The Mystery Starts Here

I just finished reading, “An Ice Cold Grave” by Charlaine Harris – you know, the woman who created Sookie Stackhouse and wrote all those vampire novels. I haven’t read any of them but LOVE the television series, TRUE BLOOD, that was based on the books.

That said, “An Ice Cold Grave” wasn’t really that good. I’d read the first in the series, “Grave Site” and liked it. I haven’t read the second but I fear the books went down in readability. Too bad because the premise is good and different.

When she was 15, Harper Connelly was stuck by lightning and when she woke up, she found out she could locate dead people. Harris, the author, goes into a lot of detail about Harper and her stepbrother, Tolliver and their weird upbringing. I won’t go into detail here – I don’t have to. Harris beats the reader over the head with it in both the books I’ve read. Now Harper and Tolliver travel the country – mainly the south – and either find bodies or find out what killed the person for money. Harper figured it was her only skill and she might as well make the best of it.

To me, there simply wasn’t enough story to sustain the 280 page of this book. Harper and Tolliver roll into town and find the bodies (yup, lots of bodies) fairly quickly. After that it’s a lot of eating, a lot of Harper sleeping (she sleeps a lot), a lot of Harper whining and not much else until they find the bad guy. Harper barely escapes with her life – again – and that’s it.

PLOT SPOILER!!!

This book hit my ick button and I wasn’t the only reader – check out Amazon.com. About half way through the book, Harper and Tolliver become lovers. No, they are not blood relatives but….they grew up in the same home like siblings. The love scenes are pretty graphic and I’m thinking they were put in the book because there wasn’t much else going on.

I’m not sure I’ll read book number two. While the idea is good – there isn’t much room for plot development once the body or bodies are found. One tothe next read!

After long dry spell (did you read my last post???) I FINALLY found a very good book to read! So good that I almost read it in one sitting! Would have, too, but had an early morning appointment and had to turn off my light. I didn’t realize until half-way through the book that “Mating Season” was the second in a series. I will definitely get the first one but…you can read this one as a stand alone just fine.

The action takes place in Provincetown, Massachusetts – at the northern end of Cape Cod. It’s no secret that P-town is full of gays and Lesbians which adds a lot of color to the book. The main protagonist worked in Baltimore as a cop for 10 years but is now back on the Cape where he grew up. His name? Frank Coffin. Yes, funny. Poor Coffin’s mom  (suffering from Alzheimer’s) keeps escaping from the local nursing home (run by a man named….Branstool!!!) and shows up just when he doesn’t want her too. His long-time younger girlfriend wants a baby, BAD, so demands sex all the time. Poor Coffin is exhausted but wants to help her fulfill her dream.

The book starts with a woman who has been stabbed to death in her living room. Frank gets nauseous at the sight of a dead body – which is NOT good for a cop! As Coffin and his partner, Lola investigate, they find out that the dead woman liked to have sex with married men. They start interviewing suspects and find out she’s slept with most of the men in town. Did I tell you I giggled a lot while reading this book – a LOT! The mystery gets solved in a satisfying way and I didn’t guess who did it.

There is action, humor and a bit a pathos (poor Mom) and it’s not a long book. It’s a delightful, easy to read book with quirky characters and …. it’s a good mystery! What more could you want? I’m anxious to get the first book in the series, “High Season” and will be watching for Loomis next installment in the series. Try it – you’ll like it!