Helpful Score: 12
This is not a typical cozy mystery, but having read Charlaine Harris before, I did not expect it to be. The characters could be your next door neighbors and we all know that some pretty creepy things can be hidden behind closed doors. I was kept guessing until the very end (which a good mystery should do) and I look forward to more adventures with Aurora Teagarden.
This was a fun little book. A group interested in true crime start a club called the Real Murders in small-town Georgia. Things turn sinister when someone is taking pages out of their case studies and murdering people fashioned after other cases. The main character, Aurora Teagarden, finds herself in the thick of things as she stumbles upon bodies and evidence, sometimes merely being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I admit the culprit wasn't obvious to me, so Harris did a good job "fooling" me until the reveal occurred. I liked Aurora Teagarden - not as well, admittedly, as Harper Connelly or Sookie Stackhouse, but I'll read more to see how this librarian grows.
I admit the culprit wasn't obvious to me, so Harris did a good job "fooling" me until the reveal occurred. I liked Aurora Teagarden - not as well, admittedly, as Harper Connelly or Sookie Stackhouse, but I'll read more to see how this librarian grows.
Helpful Score: 5
This was a very satisfying start to this cozy mystery series. It originally came out in the early 90s, and surprisingly many of the earlier titles are already out of print. Hopefully, with Ms. Harris becoming more popular, some of these older titles will be re-released. I actually had to pay over $10 apiece for mass market paperback copies of books 4 and 5, and I've seen them go for a lot more.
Aurora "Roe" Teagarden is a librarian in a Lawrenceton, Georgia, a small town outside a big city. (I assume Atlanta, but Harris doesn't specify precisely.) Once a month, a few crime buffs from town get together to discuss some of the most famous murderers of the past. They call their group Real Murders and on the night Roe is scheduled to discuss the Wallace casewhich took place back in 1931 Englandone of the members of Real Murders, Mamie Wright, is found murdered in exactly the same way Julia Wallace was so many years ago! And that's not the end of it either... apparently, there's a murderer on the loose, whose game is to pattern his crimes after some of the very murders they've been discussing. So obviously, they all figure it's got to be someone in their little group!
Harris does character development quite nicely and as you're introduced to all the characters, you can clearly see them in your mind, and often think of someone you know who fits a similar description. Who is behind all the murders happening in the small town is a surprise right up until the very end. And in typical cozy fashion, the members of the community most affected by all this are just as important as the policeone of whom is actually a member of Real Murders anywayin solving the case.
I look forward to reading the rest of the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries!
Aurora "Roe" Teagarden is a librarian in a Lawrenceton, Georgia, a small town outside a big city. (I assume Atlanta, but Harris doesn't specify precisely.) Once a month, a few crime buffs from town get together to discuss some of the most famous murderers of the past. They call their group Real Murders and on the night Roe is scheduled to discuss the Wallace casewhich took place back in 1931 Englandone of the members of Real Murders, Mamie Wright, is found murdered in exactly the same way Julia Wallace was so many years ago! And that's not the end of it either... apparently, there's a murderer on the loose, whose game is to pattern his crimes after some of the very murders they've been discussing. So obviously, they all figure it's got to be someone in their little group!
Harris does character development quite nicely and as you're introduced to all the characters, you can clearly see them in your mind, and often think of someone you know who fits a similar description. Who is behind all the murders happening in the small town is a surprise right up until the very end. And in typical cozy fashion, the members of the community most affected by all this are just as important as the policeone of whom is actually a member of Real Murders anywayin solving the case.
I look forward to reading the rest of the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries!
Helpful Score: 4
I really enjoyed this book. It was full of murders, maybe a bit too much for a cozy, but it was good.
Helpful Score: 4
Like a few other Charlaine Harris mysteries I've read, this one seemed to start out a bit slow and it seemed to amble on for a bit. By about the middle of the story, I found myself wishing I could get back to my book, and by the end, I was telling my kids... "Hang on- I've almost found out 'who-dunnit!'" The ending was a surprise... my fingers kept itching to flip to the back to find out who it was, because I wasn't sure, but I refused to spoil it for myself! I will definitely try the second book in this Aurora Teagarden series... I think the author left some openings to make this character fun.
