2006 Book #41 - Harper Connelly 01: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
Time for another one of my supernatural-genres-loving fun reads! I've read all but the most recent book from the Sookie Stackhouse also written by Harris and I decided to give another one of her series a whirl. The main characters of this one are named Harper Connelly and Tolliver Lang. I'd say Harper is the main character, but she goes nowhere without her step-brother Tolliver. The main trick of this supernatural series is Harper's ability. Here's the blurb from the back cover:

I have what you might call a strange job. I find dead people. I can sense the final location of a person who's passed and share their very last moment. The way I see it, I'm providing a service to the dead while bringing closure to the living - but I'm used to most people treating me like a blood-sucking leech...

Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver are experts at getting in, getting paid, and then getting out of town fast, because the people who hire Harper have a funny habit of not really wanting to know what she has to tell them. At first, the little Ozarks town of Sarne seems like no exception. A teenage girl has gone missing, and Harper knows almost immediately that this girl is dead. But the secrets of her death, and the secrets of the town, are deep enough that even Harper's special ability can't uncover them. With hostility welling up all around them, she and Tolliver would like nothing better than to be on their way. But then another woman is murdered. And the killer's not finished yet...

Pretty good for a series opener. I like these type of fun reads because I've always enjoyed mysteries and figuring out whodunit. I spent a lot of time growing up reading Agatha Christie and Isaac Asimov! Anyway, the mystery on this one was pretty good and thankfully I didn't quite figure out the ending until pretty well on in the book. It wasn't anything completely shocking especially in a small town, though. There were certainly enough red herrings and side stories of Harper and Tolliver while Harris established her characters and gave them backstory that muddled up the story enough to make it interesting. Harper's certainly more dark and pessimistic than the Sookie Stackhouse character, so don't expect the light and funnier type of book the Stackhouse ones are. In a way I almost like the main character better that way. At least equally as much in its own tone.

8/10