GRAVE SURPRISE BY CHARLAINE HARRIS

Published:  2006

It's About:  Harper Connelly who describes herself, "When I was fifteen, I was struck by a bolt of lightning through an open window of the trailer where we lived...I recovered, mostly.  I have a strange spiderweb pattern of red on my torso and right leg, which has episodes of weakness.  Sometimes my right hand shakes.  I have headaches.  I have many fears.  And I can find dead people."  This is a second in the series.  Please read my review of Grave Sight HERE.  In this episode, Harper and her step-brother, Tolliver, have been hired by a college professor to read the graves in an ancient graveyard.  It is in this graveyard that Harper discovers the body of a young girl buried in another body's grave.  She has been searching for this body for more than two years.  Why does she find it now?  Coincidence or conspiracy? 

I Thought:  I really enjoyed Grave Sight and Grave Surprise was equally as enjoyable.  The character of Harper Connelly is so well done that I am sad that these books do not do her justice.  The books, I believe, are published as cozy mysteries or southern mysteries.  Either way, I woke up in the middle of the night and finally realized why I like Harper so much.  She reminds me of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  And it is in my opinion that Lisbeth was the whole reason why those books hit the bestseller list and stayed there for like three years.

My Recommendation:  Yes, read this 4 book series if you are searching for a really good character that you can cheer on but don't want too big of a commitment.  Charlaine Harris, as I understand it, will not be writing anymore books in this series.  (I think she's happy to concentrate on Sookie).