frozen state? Murders old and new, of course. The movies are coming to town, and they are filming a script based on a true-crime book dealing with a horrid series of murders that plagued Lawrenceton many years earlier. Roe had been instrumental in exposing the killers in that case (nearly dying herself in the process). Roe is NOT happy about this movie, which tastelessly commercializes the deaths of people she knew and cared about, but the rest of the town is star struck. The movie provides an excellent vehichle for bringing Roe's sullen and immature stepson, Barrett, and her one-time, almost-boyfriend, Robin (author of the true crime book), back to town. However, the movie set is not where Roe finds important information about the new crimes in Lawrenceton. It's her library's collection that holds some of the keys to the mysteries. The murder itself has a fairly wispy plot with not much of anything to detect; the associated crimes are somewhat more melodramatic. If you've been reading this series, you'll enjoy the development of several long-time characters, as well as Roe's deepening relationship with her mother. This book does a great job in setting up the next one, and it is absorbing to read. If you are new to the series, though, do NOT read this one first. It doesn't quite stand alone.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Roe is back, and it's good to see her, March 18, 2003
Charlaine Harris is an interesting mystery writer, in part because she is willing to take chances in her books. In Roe's last outing, A Fool and His Honey, an abrupt death near the end of the book brings the reader up short. We are not used to having sympathetic, continuing characters die in mystery fiction. But, of course, life is like that. In this outing, the mystery situation is pretty farfetched, but Harris makes it enjoyable, by bringing us along as Roe Teagarden re-enters her life following the death of her beloved husband. A fast, fun read, but not the best of the series. Still--worth your time.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating story and lead character - highly recommended., January 26, 2007
Diminutive librarian Aurora Teagarden learns that Robin Crusoe, a true crime writer, she worked with many years ago to solve a string of murders is returning to Lawrenceton, GA. He is coming to film a movie based on his book about the murders. Of course, when the crew arrives, additional murders are in the future.
This is a mystery; in reality they're a number of mysteries in the book. In terms of the protagonist's extended description of her emotions and social interactions, there might be a temptation to classify this as a cozy mystery, except for the tasteful and non-gratuitous descriptions of a number of sexual encounters.
The author has no dearth of characters. In the first chapter alone she identifies, by name, between one and two-dozen characters, and in the next two chapters she probably doubles that number. New named characters are added in subsequent chapters. This has the effect of making the story seem real. It also means that unless you have a very good memory, you will need to make some notes about the characters when they first appear, as there is no indication as to which will prove important later on.
Unusually for a mystery, here the protagonist's personality was as interesting as the main plot. Ms. Harris' has the unique ability to make you feel that Aurora is a real, rather than fictional, person and talking to you as a close friend. She presents Aurora so that she's easy to like, and wish you had her as a next-door neighbor.
Considering the high quality of the writing, there were some unexpected, albeit minor, editing flaws, e.g., "of" instead of "for", "a on a" instead of just "on a", "that" instead of "than", etc. These proved to be only minor reading distractions.
This is not a "thrill-a-minute" mystery with heart stopping action, although there is a fair amount of action. Rather it is an exceptionally well-written story with outstanding in-depth character development and a satisfying mystery.
This is a novel I can recommend without hesitation. It is one I found find hard to put down; fortunately, it can be easily read in one sitting.
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