A Surprising Book Sale Find

At our recent book sale I think I got sort of carried away picking up books because I came home with one that I normally wouldn't even take a second look at, Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris. Perhaps it was the eye-catching cover that caught my fancy.

This is the fourth book in the Harper Connelly series and I hadn't read the first three, but it turned out not to matter. I may even go back and read the other ones because I actually liked this. Ordinarily anything paranormal just doesn't interest me at all. By the time I realized the paranormal aspect in this one though, I was hooked on the characters and Harris' writing style. She's very readable and her characters are fascinating and/or hilarious.

This story is complicated and I don't know how I would introduce you to it without giving things away. I'll just say that Connelly was struck by lightning years ago and ever since has been able to sense dead bodies. in the beginning of this story she has been hired by a Texas lady to discover the cause of the death of the woman's father. Connelly can stand on a grave barefoot and "know" how the person died. In doing so this time, because she hasn't been told exactly which grave is his, she discovers a dangerous secret that puts her and her step-brother/partner in harm's way.

Their background is also a story in itself since their parents were drug addicts, and neglected and abused all the children. Too, Connelly's older sister had disappeared years earlier. There has been nothing solid to go on about where she or her body ended up. Family strife is still working itself out in this book in fact.

I read this quickly over a couple days because I couldn't stay away from it. I was fooled time and again as the plot unfolded, but could go back and realize I had simply missed a clue. Never would have thought I would say this because of my dislike of paranormal plot lines, but I really do recommend this book.