Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Here's the thing... I just might not be smart enough to read from the genre of mysteries~ at least without taking notes! Maybe mysteries are only for those who harber an inner sleuth. I'm more the type to read a book for merely the "ride" without caring to think too much about the whys and what fors of the whole story. All this said, I did enjoy GRACE SIGHT which is the first book in The Harper Connely mystery series written by Charlaine Harris. I just didn't put it all together until the author spelled it all out for me in the last chapter. Is that the way most people read mysteries? I don't know, but it's certainly THE WAY I READ THEM, but back to the book in question... The main character is a twenty-four year old woman named Harper who travels from job to job with her stepbrother, Tolliver. The job is finding dead people! Harper was struck by lightning when she was younger, and the effect was the odd gift of knowing excactly how a dead person died. It's a job she and her stepbrother and bestfriend make $5,000 a pop for doing. In this first novel they find themselves in a complicated situation though. After finding a body they were paid to find and explaining how the body spent it's last moments alive a series of murders begin and Harper and Tolliver are suspects.

Dead in the Family

I am in mourning at this very moment. I'm not sure a person can technically mourn the completion of a book series, but that's exactly what I'm doing! Dead in the Family is the 10th Sookie Stackhouse novel (a.k.a. sookie bookie), and I just finished it here at the beach! Thankfully, another book is scheduled to be released in February of 2011. Possible names for this 11th book: Dead Letters or Dead Reakoning. Anyway, back to Dead in the Family...Sookie meets Vampire Viking Sheriff Eric's maker (Appius) and his "brother" (Alexei), and she doesn't care for either one very much. Sookie helps Bill recover from silver poisoning. Sookie helps alleviate her fairy cousin Claude's lonliness. Sookie helps her cousin (Hunter) learn how to control his telepathy. You might just say that Sookie is very helpful! LOVED the book, loved the books, can't wait for #11. I LOVE YOU SOOKIE STACKHOUSE! I LOVE YOU SHERIFF ERIC. I LOVE YOU SHIFTER SAM. I LOVE YOU PITIFUL BILL. I LOVE YOU SILLY PAM. I LOVE YOU SEXY CLAUDE. I LOVE MY SOOKIE BOOKIES!!! In fact, I might just reread them all... right now!

Real Murders by C. Harris

Okay, so I'm totally hooked on Charlaine Harris these days. I decided to read the first in her "Aurora Teagarden Mysteries" when I couldn't get the last Sookie Bookie from the library. I'm not typically into mysteries (that is the ones without a supernatural element), but I did enjoy this book. Murders happened all around Roe Teagarden until she finds herself and her half-brother right in the middle of the action. If I were smarter I would have tried to figure out who done it before the end, but I enjoyed being surprised so I just sat back and read. I think there are 4 or 5 more in this series that Mrs. Harris says she's done with. I might get back to them, but for now I've got the 10th Sookie Stackhouse novel!

The 9th Sookie Bookie... "Dead & Gone"

The 9th book in the Southern Vampire fantasy / mystery series wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was great. A couple highlights include: Sookie is finally Viking Sheriff Eric's girlfriend and wife (that's a long story) and the FBI is questioning Sookie because they believe her powers could be of use to them! Sookie finds herself in this book right in the middle of a Fairie War. Her great-grandfather in trying to get to know her and help her has put her into a great deal of danger. This makes the 9th Sookie Bookie a little more dark and forboding than the others. I think it was good for Mrs. Harris to shake things up a bit though. I think book #10 (which I refuse to pay $25.99 for in hardcover so I'm listening to the cd's from the library) will find Sookie having a hard time dealing with all that happened to her as a result of being in a war with supernatural beings. We'll see, and I'll let you all know!

From Dead to Worse by C. Harris

The 8th Sookie Bookie was excellent. Sookie's boyfriend / weretiger is missing. When he's found she wishes he were still missing! Sookie finds out she has a grandfather is full FAIRIE and that she is 1/8 fairy! Sookie finds herself assistant to enemy werewolves as they fight a third party who is trying to move in the territory. She also finds herself trapped in her home with Viking Vampire Sheriff Erik, Vampire Bill, a witch and a weretiger's sister. Never a dull moment!!! Can't wait for book #9!

I am totally amazed with the ideas that Charlaine Harris (the author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels) continues to come up with. Every book in the series introduces new and interesting characters and leaves me wanting to read more. In books 1-6 Sookie was introduced to vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, other were animals, witches, fairies and demons. In this book, the author successfully introduces "aliens" who are from another dimension! Amazing! In the 7th" Sookie Bookie" (as I've come to call them), Sookie finds herself in the role of paid telepath for the Queen of Louisiana at an undead summit or convention of sorts. Some highlights include: a vampire trial & execution, a vampire wedding, a Dr. Pepper bomb, romantic interludes with Quinn the weretiger boyfriend, mind discussions with Barry Bellboy (fellow telepath), an important blood exchange, a narrow escape on the back of Viking Vampire Eric, and much more! Loved it!

Definitely Dead

I liked "Definitely Dead" the 6th Sookie Stackhouse novel alot, b/c honestly, what could be better than a very tall, very muscular bald man who calls you babe and turns into a tiger? Hmmm... EXACTLY! Note worthy things that happen in the 6th Sookie Stackhouse book: Sookie tells Vampire Bill to get lost, Sookie's cousin dies & she goes to clean out her apartment, Sookie meets the Vampire Queen of Louisiana, Sookie is attacked by a one-of-a-king werewolf vampire, Sookie becomes close friends with a witch who accidentally turns her boyfriend into a cat, Sookie botches the Vampire King of Arkansas' plan to kill the Queen of Louisiana and SO MUCH MORE! Very exciting, indeed!