Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 3) [Paperback]

Charlaine Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 1999

What makes Charlaine Harris's Lily Bard novels stand out among traditional cozy mysteries is the decidedly noirish spin she puts on the seemingly typical charming southern town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, and on her heroine. Lily Bard, a karate devotee by choice and a cleaning woman by trade, is a woman with a dark past; she's fiercely protective of her independence and reserved about herself. In short, Lily makes a refreshing, compelling amateur sleuth.

In Shakespeare's Christmas, Lily's third appearance, she heads home to Bartley, Arkansas--always an uncomfortable scenario for the introverted Lily--for her sister Varena's Christmas wedding. But Lily's got more to worry about than being a bridesmaid for a sister to whom she's no longer close. Soon after she arrives in Bartley, Lily's private-detective boyfriend shows up too, and not just for moral support: He's investigating a four-year-old unsolved kidnapping. Try as she might, Lily can't help but get involved when she discovers that the case hits dangerously close to home--for Varena's new husband is the widowed father of a girl bearing a remarkable resemblance to the vanished child.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Harris, author of the Aurora Teagarden cozies, adds a touch of grit to her books featuring briskly efficient, 31-year-old Arkansas cleaning lady Lily Bard. Lily hides a traumatic past under a prickly exterior, but, in the series' third book (after Shakespeare's Champion, 1997), this karate expert lowers her defenses just long enough to reconcile with her family and help solve a series of grisly murders. Returning to her home town of Bartley (a stone's throw from her residence in Shakespeare, Ark.) for her sister Varena's wedding, Lily is plunged headlong into an eight-year-old kidnapping investigation after her lover and confidant, Jack Leeds, a PI with a questionable past, arrives to follow up an anonymous tip that the kidnapper and the missing girl are both in Bartley. When the town's beloved family practitioner, his nurse and a young mother are bludgeoned to death, suspicion falls on Varena's fiance—a widower who just happens to have an eight-year-old daughter. The investigation intensifies, and Lily uses her family connections and her impeccable cleaning skills to ferret out some crucial information. Harris tells a forceful story with a complex, flawed heroine who is wary of emotional attachments. The denizens of Bartley—the shrewd sheriff; old high-school classmates with long memories; Lily's loving but overprotective parents—form a memorable gallery of secondary characters. Harris's blend of cozy style with more hard-boiled elements isn't always smooth, but it's interesting to see her working toward a deeper complexity.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

At the first appearance of the maid Lily Bard in Shakespeare's Landlord , we predicted crime fiction's first cleaning-lady series. It's nice to be on the money (at least once in a while), for here is Lily in her third adventure. And she's in rare form, too, as she steels herself to visit her family on the occasion of her sister Varena's wedding. Lily, physically and psychologically scarred by a horrifying sexual assault years before, still finds it hard to attend social events as she struggles with her wariness and distrust of all people. But she is overwhelmingly happy when her PI friend Jack Leeds shows up for the prenuptial festivities. Jack is on a case--an unsolved kidnapping of a small baby some years back, a baby that might very well be the eight-year-old daughter of Varena's fiance . Lily does the only thing she can--help Jack resolve the case before the wedding. Lily Bard is one of the best-drawn and most compelling characters in contemporary mystery fiction--complex, smart, streetwise, tough. Add tight plotting and a smooth style, and it's no surprise that Harris has reached a new high. Don't miss it. Stuart Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dell (November 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440613833
• ISBN-13: 978-0440613831
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,638,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charlaine Harris (born November 25, 1951 in Tunica, Mississippi) is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over twenty years. She was raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and, later, teenage angst, she wrote plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She began to write books a few years later.
After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched a lighthearted series "starring" Georgia librarian Aurora Teagarden, with Real Murders, a Best Novel nominee for the 1990 Agatha Awards. Harris wrote eight Aurora titles. In 1996, she released the first of the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard, a karate student who makes her living cleaning houses. Shakespeare's Counselor, the fifth--and last-- was printed in fall 2001.
After Shakespeare, Harris created The Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series about a telepathic waitress who works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. The first of these, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series, which now numbers nine titles, has been released worldwide.
Sookie Stackhouse proved to be so popular that Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, announced he would undertake the production of a new show for HBO based upon the books. He wrote and directed the pilot episode for that series, True Blood, which premiered in September of 2008. It was an instant success and was quickly picked up for a second season.
In October 2005, Harris's new mystery series about a young woman named Harper Connelly debuted with the release of Grave Sight. Harper has the ability to determine the cause of death of any body. There are now three Harper titles (GRAVE SIGHT, GRAVE SURPRISE, AN ICE COLD GRAVE) with a 4th (GRAVE SECRET) to be released in 2009.
Harris has also co-edited three very popular anthologies with her friend Toni L.P. Kelner. The anthologies feature stories with an element of the supernatural, and the submissions come from a rare mixture of mystery and urban fantasy writers.
Professionally, Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League. She is a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, and alternates with Joan Hess as president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance. Personally, Harris is married and the mother of three. She lives in a small town in Southern Arkansas and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Holidays Can Be Murder..., January 23, 2003

By 

Silmarwen (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the third book in the Lily Bard mystery series and it takes the reader out of Shakespeare, Arkansas to Lily's hometown. Lily is less than thrilled about going home for the holidays, especially when her sister's wedding is involved. She loves her family, but things just haven't been the same since she was violently assaulted years ago. To add to her notoriety, Lily manages to nab a purse natcher within a few days of her arrival and then is the first to walk in on a brutal double homicide. Before the buzz even begins to die down, Lily's detective boyfriend Jack Leeds shows up at the wedding rehearsal. Much as Lily would like to think that Jack showed up to offer her his moral support in her time of need, she knows better. Jack is investigating an eight-year-old kidnapping and the trail leads right to Lily's hometown - and her sister's widowed fiance. With only three days before the wedding and corpses piling up all over town, Lily must work fast to clean up the messy case before her sister commits...marriage!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think Charlaine Harris should be congratulated for her fantastic characterization and plot pacing. Many reviewers critized this book for having Lily be too soft and/or too much of her and too little of the mystery. They seem to have completely missed the point. Lily is softer in this book because she is at home and is different there. Everyone acts slightly differently when they go home, especially when they have been away for a long time, as Lily has been. As far as there being too much Lily and too little mystery, I thought that this book gave the reader a chance to learn a little bit more about Lily and what makes her tick. When you are reading a novel that is from a first person point of view, you should expect to hear a lot about the lead character - that is the whole point of having a lead character. Anyway, enough complaining - I just don't understand why everyone didn't love the book as much as I did! Buy this one while it is in print - it is a keeper!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great cozy with a dark edge!, February 7, 2000

By 

Maria Y. Lima "Chickwriter" (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

Once again, the complex world of Lily Bard shows that, although you can go home again, you'd better watch out what happens once you get there. This powerful third novel in the Lily Bard saga explores more of Lily's past, as well as her relationships with her family - most of whom would rather forget what happened to her. Charlaine Harris continues to entertain and enthrall us while weaving a great story. I can't wait for the 4th installment of this most excellent series.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ho ho ho..., June 5, 2005

By 

M. I. "krushedvelvet" (Old Bridge, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

In this 3rd installment into Miss Lily Bards life, we are treated to a trip back to Lilys hometown. Varena, Lilys sister, is getting married and Lily is to be her maid of honor. While away, Lily gets herself involved in yet more trouble when she stumbles across two bodies in a doctors office.

Shakespeares Christmas didnt disappoint. There was murder, mystery, humor...and Jack. Oh how Im loving Jack.

This is another great addition to the series. Read it.