I was pulled deeply into these mysteries. I love the way Harris allows her characters to mentally and emotionally develop over the course of a series. I could feel Aurora go from a somewhat shy librarian, often in the shadow of everyone else, to a strong independent woman who could handle anything thrown at her. She's brave, caring, intelligent and compassionate - these qualities only increase as Aurora develops through each hardship. Harris truly knows how to write real people. Not that Aurora is completely like anyone I know, I'd have to live in Georgia for those rare cultural characteristics to be familiar to me. I guess what I'm saying is Aurora has that southern charm that we often hear about in movies, but rarely get to read about or experience for ourselves - until this series.There are eight books in the series, each with a centrical murder or murders. Sometimes people are murdered for a reason - greed, secrets, madness, obsession - others are murder without reason, the hardest for families to cope with. Aurora always finds herself involved, like a magnet pointing due north, she's just drawn to them. Which is unsurprising considering her hobby is to read about real murders - and that's how book 1 begins.
These books are well worth reading if you enjoy crime novels without gore and with a strong female character unconventionally solving murders as best she can. Not that each book is wrapped up at the end in a neat comforting bow of good triumphing over evil. They're just like life - sometimes you have to choose your battles, because you really cannot win every single one.
(I couldn't fit the images of every cover, so I've just chosen my favourite three.)
1. Real Murders
2. A Bone to Pick
3. Three Bedrooms, One Corpse
4. The Julius House
5. Dead Over Heels
6. A Fool and His Honey
7. Last Scene Alive
8. Poppy Done to Death
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