Product Description
Death comes calling on a small-town librarian whose life is passing her by.

Aurora "Roe" Teagarden's fortunes change when a deceased acquaintance names her as heir to a rather substantial estate, including money, jewelry, and a house complete with a skull hidden in a window seat. Roe concludes that the elderly women has purposely left her a murder to solve. So she must identify the victim and figure out which one of her new, ordinary-seeming neighbors is a murderer-without putting herself in deadly danger.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 14 reviews)

JUST OK......

Mediocre "mystery" involving that endearing librarian, Ro Teagarden, and of course several other interesting characters and events. When friend and club member Jane Engle dies leaving Aurora the primary benefactor of her estate, she leaves a house, a cat, some money....and quite a few secrets. When a break in at Jane's house makes it obvious that someone is searching for something, Ro does a search of her own....and finds something sinister and scary. While canoodling with handsome Epicopalian minister Aubrey, Ro tries to untangle the mystery behind what she finds hidden in Jane's house....and finds herself in a whole heap of trouble.

I find these books so ridiculously elementary that I'm almost embarrassed to be seen reading them. And throughout this tale, there are racial references that I find questionable. African-Americans are routinely pointed out as being "black".....while I guess the Caucasian characters are supposed to be a given....?? That whole little section regarding black realtors I found offensive, and makes me question this author's own racial perpectives......if necessary to point out ethnicities, savvy authors have ways of doing so without beating the reader over the head with it.

DYB
October 04, 2008

Who does the skull belong to?

Aurora "Roe" Teagarden has to go to two weddings and a funeral in the span of a few months. One wedding is of a former lover's, and the other is her mother's. The funeral is for Jane Engle, a member of the disbanded crime discussion group.

Roe is surprised to learn that Jane has left her money, jewelry, and her house. It's a substantial estate. When Roe uncovers a skull hidden in a window seat, she knows Jane purposely left her everything so she would solve the murder. As she gets to know her new neighbors, she discovers there are a few people who went missing and wonders if one of them belongs to the skull. Along with that, she begins to wonder who murdered the victim.

Add to that a new boyfriend and getting used to the wealth, a house, and pets, Roe is kept quite busy while trying to discover the identity of the victim and killer. Can she do so without putting herself in any danger?

I love this series. Roe is such a fun character. I found myself not wanting to put the book down 'til it was done. I like the small-town setting and the various neighbors in this book. The plot was well written and had plenty of red herrings and twists to keep me wondering right up to the end.

I highly recommend this book.

August 20, 2008

Getting there is more fun then the destination.....

I enjoyed this book probably more than I did the first Roe Teadgarden book, "Real Murders". I thought Roe was better fleshed out and a lot more fun to read about. She felt real to me, this time around, which was a bit of my gripe about "Real Murders". Here Roe Teagarden finds herself mourning the quick turnaround of losing her boyfriend and then finding him married, and his wife pregnant. Roe is hurt, she is jealous, and she is just starting to emerge from that 'mourning' period. About this time, Roe learns she has inheirited a house and a bunch of money from her recently deseased friend Jane. Seems 'friend' is a bit of an understatement. They were more like good acquaintences. But when Roe finds a skull in her new house, she learns Jane has also left her with a new mystery to solve. This was not a long book and reading it was very enjoyable. I was happy with the pace, and the characters, and even the mystery seemed more interesting than the previous one. But the ending, was just kind of boring. There was a lot of stuff going on, which was good, but the actual killer was revealed quickly and it was dull in my opinion. There was no suprise revelations, or reasonings and felt almost like an afterthought. I recall feeling somewhat the same way upon the conclusion to "Real Murders". I was disappointed, I guess. Charlaine Harris can write, really, really write. I just don't feel like the actual conclusion was fleshed out enough. This was just another average cozy and what could have been more, in the end, just wasn't.
June 12, 2008

Quick Read

I read this book in one sitting and found it quite enjoyable. The mystery was not that big of a mystery. What intrigued me was the story. The main character inherits a house and more than enough money to live happily in the house, but she soon finds out that having a house and some money does not guarantee happiness. Instead it means she has traded in small old worries for new ones. How she deals with what life has brought her is what kept me reading this book until it was done.
May 24, 2008

Very Entertaining!

For Harris readers... Entertaining and enjoyable reading but the Sookie series is so much better. So, don't go into it thinking it's going to be so great as that series, but it's still very enjoyable. Kind of a cross between Sookie and Stephanie Plum. The main character is a librarian and trouble constantly seems to find her.
May 14, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Book 1)
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Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Book 3)
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Dead Over Heels (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Book 5)
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