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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly Mysteries, No. 3)One of the series that I'm hoping to get caught up on this year is the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris.  Over my Christmas vacation I read An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly Mysteries, No. 3) which only leaves me one more- Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4)- before I can check one item off my list.  (Am I the only one who peppers my list with easy wins like this?) I was nervous about the direction that the series was heading at the end of book three, but Harris manages to pull off exactly what I was fearful of without totally creeping me out. (If you've read the book you totally know what I refer to!)

So what's the series about? Harper was struck by lightning as a teen and ever since then has been able to located dead bodies. While this seems like a bit of a parlour trick, Harper has built up a reputation and a earns a living locating bodies for police departments and grieving relatives. She is able to "see" a person's last moments as well and can tell how a person died. As you can imagine there is some skepticism around this and she has to continually prove herself to not be a fraud.

And what is this one about, specifically? Harper has been called to a small town where high school boys have been disappearing for the last 5 or 6 years. The old sheriff refused to believe it was foul play, but the new sheriff knows some one is taking the boys and wants answers. Harper finds the bodies and then discovers some horrible secrets.  Of course this leads to a threat against Harper herself as more and more people get involved.

Harris does a great job making Harper and her partner Tolliver into believable people.  I find them to be a little bit too anti-social and sometimes that is wearing on the reader, but otherwise they are great characters.  I don't see any shades of the Sookie Stackhouse series in the books but they have the same consistent, strong storylines.  They are a bit formulaic, you always know there will be suspicion cast on Harper and Tolliver, but my experience is that all mysteries are a bit predictable.  I'd recommend them as a nice alternative to the vampires and werewolves that populate most of the paranormal world.

You can find Charlaine Harris online here.
I also enjoy reading her blog entries, where she is in the habit of recommending other great books.


An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris
Berkley
2008
288 pages





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10 comments:

  1. Thanks for giving me a new author to read. Murder mysteries are my favorite (as long as they aren't toooo gruesome).

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  2. I haven't yet read this series but I do want to. I've enjoyed all the Harris' books I've read, including the non-Sookie books.

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  3. This sounds like a series I might enjoy, even though I'm not so crazy about Sookie.

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  4. Reminds me of the television show, "Medium"-I've not heard of this author before.

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  5. I've read and enjoyed the first 3 books and am looking forward to picking up the last one soon. I agree about the relationship factor..I wasn't so sure about it but it ended up not bothering me too much. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the last one though!

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  6. The first book in the series is at the library near where N works and it's on his list for him to pick up for me. I'm looking forward to it!

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  7. oh, and by the way I nominated you for the Kreativ Blogger Award! Come check it out.:)

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  8. I've only read one Sookie book, but I wasn't a fan of it. I still might give the 2nd book a try. However, I read all the other books by Harris & really like them.

    I read book 4 around Christmas time & I agree w/ you on Harris pulling it off w/ out being creepy. I was getting a bit worried into the 2nd book, lol.

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  9. I am a fan of Sookie's series because of the HBO show Tru Blood. But I haven't read anything else beyond Harris' other books. I like her writing style thought and couldn't hide thew fact she knows how to entertain her readers. I might give this Hsarper Series a go sometime this month. Thanks for the intro.

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  10. I'm not a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse series, but I love this one! I've only read two, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Harper Connelly books and look forward to the next two!

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