Book 2), Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly Mysteries

I love Charlaine Harris. This book is a great change from what I have been reading. I enjoyed it very much. I loved Harper and Tolliver very much. They keep the entertainment coming with a little twist of tenderness that is exceptional in any book.

This second book of the Harper Connelly Mysteries was an easy read. I find Harper's character likeable and therefore, easy to relate to as I'm going through the books.

I was a little disappointed by the characters being stuck in one locale for the entirety of the book. They work on the road and I hope there is a little more of that in the next book.

Grave Surprise

I first ordered Grave Sight for my wife and she enjoyed it so much I order this sequel for her. She read the sequel in like two days. She also enjoys the TV shows Bones and House, if that helps any.

Gunner September 2007

I love all of C Harris' work, but this one was a little flat. The red herrings were left as loose ends and I figured out the end almost in the beginning. Characters had no personality. I've ordered the next one as I have great faith in Charlain's talent. Harper is one of the most interesting characters and a great series could happen!

Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 2) I love this series. Very good mystery with a big touch of the supernatural.

This book is pretty good, until... until she begins the predictable, sad decline into gothic romance that her other series sped into. In this book, we see the seeds for the next in the series to begin exploring the faux "incest" theme she set up clumsily in book one.

Sad, though, because this book and it's predecessor are good, and even fairly original. Now, I cannot, and will not, buy book three. Jesus wept.

Looking for a well written and intelligent book. The focal point and heroine was a very angry immature person who was very snippy and I grew tired of her language and mentality. The plot was very weak and unbelievable.

3.5 stars!
***some spoilers listed, read at your own peril***

“I love the South, don’t get me wrong; but it does lag behind the times in social developments.”

The second book in a series of four, you must read Grave Sight before reading this book. Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver travel the US, using Harper's ability to find dead bodies and to know how they died as a means of employment. This came about when Harper was struck by lightning when she was a teenager. Harper and Tolliver are called to Memphis for a grave reading in an old cemetery. While there Harper discovers the body of an eleven year old girl that she had searched for before.

Now the mystery begins as it was obvious someone put the body there for her to find, and instead of a random stranger having taken the girl, it's someone close to home. Tied up in the case, Harper and Tolliver are stuck in Memphis and are further entwined in the case when another body shows up in the same grave, someone they know.

I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible, while I like these books and they're a wonderful urban fantasy guilty pleasure, I think that Charlaine Harris isn't a very good writer. I'm sorry! But the way she writes almost excludes feelings, skipping around settings in a sentence where I have to go back and reread them because I missed it it was so quick. In fact, a ghost showed up and I had no clue he was a ghost until she explicitly said so four pages later! I guess what I'm trying to say is she isn't always very clear with her writing.

“Nothing could stop tragedy from visiting your home. The angel of death would not pass over, leaving you unscathed, no matter how large your house was."

Now here's a small spoiler I'm not tagging: I went into this series knowing that a romantic relationship developed between Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver. And while it doesn't bother me I could see how people would be a little creeped out by it, especially since they refer to each other as brother and sister in the books. But since I knew going in I felt it was fairly obvious what was developing since the beginning, and I'm not really creeped out by it because they aren't blood related. It was interesting to see Harper's revelation of her feelings in this book and I really want to see how she'll handle it in the next book.

As for the mystery, it was slow and came together all too quickly at the end. As all of Ms. Harris's books do. At this point I'm not reading for the mystery, I'm reading for the character development and the use of Harper's abilities and how they affect her life. That's the part I enjoy about these books.

So remember everyone, 3 stars means I liked it! Don't pity the 3 star rating, I still very much enjoyed! I'll continue the series as I am intrigued by these characters.

This is book #2 in the Harper Connelly series. For those who haven’t started the series yet, read Grave Sight first as it is the first in the series.

It is no surprise that this book was just as good as the first. After all, Harris has a way with words that keep readers glued to the pages. It literally took me only two days to finish this book (I had to get some sleep). It is fast paced, interesting, filled with mystery, and answers some of the questions that have been posed in the first book.

Grave Surprise starts where Grave Sight left off. Harper and her brother are on their way to a college to prove a professor wrong that doesn’t believe in her gift. Proving him wrong though turned Harper’s life upside down when after months of looking for 11 year old Tabitha, she finds her. Then it is up to Harper and Tolliver to solve the mystery before it’s too late!

Again, this is another great read that all fans of Harris will enjoy. I sure did, and I can’t seem to stop reading the series!

Overall Rating: 4.0

Mystery Rating: 4.6

Courtesy of My Love of Books -- Elle --

This was a lot better than the first Harper book (Grave Sight). I enjoyed the plot of Grave Suprise much more than Grave Sight. Of course, there are very few series in which the first book is as good as the subsequent books. Exceptions to the rule of the first book being a little slow are Vampire Academy and The Hunger Games, and also Twilight.

Okay, I've been thinking. About halfway through this book I realized that Harper loves Tolliver. Now, they are not related by blood, just by marriage (her mother and his father) and her mother is now dead. I know it's not illegal for two previous step-siblings to marry, but it just seems weird. It is socially unacceptable and morally questionable. One wonders if Charlaine Harris will take the plunge, so to speak, and develop a romantic relationship between Harper and Tolliver. I could tell in the first book that Tolliver has been thinking about it, but Harper didn't get on board until Grave Surprise. I'll be interested to read further along in this series to see what happens on that front.

Boy, Charlaine Harris sure likes to surprise her readers. Just when you start thinking a character is pretty refined, they start throwing the f-word into their casual conversations. Whoa!

Just One Gripe:
The relationships between the characters got a little confusing at times. I had to read the part explaining who was who's parents twice to get the characters down straight.

The Best Thing About This Book:
I liked the plot twists.

Grave Surprise is the second book in the Harper Connelly series by American author, Charlaine Harris. Harper has been invited by a sceptical anthropology professor at Bingham College in Memphis to demonstrate her talent for determining cause of death at an old cemetery. She does well until the last grave, where she finds two bodies, the most recent burial being Tabitha Morgenstern, an eleven-year-old whom Harper had tried unsuccessfully to find in Nashville almost two years ago. Harper and Tolliver realise immediately this cannot be a coincidence. Soon they are embroiled in an investigation that attracts media attention (of the wrong sort) and have to face the distraught family. Throw into the mix a nosy PI, a single-minded FBI agent, a psychic ex-prostitute and her pierced and tattooed grandson, disbelieving police and family members with their own agendas, followed by yet another corpse in the same grave, and you have a first-rate mystery with plenty of twists and turns, a couple of red herrings and plenty of suspects. The reader learns a little more of Harper’s own history, Harper makes a startling discovery about herself and the psychic makes some personal predictions for her that the reader will do well to remember for the next instalment, An Ice Cold Grave.

Harper Connelly has a gift, one she didn't ask for. At the age of 15 she was struck by lightning and as a result she gained the ability to find dead bodies. Not only find them but know who they are and how they died!

Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver make a living by providing investigative services for people looking for their missing family or friends. Sometimes all they want is for Harper to listen to a deceased body just to determine the cause of death.

Harper and her stepbrother are always in trouble as finding dead bodies and knowing the cause of death brings a lot of suspicion from the local police.

Harper has been invited by a college professor to Memphis to showcase her talents to his class. She has been paid her fee but it is a bit of an unusual situation. She gets tired of the non-believers who simply want to persecute them as fakes. It is a set up as the professor already has a list of all the graves, who is buried there and how they died. He claimed no such list exists. He simply wants to prove her as a fake.

He thinks he has her when she finds a grave with a young girl in it. He knows the grave site is actually filled with the body of a man who died over one hundred years ago. Harper tells them that he is there but there are two bodies in the same grave.

When the grave is exhumed two bodies are indeed found and one of them is a young girl whom Harper was hired to find some time before. She failed to find the body as it obviously was buried in an entirely different city than where she disappeared from. The police suspect Harper as being involved in the young girl's death. The next day a fresh body is found in the same grave!

Harper and Tolliver are involved in a multiple murder mystery and they not only have to prove their innocence but try to find out who is the murderer!

Charlaine Harris has a way of creating interesting characters and writing a good story. You wind up loving or hating the characters as if they were real people. My wife and I enjoy her books and we have found them all interesting entertainment. We both felt that the Harper Connelly series was particularly good as we liked the characters and the fact that it is not so easy to pick out who the murderer is.

I liked this book much better than the first one as Harper is a much stronger personality and not as much of a complainer as she was in the first story.

We listened to the audio CD version of this book and it was very suspense filled. The narrator, Alyssa Bresnahan, does a good job with the character presentations and she is fun to listen to.

I recommend this book to you!

A tasty bite from Charlaine Harris:

1. You can start here.

I did. I thought this was book one in a new series. Nowhere on the cover does it say it's a sequel, but I had no problems catching on. What's more--until I went to Goodreads after reading, I still hadn't noticed it was a sequel.

No annoying paragraphs of backstory.

And they sell it at Walgreens!

2. Great main character Harper.

I like her.

Harper is focused on her career as a psychic. She has the ability to sense how dead people died. When she's standing over or touching their corpse.

It's a nicely limited albeit useful gift. Dark, yes. Harper is an experienced consultant these days, traveling all over to different cities.

She's controlled, but that doesn't mean she isn't haunted by the things she's seen. She works to help people, even if she doesn't get much respect. She's chosen not to care.

3. Refreshingly different.

Although I love the show True Blood, I got a little tired of Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. I didn't like how the show and books had different characters and plots.

Harris is a good writer. I was satisfied with this new series of hers, and I think I will track down book one. And best of all, it isn't the same old paranormal romance throw away vampire battle crap.

(Can you tell I'm sick of vampires?)

Partial review .

A lighting strike survivor, Harper Connelly has the unusual ability to find dead people and read their cause of death. She and her partner Tolliver turned it into a business--traveling on the road as they work cases. Not everyone is accepting of her ability, some thinking her a fraud. The law enforcement cases are the worst--the cops are more skeptical of her power and the cause of death is more often a horrible foul play. Harper and Tolliver's relationship is also unusual. They are step brother/sister, but no blood relation. Harper's mom married Tolliver's dad while they were in their teens. As their parents spiraled downward in a haze of booze and drugs, Harper and Tolliver stepped up take care of their younger siblings. They became best friends in their struggles and that relationship continued into adulthood.

Wow, this book really surprised me--in a good way. Even though the first book was well written, I really didn't like it because Harper, the lead gal, was too needy and kept making stupid decisions that put her life in danger. I couldn't connect with her and I found her annoying. I wouldn't have even read this book, but I was going on a trip and needed something to listen to in the car. Someone loaned me Grave Surprise as an audio book.

Harper was much better this time around--not nearly as needy/whiny and she showed strength in coping with difficult situations quite a few times. The mystery elements of the plot were very well done. The person I suspected as the murderer didn't turn out to be the culprit. There were a lot of plot twists and suspenseful moments. The explainations of her being a lighting strike victim and how that brought on her abilities to read the dead were original and interesting.

**spoiler**

I know Harper's changing feelings for her step brother--who is no blood relation to her--skeeved some people out (they just happen in her head, nothing happens). I actually found them realistic given their horrible childhood. When their parents were drunk and out-of-it on drugs, the two of them acted as stand-in parents for their other siblings. It created a bond and a partnership between the two of them that lasted into their adulthood. They work well together as business partners and are best friends. They do have an unusual relationship, but it seems to work for them. I can also see how when the epiphany hit her, why she would think he is the only one she'd trust in wanting a man to have children with. And why those thoughts would freak her out and why she is struggling with what to do next. I will be very interested to see where this side storyline leads in this next book. This side storyline added a lot of depth to the plotline, which would otherwise be a run of your mill paranormal mystery.

I read the first 3 Sookie Stackhouse books and was surprised and happy to find them well written and interesting. Next thought was to pick up other books by Charlaine Harris. I know this is the second book in the series, but wasn't too worried about that.
The books is horribly written, seemingly by a teenager, so you know very quickly who the murderer is. The almost incestuous relationship between pseudo brother and sister Harper and Tolliver is repugnant and I didn't think necessary to the story. It would have been more interesting to have them as step-siblings with a close relationship and not the constant 'we'.
The story itself had very little to do with Harper's gift that she received because of a lightening strike, but more of who was hot for whom. Harper for Tolliver, Tolliver for Felicia, Felicia for Tolliver, Everyone for Joel, Victor's hidden sexuality choice.
Don't waste your time on this one and I won't read anymore in this series hoping it will get better. It couldn't.

Harper Connelly has traveled to Southern Tennessee to address a college class about her unique profession. Some years earlier Harper had been struck by lightning and ever since had been able to locate dead bodies. Not only locate them but also relive their last few moments and identify their cause of death. Dr. Nunley, the course instructor who had invited Harper to demonstrate her abilities had seemed to determined to expose her as a fraud by challenging her to identify the identity and cause of death of various bodies in an old cemetery near the campus . Unfortunately for him Harper's abilities are quite real. Unfortunately for Harper she also discovered an additional, much more recent body, one of a young girl that Harper had tried unsuccessfully to locate over a year earlier. Now the local police were looking at Harper and her step brother and business partner, Tolliver suspiciously. The pair were used to being suspected of being con artists exploiting a crime but not as accessories to the crime. Before Harper and Tolliver were able to clear themselves there were even more surprises in store on both the professional and personal levels.

Charlaine Harris, the author of this series is better known for her SOUTHERN VAMPIRE/SOOKIE STACKHOUSE MYSTERIES that are the basis for the HBO series TRUEBLOOD. There are some similarities between the two series, both Sookie and Harper are young Southern women, Sookie from Louisiana and Harper from Texarkana, but there the similarities end. Sookie is full of wise cracks, and confidently faces her world that is filled with vampires, demons and fairies, aided by her own supernatural abilities. Harper, on the other hand, has been deeply scared by her all too human past, and other than her ability to locate the dead, lives in a world with no supernatural forces. The SOOKIE STACKHOUSE novels are filled with a wry sense of humor at times bordering on the absurd, while the HARPER CONNELLY novels are more subdued and quite a bit darker.

There is a very strong overall story arc to the series involving Harper's backstory and her relationship with Tolliver. It would be best to read this series in order, beginning with GRAVE SIGHT.

This is my first Harris novel. I can see why she's so popular. Her storytelling style is catching and very entertaining. This one's about a gal who survived a lightning strike, then suddenly find she can locate dead bodies and ....... tell with 100% accuracy `how' they died.

When the novel opens, she makes her living locating bodies along with the assistance of her manager/step brother. They have an easy friendship, that evolves into a form of romantic love that neither of them acknowledges. There is no romance to this one. It's a mystery.

The heroine finds the murder victim of a child in a shallow grave buried on top of an old grave in a cemetery. The next day, another man is murdered and pushed into the same grave. The heroine and her brother spend their time keeping the media away from getting a sensational story, and trying to solve the murders that they might be considered `persons of interest' in the authorities.

The novel is good storytelling, it's written in first person, and has me interested in pursuing the very popular Harris in her other novels and series.

Grave Surprise is the second installment of the Harper Connolly series by Charlaine Harris. I rated the first book a 3 stars- and this book WAS an improvement over the first which is why it got .5 points (or stars?) better in my opinion. Maybe I'm grading this series so hard because after reading Charlaine's Southern Vampire Series I expect a lot? Haha, nahhhh...

My real complaint about this book is that it seemed a little redundant. I felt like the plot was super similar to that of the first book and there wasn't as much character development as I had hoped. Harper once again is struggling with her past and the fact that no one really accepts her for who (and what) she is. There isn't really anything cheery or upbeat about Harper (or the plot) in this book. Wow, I sound like Debbie Downer, don't I? That isn't the case- I just wanted to get the negative out of the way first! I don't want to leave you guys with a bad taste in your mouth afterall. Hehe. It was nice to see that Harper's reputation, career wise, is growing as well as her relationship with Tolliver is changing.

So, what do we have in Grave Surprise? A whole lot of 'who did it.' I don't mind a good thriller/mystery, so I liked trying to guess the murderer. (I'm normally really bad at guessing, so it is fun for me!) Harper and her stepbrother, Tolliver, are requested by a professor in Memphis to read a cemetery on campus. His point in having her read the graves was to prove her a fraud. (Only the professor himself and a few others that worked for the college knew the names and causes of death for those in the graves.) Boy, did Harper prove the professor wrong! And in front of his entire class of undergraduate students! Serves him right. Not only does she identify all the corpses- she identifies one that has secretly been buried there. Surprise! It is the body of a young girl that Harper tried to locate once before- unsuccessfully. Now that they finally found the body, who kidnapped, killed and hid the body of the young girl?

The characters are well developed in this novel- I was just hoping that Harper would become a little less dependent on Tolliver. I have to say, their relationship does make me feel a little uncomfortable, but it is unique nonetheless. I haven't read anything that I can relate to this and I do like when books make me feel uncomfortable. Ah- and before I forget- there were some very intriguing secondary characters in this book. I enjoyed most of them while some irritated me. I like to be irritated by characters too, only makes it seem more real ;o) I can't wait to dig into book #4. (I already read book #3, just need to quit slacking and post a review!!)

I think that anyone who enjoys a good mystery should dig into this book. (As well as anyone that loves our Miss Stackhouse!) This was a breezy summer read. I won't be keeping it for my bookshelves, but I'm glad I read it. Three POINT five stars from me, Harper Connolly! (AND I love the Elvis shout outs!! It was fun seeing them in this as well as the Southern Vampire Series. Props to Harris. Hehe.)

In Grave Surprise, Charlaine Harris picks up the story of her new heroine, Harper Connelly, shortly after the end of Grave Sight (book one). Harper -- a lightning strike survivor who can now locate the dead and see their last moments -- has been called to an old graveyard to do an exhibition for a college professor and his students. But she finds a missing 11-year-old that she's been looking for for 18 months instead. This introduction sets up a mystery with many twists and turns and lots of surprises.

I'm trying to like Harper Connelly, but the deck is kind of stacked against her. I really adore Harris' character Sookie Stackhouse and the books in that series, and the Harper Connelly mysteries are definitely written to tap into that existing audience of readers. But I just don't get drawn into the stories in the same way. I didn't have a hard time putting down Grave Sight. I didn't seek out times to read, just squeezed it in when it was convenient. Thus the three-star rating. It's a solid story, and enough to peak my interest for the third book, Ice Cold Grave, but I'm not in a rush to add it to my collection.

Grave Surprise (2006) is the second fantasy mystery novel in the Harper Connelly series, following Grave Sight. In the previous volume, the final confrontation and shootout exposes the secrets of almost everybody. Harper and Tolliver are lucky to get out of town alive.

In this novel, Harper is hired to give a demonstration for an occult studies class in a newly documented graveyard in Memphis, Tennessee. The contract is issued by Bingham College for the class of Professor Clyde Nonley. As far as Harper is concerned, the Professor is a professional jerk.

The graveyard is on the grounds of the college and a detailed list of burials and causes of death had been discovered about three months previously. At first, the professor enjoys directing Harper from grave to grave, but her detailed answers to his queries are beginning to upset his preconceptions. Then he directs her to a grave up against the fence around the cemetery.

At first, Harper declares the occupant to be a young girl and the professor gleefully states that she is wrong. Then Harper notices that another set of bones lies in a coffin below the girl's body. Then she suddenly recognizes the identity of the most recent body.

Tabitha Morgenstern had disappeared in Nashville about eighteen months prior to her rediscovery. Harper had been called in a month after the disappearance and had followed every possible lead within the Nashville area before giving up on the case. Maybe the body had been in Memphis even before she had started her search.

In this story, Joel Morgenstern and his first wife were originally from Memphis, but had moved to Nashville during their marriage. Whitney Morgenstern birthed Victor and then died from cancer in Nashville. Two years later, Joel married Diane and she raised her stepson from a baby. Then their daughter Tabitha was born in Nashville.

Since Harper had only known the Morgensterns in Nashville, she is definitely surprised to learn that the family is now living in Memphis. Joel had apparently brought his wife back home about a year ago. Since then, Diane has become pregnant and is expecting a son. She is very close to birthing the baby.

The Morgensterns are very grateful to Harper for finally finding the body of their daughter. They invite Harper and Tolliver over for lunch to share the food offerings from their friends. There Harper meets other members of the family, including Fred Hart, the father of Whitney and Felicia. Of course, both Harper and Tolliver know Felicia Hart as Victor's aunt. They also meet Joel's parents -- Judy and Ben -- and his brother David.

Harper and Victor had previously shared a moment of shared grief in Nashville, so he confides several bits of information with her at the luncheon. Interrupted before he can finish his confession, Harper is pleased that Victor later shows up at the hotel. Unhappily, so does his uncle David, who speaks somewhat coarsely at Harper and gets punched in the stomach by Tolliver.

This story seems to be a setup, for Tabitha had obviously been moved from another grave. Who had instigated the hiring of Harper to read the occupants of the old cemetery? Their only lead, Professor Nonley, is killed shortly after Tabitha's exhumation and then placed in the open grave.

This case reminds Harper of her missing sister Cameron. She had vanished while on her way home from school. Only her backpack had been recovered, despite years of searching by Harper. At least Tabitha's body had been found to provide closure for her parents.

Since this reviewer tends to become absorbed into the story, the conclusion came as a surprise. However, it would seem to be more obvious by hindsight. Harper should have been savvy enough to sense the murderer much earlier from personal contacts. Or maybe the truth is just easier to see after the facts are laid out for inspection. After all, Harper is not able to read the living as well as she does the dead.

One wonders why so many reviewers insist on comparing the author's different series, often to the determent of this series? Often authors start new series to try different ideas and maybe different treatments. So many reviewers of the first book in this series rejected it because of its dissimilarities with prior series. Should the author just keep on writing the same storyline long after the enjoyment has withered away? At least this volume seems to have been accepted so far without cries of dejection from disappointed reviewers.

Highly recommended for Harris fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of esoteric talents, personal development, and slowly budding romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Dr. Nunley teaches a class on Open Mind experiences at a local college in Memphis, Tennessee. He has called on Harper Connelly and her brother Tolliver to be a guest at his next experiment. Harper had been struck by lightening and has since been able to tell who was in a grave and how they died. On this day she is taken to an ancient cemetery where only the professor knows who is in the graves and how they died. As Harper goes about her business of demonstrating her abilities for the class, she has no way of knowing things are about to be turned upside down. As she steps onto the last and oldest grave she tells the professor there is a young girl there. He laughs. She then points out the original occupant and how he died is lying below a young girl who has only recently been placed there. The shocking thing is she and her brother had looked for this young girl unsuccessfully in the past. Upon digging up the grave they find the remains of young Tabbitha Morgenstern. It is a strange coincidence that they are in Memphis and find the body and then find out that the Morgenstern's had moved to Memphis less than a year before. As they are trying to find out what is going on the Professor turns up dead in the same grave. Now they are sure that something is wrong. They set out to find out who is setting whom up and the reason why.

I loved this book. It is the first of her books I had read. It will definately not be the last one I read. I enjoyed this author and her style of writing a lot. The twisted ending was great. I would give this book a rating of 5 out of 5

The past has not always been kind to Harper Connelly. Both parents had drug addiction problems, and her mother eventually died of AIDS. But one disaster, a direct lightning strike, uncovered an unusual, long hidden talent. As Harper explains to a doubtful police detective, "I find corpses. People call me in, and I find the bodies of those who've passed on. If the location of the corpse is already known, I can tell you the cause of death." Traveling with her stepbrother and business partner, Tolliver Lang, she arrives in Nashville, Tennessee at the invitation of anthropologist, Clyde Nunely, who would like her to demonstrate her particular talent to his class. He is skeptical of course, and Harper realizes this, but she is used to such an attitude. The students, Harper, Tolliver and Nunely meet at the old St Margaret's churchyard where Nunely has Harper stand on various graves, tell who is buried there and how each person died. Harper has no problem with this until reaching the grave of Josiah Poundstone. She is startled when she senses two bodies, one of which has been recently buried. Then Harper realizes that the second body belongs to a young girl, Tabitha Morgenstern only 11 years-old when she disappeared a year ago.

From here the story takes bizarre twists and turns. A month after Tabitha disappearance the Morgensterns had asked Harper to help locate their daughter. She was never able to do so until now. The police are called and Harper is immediately under suspicion. She and Tolliver know that the discovery of Tabitha's body by Harper cannot be a coincidence. They have no idea who could be behind this, but they need to find out ASAP.

The vividly drawn characters are as interesting as the the mystery that surrounds them. At the heart of Grave Surprise is a neat puzzle with a Perry Mason finale.

Since she was struck by lightning years earlier, Harper Connelly has been able to receive messages from dead bodies. The messages aren't always useful, and even victims don't always name their killers, but they never lie. So, when college professor Clyde Nunley asks her to visit an old graveyard, Harper accepts the fee--even though she knows Nunley would like nothing better than to prove she's a fraud. After all, Harper is used to being though a fraud. Fortunately, her step-brother is always there to help take care of her.

In this particular graveyard, though, Harper gets a nasty surprise. Most of the graves are old, but one grave sends two messages--a long-dead man and a recently murdered girl Tabitha Morgenstern, one of Harper's failures a year earlier, has at last shown up. The odds of Harper being invited to a graveyard hundreds of miles from the girl's abduction by coincidence are so small as to be insignificant--but who would set Harper up like that--and why?

Author Charlaine Harris creates a sympathetic character in the damaged and abused Harper. As the police question whether Harper might have been involved, Harper herself has to believe that someone in poor Tabitha's family must be responsible. But why was the body put where Harper could find it--why not simply walk away from the perfect crime?

After a strong start, I found that the middle dragged just a bit in GRAVE SURPRISE as Harper dealt with her suddenly heightened feelings toward her step-brother. The clues were laid out and the characters introduced early on, but then Harper seemed to go into meltdown mode, fixating on her 'brother,' and repeating, too often, her conclusions about each of the suspects. Still, Harris tuned up the heat with a strong conclusion.

Harper, with her strange talent, her fears, and her open-minded acceptance of those who are different makes a refreshingly different sleuth. Harris's capable writing definitely holds reader interest and makes GRAVE SURPRISE a hard book to put down. While this isn't perfect, it's certainly an enjoyable treat.

Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver have been invited to Memphis to give a demonstration. Dr Nunley, who teaches an unorthodox class at Bingham College, has it in mind to expose Harper as a fraud. But when Harper makes a surprising discovery at the old cemetery, even Dr Nunley is left speechless.

Harper had finally found Tabitha Morgenstern who had disappeared eighteen months ago in Nashville; only its months later and in the wrong city. Something about all this was not quite right, and when a new body turns up Harper and Tolliver decide its time they did some investigating of their own.

However, Harper finds herself distracted with prophecies, and ghosts and other things... Harper is accused of having more then one suitor. But is it the teenager Victor who is so obviously hiding a secret or two? the black leathered, white haired, pierced all over Manfred who so obviously has feelings for Harper? or is it the last person Harper expected, who will capture her affections?

Harper is gifted, strangely so, but despite her unique talent and association with death she is still very human and very likeable. As a character Harper is attainable and full of personality, her story highly imaginative while still remaining grounded. A thrilling mystery and a great read.

As a teenager Harper Connelly was struck by lightning. The experience left her with a weak leg, numerous fears, and an ability to find dead people and discern how they died. Accompanied by her stepbrother and manager Tolliver Lang, Harper makes a living at this.

Her second outing (after "Grave Sight") opens in a 19th century graveyard in Memphis where, at the behest of a local professor hoping to expose her for a fraud, Harper is identifying the corpses and what killed them. The professor is suitably nonplussed, and then the whole thing erupts in pandemonium when Harper discovers two bodies in one grave.

"I'd been standing on two murder victims, one ancient (at least to me) and one modern." Harper identifies the new body as Tabith Morgenstern, a missing 12 year old that she had tried and failed to find two years before in Nashville.

Harper and Tolliver immediately become suspects, as do Tabitha's parents and older brother who had recently moved from Nashville to Memphis. Thinking she might get more from the grave sight, Harper enlists her brother to take her back there in the middle of the night, a spectacularly foolish step which becomes even more so when they find yet another, fresher, body.

Still, with the help of a clairvoyant, a ghost (a first for Harper) and her own strange talents, Harper and Tolliver manage to extricate themselves, find the murderer and survive to tell about it, and soothe the unhappy ghost.

Harper and Tolliver's bond is complicated, based in their mutual support during a harrowing childhood with drug and alcohol addicted parents. Harper's deadpan, sometimes tortured, narration along with the author's madcap approach to action scenes and her assortment of quirky characters combine to offer frothy fun along with an underpinning of serious introspection. An intriguing series in which the supernatural fits quite naturally.

-- Portsmouth Herald

In the second book in Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly series, Harper is in Memphis, Tennessee putting her powers to the test in order to check the graves in a historical cemetery. While looking she finds a fresh corpse buried in an old grave. Harper and Tolliver are shocked to learn that the body belongs to Tabitha Morgenstern, a body Harper failed to locate at a previous job in Nashville. This fact puts Harper and Tolliver under suspicion, and they end up having to stay in Memphis.

While trying to solve the case they meet many different characters from the Memphis Police Department and Tabitha's family members. More problems arise when another person shows up dead, placing Harper under more suspicion.

Grave Surprise starts up right after Grave Sight. Another case and more suspects. I think my favorite part of all of Charlaine Harris' series is the character development. Harper gets stronger and more confident in her job as the series progresses. But her relationship with Tolliver is more strained and she's feeling confused about these lingering feelings she has for him. The mystery is more in depth with so many potential killers to look out for. It seems like everyone is a suspect. Again, the length of these books are perfect, although I wish they were longer because I love these characters! Looking forward to book three in the series!

In this, the second in Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly series, we learn oh so much more about Harper, her paranormal ability to sense the dead and how they passed, Harper's childhood, and most tantalizingly, her relationship with her stepbrother Tolliver. It's an excellent weekend read.

In this episode, Harper and Tolliver have been invited to a Memphis graveyard to demonstrate Harper's paranormal abilities for the anthropology class of a local university. Unknown to Harper, the professor has a hidden agenda: to expose Harper as a fraud. The deception backfires as not only does Harper accurately assess all the residents of the cemetery, she finds a cuckoo corpse buried atop the original coffin of a 19th century grave. All alarms go off when it is realized that the superimposed body is that of Tabitha, a kidnapped girl Harper had been unable to find two years earlier in a Nashville investigation. Suspicions and mystery deepen and swirl to dizzying depths and complexity when, a day later, the duplicitous professor is himself discovered dead in the same grave.

Who killed Tabitha? Is there a connection to the professor's murder? The community suspects Harper and Tolliver. Our heros suspect the family. The police suspect Tabitha's older half brother Victor. Enter an old beau of Tolliver's. And a pearl colored Lexus.

Harris weaves a wonderful tapestry of mystery, paranormal phenomena and parent-child relationship. With an overt homage to all lightening strike survivors, Harper's character continues to be revealed to be all American: modern, somewhat culturally sheltered, yet full of hope and introspection.

There is much to come in this series; Harper Connelly is bound to become as beloved as Sookie Stackhouse.

Paranormal events in literature always seem to symbolize something. In Grave Surprise, it's not some allegory about religion, sex, or power - rather, a marker of difference. Harper Connely's ability places her apart from the ideas and beliefs common to modern America. I feel like the real drama in the novel is in how Harper deals with the disbelief and scorn she meets almost everywhere she goes. Harper's corpse-finding is treated very matter-of-factly; there's no fanfare or mystery about it. The struggles, the twists and turns of the plot, the conflict, originate in ordinary human behavior.

Harper is one tough cookie and I very much like her character - very strong, very blunt, but also very fragile. She's jaded, a real cynic, but she's got a good heart buried under her tough hide. And as always, what I love most about Harris' writing is her attention to little things; Harper trying to work a treadmill, choosing a hotel, noticing the construction of a wire barrier around a parking lot. There's a really beautiful simplicity about Harris' style, and she has an incredible way of infusing everyday events with meaning and...presence, I guess. Also a really keen understanding of human nature.

I thought the plot of Grave Surprise was a little bit funny; I was disappointed when I found out who the murderer was. But I loved the characters, I loved the atmosphere, and I loved seeing the development of Harper and Tolliver's relationship.

Harper Connelly was struck by lightning when she was fifteen. Her heart stopped. For a brief period of time she was caught between the living and the dead. CPR brought her back to life, but from that day on she was tied to the world of the dead. She was drawn to where they lay, and when she connected with them, Harper knew how they died. She liked to think of her skill as a gift, at least it gave her the means to make a living. She traveled around the country with her step-brother Tolliver to help find lost people and determine how they died.

Grave Surprise is the second book in the Harper Connelly series. It contains a touch of the paranormal, a bit of dark humor, and a huge murder mystery. In this episode, Harper and Tolliver are in Memphis. Harper has been asked to demonstrate her paranormal abilities for an anthropology class studying myths, legends, and the paranormal. The professor was intent on exposing her as a fraud, but the plan backfired. Harper identified the bodies beneath the tombstones and told the class how they died. Everything was going smoothly until she stepped on the last gravesite. It contained not one body, but two and the second body belonged to Tabitha Morgenstern, a missing girl, Harper searched for the year before. The situation is further complicated when the professor is found dead.

There are plenty of suspects to go around. The police were taking a hard look at Victor, Tabitha's half-brother. A private investigator and a FBI agent were pointing the finger at Harper and Tolliver, and Harper and Tolliver thought the rest of the Morgenstern family bore looking into.

Charlaine Harris is a gifted writer. Grave Surprise is a wonderful mystery with an eclectic collection of concepts and ideas. Harris touches on the paranormal phenomena, parent-child relationships, anti-Semitism, and plays homage to all lightning strike survivors. Her characters, even the minor ones were multidimensional. Their descriptions, actions, and attitudes demanded a response from the reader. Once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down. I'm looking forward to the next book in the Harper Connelly series.

Elizabeth Jean Allen

I liked Grave Surprise and certainly liked it more than the first book in the series. Charlene Harris is wonderful at dialogue and it's pure pleasure to read the secret and snarky things her characters say and think which is I think the strongest part of her writing. Where Ms. Harris does lose points is that her mysteries are not quite that mysterious. There are no aha moments where the big reveal is not such a big reveal. Another issue I have with the main character, Harper Connelly, is that by the second book, I should feel as if I know her; I don't other than factual things that have occured in her life.

Though there are plenty of suspects (and I don't consider myself the most clever person at solving mysteries), when you finally get to the murderer, it's just so lackluster. I have found this true not only in this series but also in the Sookie Stackhouse books as well.

That being said, I enjoyed the book but don't look at it as so much of a mystery.

Harper Collins and her stepbrother Tolliver have come to Memphis at the request of Professor Clyde Nunley. He has asked Harper to demonstrate her unique ability to find the dead and know how they died. When she comes the grave of a centuries-old man she not only identifies him, but a second corpse buried on top--the body of a girl Harper had been hired, but failed, to find previously. Now that they've found the body, the question is who killed her?

I'll admit I like books involving the paranormal when it's well done, and this is. This series is more serious than Ms. Harris Sookie Stackhouse series, which I like. The main character and her step-brother are interesting, well-developed characters whose pasts tie them together in a unique way which will certainly influence their future. Harper struggles with the aftereffects, both physically and emotionally, of the event which triggered her abilities and with the lack of understanding from others. To me, this gives her a vulnerability and sense of frustration which seem very human. The story is well-plotted and interesting with some fascinating secondary characters. They story being set in Memphis added an interesting side element about which one wouldn't normally think. I very much enjoyed this book and recommend it to those who enjoy the paranormal.

Harper Connelly has been literally stricken with a gift of finding bodies and determining their cause of death. At a young age she was struck with lightning producing this abnormality. She gets by with the help of her stepbrother Tolliver who maintains the business aspect of being the human Geiger counter. After a devastating ordeal in Nashville where the duo couldn't find the body of young Tabitha Morgenstein they take on a job in Memphis doing a demonstration for an Occult class at an old graveyard. In the midst of traveling the cemetery they happen upon a grave that has only recently become double occupied. Disbelief sets in when they discover one of the bodies to be the body of the missing young girl from Nashville.

The family of the deceased have just recently moved on with their lives and planted roots in Memphis. Someone it seems wanted Harper to find the Tabitha's body, making it appear they could be suspects in the crime. Danger is lurking in the air as the body count increases, and no one seems immune from suspicion.

The storyline for Grave Surprise is one that will capture attention, but the subplot is the one that nags on your brain. Harper and Tolliver had a sister that was taken from them at a young age, Carmen. It is that mysterious disappearance and the need to fix their family that seems to make this story flow and makes the characters so driven. This complex situation ensures that one will want to be around when a conclusion is reached.

As a fan of Charlaine Harris, this reviewer has become enraptured by the Harper series. Grave Surprise has its moments of suspense, and at other times seems to drag a little which leaves this reader a little disappointed considering its predecessor Grave Sight. The desirable outcome however is that we can finally lay little Tabitha to rest. If Mrs. Harris's style is true to form there is no telling what adventures will lay in store for Harper and Tolliver. This creative visionary shows that she can have more than one hit series at a time, and can be ranked among the elite in mystery authors.

Reviewed by Joyce

Copyright © 2006 CK2S Kwips and Kritiques. All rights reserved.

I have waited hopefully for the release of this book. The first in the series, Grave Sight, was excellent though filled with bile and bitterness towards Harper and her step brother Tolliver.

This second book is complete in its self. A wonderful thing to find in series fiction. Both characters are believable, and have a deep bond between them that is made believable by their childhood history together. Harper longs for a house and to be normal, but she is far more fascinating as she is; ragged around the edges at times, poised and cool at other times, and very clear about where she believes she fits in the world. Tolliver is a little harder to understand though there is no question about his loyalty and love for his step sister.

I found the book to be tightly written, fast paced and very difficult to put down. The plot was woven skillfully, all the clues are there to see, but I was still guessing about what happened until the last few pages. I did find following who was related to who and how a bit confusing, but worth the effort to follow.

This is a great read, and for fans of Ms. Harris, a must have.

Charlaine Harris is hitting her stride in this new mystery-paranormal venture. In her first book, "Grave Sight" Harris introduced Harper and Tolliver, a brother-and-sister team who travel the country helping to find buried bodies. You see, a lightning strike when Harper was 15 left her with the ability to locate bodies, know the person's name and their cause of death.

This latest case finds the pair in Memphis, TN as guest lecturers to a paranormal science class. Dr. Clyde Nunley, the prof, has found records to an old cemetary and he's going to use them to discredit Harper's talent.

Unfortunately, Harper names the cause of death for every grave she's read--until the last one, where she realizes that there are two bodies in one grave and she recognizes the newer burial as an 11-year-old girl they'd been hired to find over a year ago.

Tabitha Morgenstern's case was Harper's only failure--til then, and now she's suspect in the girl's murder. The action is fast-paced. I found the killer a little too easily, but the mystery was still worth reading.

Looking forward to the next episode.

This is the second in a new series of mysteries by Charlaine Harris, and perhaps if the reader didn't get the subtleties of the first, this one is the better of the two. This is not my opinion, though. I think they are equally good. After I'd read the first, Grave Sight, a friend and I discussed what I thought was happening. We both agreed that Ms Harris can write a good mystery, but it's the subtleties of the subtext that puts her over the top.

Harper Connelly can find dead people. And since she's ill-equipped to do much else she and her step brother, Tolliver Lang, (his father and her mother wed when they were teen-agers) have started what's fast becoming a lucrative business finding dead people.

As Grave Sight opens we find Harper and her step brother in a cemetery as a guest of Clyde Nunley who teaches a class on paranormal at the local university. It is there that Harper discovers a body she'd been hired to find over 18 months ago. As a result, Harper and Tolliver find themselves involved with the police and embroiled in family politics.

Harper is a strange breed. Having been struck by lightning she can, at times, seem a little fey and perhaps a bit fragile. Her step-brother seems the exact opposite. He manages the money and keeps the appointments. He also looks out for Harper. The two of them together make very interesting reading.

The mystery is good, it took me a while to figure it out, but as I mentioned earlier it's other things that held my attention. I won't spoil it. Just pick up a copy and read carefully.

Surprisingly, this series is becoming a favorite of mine and dare I say, this series is the best written of Harris'. There is of course no smoldering Viking vampire in these books. Tolliver with his moustache and long hair lacks any kind of sex appeal for me personally, but the structure of the books, the plots, the casts of characters are much superior to those in the latest disappointing Sookie books. I rather like morbid feel of Harper's adventures - she spends a lot of time searching for or touching dead people. Harper is a better written heroine too, at least she doesn't describe the size of her boobs relentlessly as Sookie does. I still think the series goes overboard with the family misfortunes of Harper and Tolliver and I see some developments in the Harper/Tolliver relationship that I am unsure about. But regardless of these complaints, I enjoy Harris' writing very much and planning to finish last two books in the series very quickly.

(Original review has disappeared, forgive me for missing any of the good stuff)

The second installment in Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly mysteries was fabulous. Harper and her brother are brought back to an old case that they could never solve. But then the body of a young girl shows up in an old graveyard in an old grave.

The police get involved which lead to discovering that the dead girl's family lives in town and not in their old home which was in another state. Things look bad for each family member in turn becomes a suspect, they all have their little perks. Harper and Tolliver want to leave town, but then another body shows up close to the same grave. Now eyes turn toward Harper and Tolliver and they are forced to stay to solve the case.

You'll never see the ending coming until its revealed. The murderer is always the last one you expect. [from what I can remember] this was a stellar read and the third one was even better than this. For something happens in this book that is picked up again and acted upon in the third one.

Harper Connelly is a lonely old spinster who lives with her pampered cat Tolliver. She feeds Tolliver at the table with her when she eats and dresses him up in baby clothes and talks to him about her day as if he's a real person, because he's the only breathing thing around who would sit still long enough to listen to her and allow her to touch him. Old Lady Harper likes to talk out loud about Tolliver's personality (though no one is listening, because who would sit still long enough to hear a neurotic, mean old lady talk about the cat she dresses in neck ties?): "Tolliver enjoys an early light lunch..." and "Tolliver has a mustache and acne scars and smells like the sex he has with truck stop waitresses and every single woman wants him" and "Tolliver prefers a green shirt on Tuesdays." Oh that Tolliver!

It started out as companionship - Harper knew that Tolliver was her cat, and like most pet owners she just fell into the habit of talking to him and imagining his responses. It almost seemed like she could read his mind when they looked at each other. A glance at her and Tolliver would read her mood perfectly and come rub up against her legs, which was so comforting. And you're meant to be comforted by your cat, it's perfectly normal. And it was just one small step further to imagine that if Tolliver HAD been another person living with her, he'd probably be a sort of brother to her. Since they felt such kinship. Not like a real brother. More like a brother you could dress up in baby clothes and prop up in the chair across from you at the table and feed tuna to on a real plate and admonish not to get any in his mustache. I mean whiskers. That kind of brother.

Now Old Lady Harper always had a thing for true crime books and for death in general. She didn't feel many emotions herself, except for her cat Tolliver. She liked reading murder mysteries, and sometimes looked on the internet, with Tolliver by her side, to post in online sleuth forums that debated the facts about children who had been kidnapped and were presumed dead. Of course Harper thought all the other posters on these internet sleuth forums were completely stupid idiots, though. As she told Tolliver, disapprovingly, she wished they'd all just go away immediately and leave her and Tolliver alone to discuss the cases in private. Wordlessly, Tolliver agreed.

One day, while grudgingly discussing a child abduction case with another poster on the internet forums (and with much sighing and eye rolling to an immediately understanding Tolliver), Harper accidentally let slip that she and Tolliver had driven past the abduction site the previous day. Who is this Tolliver you keep talking about, the other poster asked? Harper just knew the other poster must be sexually interested in Tolliver, who today was dressed in a fringed denim vest and sailor hat. Women loved him in his sailor hat, and Tolliver was quite vain about it. Harper was sure that if she had a webcam, another woman would immediately see and want Tolliver for herself. Harper, thinking quickly, told the other poster that Tolliver was her brother, her manager, and her business partner in a corpse-finding business. The other poster thought that was weird, which just demonstrated yet again that she and Tolliver were the only two open minded beings left in the world.

The more Harper embellished her story about Tolliver the cat - who by now was as real a companion to her as any living human brother could be - the more real Tolliver became to her. Why she could imagine what he was thinking, what he was feeling, what he was doing while he was away from her and most of his motivations (which mainly revolved around concern for her). If he had been human, he probably WOULD be her partner in a sleuthing business. And Harper herself, though 85 years old, felt more like TWENTY five. Tolliver kept her feeling young - they were so in sync. She imagined that business-partner and best-friend Tolliver would always defend her honor. He'd always be there when she was in police interrogation rooms defending all her hidden, invisible special abilities. And the time her Life Alert went off when she'd slipped and fallen on the kitchen floor (a bolt of pain went through her that felt like lightning!) Tolliver was right next to her, kneading on her chest in a way that felt just like he was trying to revive her with CPR! She'd given him an entire can of tuna that night. Albacore. Tolliver was partial to name brands.

Before too long, in her extreme loneliness and isolation, Tolliver was as real a brother to her as a biological brother would have been. She wrote at length on the internet sleuth boards about her adventures with Her Brother Tolliver, going to crime scenes where No One Ever Believed Them but Just In The Nick Of Time, she and Tolliver Saved The Day and then everyone was forced to believe in her Hidden Special Abilities and tell her they had been Wrong About Her The Entire Time. Tolliver would have gotten mad and beat them up if they had said anything disrespectful about her special powers, she typed.

But then not too long after that, the elderly Harper - who despite having seemingly zero juice in her whatsoever, so dry and shriveled did she seem, was actually very into channeling the feelings of her 24 year old imaginary internet persona - started to develop feelings for Tolliver, uncomfortable feelings which she Tried To Push Away but eventually started to overwhelm her. Knowing the internet sleuth boards would not understand the sudden switch from the much discussed Tolliver changing in status from 'brother/business partner' to her 'lover,' Harper cunningly started referring to him as her "half brother" for a few days, before ultimately concocting a story in which he was barely a brother at all!

At this point, Harper's fantasies were allowed free reign. She would simply tell her stories as if she really were a 25 year old with the most amazing special abilities, traveling the South with Tolliver, her protector and lover (not brother!) - Tolliver with his acne scars, alcohol drinking in mid-afternoon, sex smells, unruly mustache and a penchant for adjoining hotel rooms and McDonald's drive through. Oh my goodness the ladies on the sleuth forums would go crazy. They would all want Tolliver for themselves. They would all want HER Tolliver! But constant traveling and an air of mystery would keep them all far, far away from Tolliver. She would call this adventure... Grave Sight, in honor of the fact that she always kept the fact that the children she was sleuthing were undoubtedly dead, and only she could see it! She laughed at the clever wording. Grave Sight, haha! And at night, Tolliver (liberated from the sailor cap for the evening) would eat his tuna and curl up in a chair next to her as she typed, typed, typed away...

The second book in the Harper Connelly series contains the same elements the first one did - a touch of dark humor, a small amount of the paranormal, and a large dose of murder mystery. These are all good things.

There is not as much fantasy content in this series as in Harris's Southern Vampire (Sookie Stackhouse) series. Mostly, this is our universe, our USA, our contemporary society, with just a few people who have odd paranormal gifts. (No vampires. No werewolves.) Harper's is being able to sense the dead, and feel what killed them. In this volume of the series, we meet a couple more people with psychic talents as well, including Manfred Bernardo, whose description is such that we can all picture him - any of us who live in an urban area or a college town know a 20-year-old who looks like that. His talent is revealed to us - and to Harper - in a clever and slightly kooky way, one of the touches of humor in the book. One of the things I like about Harris's writing is that she's capable of doing humor within a serious context, and without turning the book into a comedy farce. Her description of Xylda is priceless.

There are two other major themes in this book, apart from the murdered bodies and solving their murder. First, there's the description of modern suburban Jewish life, with some of the contradictions inherent in it, and the reminder that in the South, there is still a touch of anti-Semitism. In fact, I was surprised to find myself thinking that the way the Morganstern family was described, other than the specific references to their physical appearance, they could well have been a black family, with the same sort of problems due to lingering racism.

The second other theme is Harper's discoveries about herself, which startle and upset her far more than any discoveries she makes about dead bodies. There are some things she's not ready to talk honestly to herself about (as Xylda points out in a cryptic manner) just yet, but we can see, as we read the ending of the book, that Harper is going to have to face them sooner or later, and that it will be controversial when she does.

The character of Clyde Nunley is very much like some skeptics I have met, who have gone beyond being skeptical and on into being actively close-minded about anything they can't immediately explain. I'm not saying I believe in any of that stuff myself - this book is definitely fantasy, as far as I'm concerned - but I'd like to think that, if somehow a person did a demonstration as compelling as Harper's, I would have more of an open mind than Nunley. The law enforcement characters are a mixed bag, some believing that she's really doing what she's doing, others believing that it must be a con; I like the way the law enforcement people aren't all stupid, or crooked, or bumbling. In some ways, the police and FBI agents remind me of the mixture of law enforcement that Anita Blake encounters in the early and middle books of her series by Laurell Hamilton. The FBI agent is a bit too involved with the case, but he's not evil; the police detectives are reasonably intelligent, even the ones who refuse to accept what Harper does.

Family reading alert: minor, indirect sexual references, minor use of "bad language," nothing that shocked me, or that would shock any teenager who already watches TV or reads comic books.

In short: good continuation of a series, extremely good descriptions of characters, adequately intricate plot with adequately justified solution, and I'd definitely keep reading the series.

Harper and Tolliver find themselves in Memphis in this book. The goal, in theory, is for Harper to talk to a college class about what she does. Of course, the professor of the class is trying to prove that she's a fake. Aside from proving just the opposite, Harper finds an extra body in the cemetery, one of a girl she'd been hired to try to find in the past but had not been able to locate. This, of course, raises a lot of problems and the story that unfolds is as interesting as it is heartbreaking.

It's hard not to fall more in love with Harper and Tolliver here and the mysteries they get into make for fascinating reading.

The main character here is named Harper. The story starts off in a graveyard where Harper is demonstrating to a University classroom her ability to connect with dead people. While at the graveyard, she uncovers a girl who had recently been killed. It turns out that this is a girl that Harper tried to find over a year ago.

Harper, her brother, the parents of the child, the brother and aunt of the child, all of these characters then become suspects in a mystery. The mystery is probably one of the most silly I have ever come across. First of all, Harper and her brother dont sleuth... Charlaine Harris puts her characters in a few situations where it might seem like they are solving the crime through deductive abilities, but they are really just having everything handed to them on a silver platter. All they have to do is hang around their hotel room and every fringe character there is manages to stop by and add to the investigation. And the ending... Just nasty.

I was kind of excited by the first few pages. I thought that this was going to be a great story. Sadly, Grave Surprise falls apart fast and becomes less than mediocre. Characters do strange things that push the plot along. Its like this story could not have unfolded unless implausible coincidence piled on implausible coincidence occurred at just the right moment.

Another thing that got me down was how the characters are always internalizing dread or misgivings. Its sort of like in the movies when you get that psycho music every time a character is about to open a door and they hesitate. This happens over and over again, either in extreme situations or in small ones where Harper has one jerky doubt after another. I think this is a cheep ploy to ratchet up the suspense. I also don't think it worked very well.

What struck me as funny was that Harper thought to herself a couple of times in a couple of different ways how this person or that was hyper-critical or a snob. What I have to say about the character Harper, is that she is one of the most dis-likable characters I have ever come across. She has her nose pointed straight up in the air, is looking down on just about everyone, just a terribly gross inner person. She is also 100% full up with self pity. If Charlaine Harris is at all like Harper, this is one person I want to keep in another room.

The police are as 2-dimensional as you will ever come across. There is an FBI guy who got so attached to the young missing girl, he fell apart and the case ruined him (cliche to the extreme)... Everyone here is not developed well.

In a Memphis cemetery cynical anthropology professor Dr. Clyde Nunley tests Harper Connelly's clairvoyance skills in front of his students; he expected either a fraud or failure. However, Harper realizes something is wrong with a freshly dug grave. Inside is a different person than that identified by the cemetery.

Surprisingly, the victim is a missing twelve year old, Tabitha Morgenstern, whom Harper failed to find two years ago in Nashville. The police look closely at Harper and her manager, her stepbrother Tolliver Lang as prime suspects as the coincident seems too much. Clyde sticks to his belief that Harper is a con artist, but soon after he accuses her of chicanery while imbibed, his corpse is found in the same burial plot that Tabitha was interred in. The Memphis police live in Harper's hotel room looking for evidence while Tabitha's family wants more from the psychic and the media turns this into an even wilder circus.

The second grave investigative paranormal mystery (see GRAVE SIGHT) is a terrific amusing sleuth tale in which the heroine and her stepbrother decide to take on the case because they are the prime suspects only every clue they find adds to the growing evidence that the siblings did the homicides. The story line is fast-paced and loaded with dry graveyard humor yet contains a strong sleuthing subplot. As with the Sookie tales, Charlaine Harris has another winning series to her credit.

Harriet Klausner

Plot Summary: A college professor invites Harper to prove herself in a psychic challenge in an old church graveyard. As Harper blithely reveals the identity and cause of death from grave to grave, she comes across two sets of bones underneath one headstone. The man has been in the dirt for a century or more, but the little girl's corpse is a shock. What's more, this is the same little girl who Harper searched for almost two years ago. A media frenzy descends upon Harper and Tolliver, along with the girl's family. Since the police are ever-suspicious unbelievers, it's up to Harper and Tolliver to solve this crime. In the midst of this mess, Harper has an epiphany about Tolliver that scares her into silent despair concerning her much loved step-brother.

A long time ago, back when my husband and I were carefree DINKs* living in that megatropolis knows as L.A., we had lunch at a restaurant on the Santa Monica Promenade. My hubby ordered a crispy, spicy chicken dish that had him raving and craving it for days afterward. Whenever we had a chance to eat out, he'd pester me to go back to this restaurant, which was only so-so to my taste. Each time he tried it again after that first nirvana experience, that chicken dish never came out the same. It was either burnt, over-seasoned, under-cooked, or dry and stringy. Some authors can be like this. One book will make you hunger for that same kind of satisfaction, which sadly, never happens again.

Happily, Charlaine Harris is NOT one of those writers. I am always amazed at her ability to craft intricate, involved plots, and I would swear on a bible that her characters are real people who are living and breathing somewhere right now. Harper is an average person with a horrific past, and an unusual gift, ability, curse, whatever you want to call it. Sometimes when I encounter a character with superhuman skills, I can predict what their reaction will be in a given situation. Harper acts like a real person, and there is nothing canned about her responses. She's like a stumble in my stride, and I'm always surprised and mildly embarrassed that I didn't see it coming.

Harper's moment of revelation was the most fascinating part of this story, and I'm so lucky I had the next book on hand, "An Ice Cold Grave," because I started reading book three immediately after I finished this one. I think you can guess what the revelation was, but I refuse to be a spoilsport. Sorry, you've got to read these for yourself.

*DINKs - Double Income No Kids

I've read most of the Sookie Stackhouse books and had actually passed on reading "Grave Sight", the first book in this series, but I loved the incredibly creepy cover art!

The plot basically goes that Harper and semi-brother/best friend get lucky enough to stumble upon the body of an unsolved case. This brings them back into contact with the family, who coincidentally have moved to the area where the body has been found. Hounded by the police and reporters Harper and Tolliver wind up trapped in a Memphis hotel. Of course they have time to sneak out and find a second body and get put on the suspicion list.

I knew who the murderer was less than 1/3 of the way through the book, which I found very disappointing. However, I loved all the characters, both major and minor so I was just fine with hanging out with them a little longer. The ending felt a tad bit abrupt to me, considering they ran around with this person under their nose all along, but not to bad.

I don't love Harper and Tolliver. To me Tolliver feels slightly flat, which I can't figure out, maybe it's just his quietness. Harper isn't exactly the quick butt fem I've gotten used to and loved in so many other series but she has an interesting talent (finding the dead) and an interesting back story.

All and all a good book to settle down with and enjoy.

I will be going back for "Grave Sight".

I was reluctant to start the Harper Connelly series because I liked the Sookie Stackhouse books so much and this series seemed so much more dark and bleak. I'm glad I did start reading them though, I've really enjoyed both "Grave Site" and "Grave Surprise". Harper is a good character, self aware and real. In "Grave Surprise" she seems less mentally frail, more stable than in the first book, which I liked. I find Harper's ability to find bodies and know their cause of death to be believable and not really "fantastic". Harper fits into the real world, albeit as an outsider because of her abilites, but still a part of "this" world and not an alternate reality. Charlaine Harris manages to address the topic of a missing child sensitively yet realistically and the supporting characters are well-drawn and the focus of the mystery.

I chose to review this book, because it was the one of the series I didn't utterly hate. Comparing different works from the same author is probably a big mistake, and I know this. But I couldn't help it. I very much enjoyed the Sookie Stackhouse series, and I thought at the very least I'd enjoy this as well. It's an interesting premise, and the stories themselves aren't that bad, but for the life of me I simply cannot stand Harper. Everything about her, her description, her crass demeanor, the way she deals with most people, she's insufferable. But really, I think the icing on the cake, was the fact that she sleeps with her step-brother (not in this book but later in the series, however the sexual tension is palpable, and nauseating). Harris goes through great pains to make the argument that this relationship is ok, they aren't really related after all, and they were older when their parents met and married, therefore already defined as adults. It doesn't sell me. Even when I put on blinders and plunged on with the story (no pun intended), the sex scenes were so sophomoric and crude. I seriously considered putting the book down. There's an argument to be made that the Sookie series has it's share of sex, and it's true. However the language in the scenes is very different.

Harper's character development is sub-par, and in golf, that's great. But in literature it's an indication that it's time to put them to bed.

This book, to me, reads as if the last chapter was something that popped into Charlaine Harris' head and she needed to write the rest as filler just to get us to read the ending. While still a good read it's far from her best and just left me feeling like I missed something. As an example; Somewhere, three quarters of the way through the book Harper has what reads like an epiphany, she sees her life rearrange. She bursts into tears. She, for a moment, contemplates suicide. Then she says, to herself "Keeping Tolliver with me for one more minute was an awful thing to do." and cannot and will not tell her step brother what's wrong. She also doesn't tell us, the readers. I felt let down as if a secret was exposed and I didn't catch it. I've read the pages several times and still don't see what she's getting at or why she was so upset. In the end this startling revelation seems irrelevant and they're moving on with their lives as if it didn't happen. I won't say "Don't read it." but I will say "Don't have too high an expectation for this novel." It left me feeling unsatisfied.

I liked this book, even though the first one was a little too predictable and simple for my taste. I have to say that I didn't know who did it until almost the last pages, so that is good. I liked the new added supernatural element of interaction with ghosts and spirits (a little more explored than the first book). It was a little quick at the ending, and it seemed a little callus about who did it and why, but that is the nature of humans who commit murder, I suppose. I don't like Charlaine's attempt to push the envelope with the psuedo-incest theme. She's forcing it from book one, and no one acts strange when people were once step siblings but now are not. People don't get all up in arms over that, and the two DO act like siblings in the first two books, so the comments and implications by others in both books was just a poor attempt to push the envelope or possibly hint at a weird twist in the story line. Whatever it is, it was unnecessary and kind of ruined it for me. Of course, at the end of this book, Harper is either easily influenced by comments, or she is just a pervert in the making by Charlaine's design. Otherwise, though, I liked the book, minus the incest.

I will say I only liked about half the Sookie Stackhouse books so I was reluctant to read her other series, but this one is well worth it. Before you read Midnight Texas do yourself a favor and read the Harper Connelly Mysteries, fresher and more vibrant.

harris has done a beutiful job showing us the struggle, perils and emotional turmoil that must be dealt with when one is not of a so-called cultural norm of 5 accptable sense much as she did for sookie stachouse. like itor not our society does not accept those ouside our acceptable social constuct and giving them the emotionable upevils that comewhen we are unable/ unwilling to force ourselves to pretend, she has freed many of to look ousideof the box, no longer looking at what some call disability and see whom each of really are in our hearts. like sookie, the vampires, werewoves andso many more, maybe harris is offering us a chance to open hearts to the things or actions we fear rather than the cuturally "kick ass on anyonelikeourselves". personally, i'd be extatic to know for sure that we share this beautul existence with those unlike ouselves! ! thank you charlaine- i read your books beteen every science journal and am always amazed at you creativitu. if i may offer one thing out love and yes, selfishness, please try to make yoursel healthier? your fans who have bought everyone of your books (incudind all first editions!) hope for a life time with you at our side and ask with humility and love to please loose the excess pounds that hurt you, family and the millions of fans that will always love and always suuport you. you are so talented and gifted and want you with all of for as long as your imagination pours like a waterfall and surrouds us like a brilliantly colored waterfall. long time admirer and always with everybook- yours and collaberations-on pre-order. your brain is one sexy hunk of grey in a beatiful self.

Per my review for the first book, I expected the second book to be more polished than the first.

It wasn't.

I simply cannot sympathize with Harper Connolly's plight nor can I even say I really like her. The characters are so wooden, the plot convoluted and the writing so stilted that I cannot even begin to fathom why people like this series even as a guilty pleasure.

My reluctance to read the Southern Mysteries is now even more intensified because if I cannot even invest time into Harris' secondary series, why should I invest in her first?

It's a shame, as I said before, as I like the premise of the series but it's just so badly done! I now wonder if Harris is hurting for cash and is using the fan base of her primary series to fund her other series' as a means to gain popularity?

This second Harper Connelly mystery is another great read. I love the premise of her main characters: Harper, a young woman who was struck by lightening as a young child, attaining the ability of finding dead bodies and glimpsing their final moments; and her supportive brother, Tolliver, who has his own quirks. In Grave Surprise, they are off on another complicated adventure that neatly segues from Book 1, A Grave Sight.

Charlaine Harris' stories are especially well written, I found myself totally engrossed in the story. Once again, the villain(s) were well hidden; the reader is near the end of the book, with a number of plausible characters able to fill the role, before figuring out who has done all the murdering.

I'm looking forward to Book #3.

I'm a Charlene Harris fan, that being said, the whole "Grave" series (I've bought 4 or them) is a great mix of sleuthing, paranormal mystery and insightful human relationship observations. Harris has such a warm discriptive skill for transporting the reader to the locations her characters are from or visiting as equally for expressing her characters. My only complaint since I read her books in a day or two, is having to wait for the next one to be published. The crimes described can be gritty but I would put them as a PG rating (I am a conservative reader).

I enjoyed this book more than the first in the series. Fans of the Sookie books may or may not like Harper. This series is a mix of Lily Bard and Sookie; the plot focuses on the mystery. I would actually like to see more of Harper's back story, and I agree with one reader that the psychic and her grandson could be good characters in the future. I think one problem might be the lack of a supporting cast that Harris would develop throughout the series. All three of her previous series are strong because of the supporting characters that we get to know.

As I've stated in other reviews, after Sookie Stackhouse there was a huge void. I tried reading other books, books not written by Harris, but it just wasn't the same. So I began reading these books. The void has been filled! I love this series almost as much as I love Sookie Stackhouse! I imagine that over time, I will come to love Harper Connelly just as much, if not more. I can't wait for all the rest of the books in this series! If you love scifi, mystery, southern books, or just a good novel, this series is for you.

I thought the first book was interesting enough to finish, but I wasn't "WOW"ed by it. I did go ahead and pick up the second in the series, out of curiosity. I love a good paranormal mystery and I do love the author's other series! Anyway, I'm glad I did. This book was fabulous....and much more interesting than the first! (Reading the first book, though, will definately help new readers to this series understand the history of the main characters). The characters were well fleshed out, in my opinion, and the mystery not only held my attention but had me stumped for a bit. Also, the subtle direction that the relationship took with the main characters has the potential to be quite interesting. The secondary characters were all very well written and contributed well to the story. Overall, I'm excited to read the next in the series!

This book really rated a "meh" with me. Interesting story line was a positive point. Negative parts included way too much redundancy from the first book (might be part of Harris' writing style, she does this with her other series too), and a really poor ending. The ending left nothing to intrigue you to continue the series, and I doubt I'll move on to the next book.

The second book in the Harper Connelly series is interesting in a lazy, "this is readable" way. The mystery is a little convoluted, but plausible, and the characters are likable enough to get you invested in them. Harper herself is bit prickly, but it doesn't grate, since the story is told from her point of view. I can't help but feel that the first two novels were something of a wind up for the third and fourth, which are very engaging and full of surprises. If you like the Sookie / True Blood novels by Charlaine Harris, this series is worth a read as well.

This new series with Harper and Tolliver is interesting - especially Harper's talent. Harper is the more interesting of the two main characters (although very depressing) as Tolliver seems to be more of a stereo type than a fully developed character. I imagine a lot of readers will be originally attracted to the book because of Harper's talent/ability (also because the Sookie Stackhouse series is done by this author) and to have most of the characters in both Grave Surprise and Grave Sight seem to dislike her - due only to this ability - is a bit difficult to understand. I believe this series (if there are more forthcoming) could be as popular as the Sookie books, but if Harper stays so depressed and so unpopular with the other characters in the books I will not be buying any more of them.

I loved this book and the previous book in the series. Harper has depth that I love to read about and hope to read many more books in this series. (Hopefully Harper and Tolliver will get together!!!) The attraction between Harper and Tolliver is so exciting, I can hardly wait to read An Ice Cold Grave to see what happens between them. And the mystery in the story don't sound too bad either, lol. The excerpt on her website was great, it just wet my appetite for more!

I loved this book!!!

Though I find Charlaine Harris to be an entertaining writer usually, I was not impressed by the first Harper Connelly book. Reluctantly, I decided to read book two anyway and I do not regret this decision. The plot flowed more smoothly than the previous book and the central story idea was intriguing. I do agree with previous reviewers that this series is not the best work Harris has ever done. The protagonist Harper is a very prickly person indeed who has had a life that is gothic in its sadness and hardship. I also find the relationship with Harper's stepbrother creepy. In the first book it was clear that these two are in love with each other and in this book Harper finally realizes it for herself. I wish Harris would not continue with this unfortunate romantic plotline and instead concentrate on writing the great stories that Harper's ability would let her create.

Then you need to do so. The series featuring Harper Connelly is a welcome addition to Harris's other series. Harris writes for her readers pleasure so there is always a wealth of intrigue, plenty of action, and a bit of romance. Her plots are absorbing and believable, and the depth and appeal of her characters keep readers anxious for the next installment.

This latest addition to the Harper Connelly series is even more engaging than the first. Harris's previous heroines are consistently dry, tough, no nonsense women and Harper Connelly is no exception. Harper is a young southern woman who was struck by lightening and along with a weak leg and fear of storms; she inherited the ability to "read" the dead. In Grave Surprise, Harper and her step-brother Tolliver are called in to give a demonstration of Harper's supernatural ability. During the reading, Harper comes across the body of young Tabitha Morgenstern, a previously unsolved case that has haunted Harper. Once again, Harper and Tolliver are under police suspicion and must solve the murder of Tabitha Morgenstern in order to clear their names. The book takes a series of unexpected terms and along the way new characters are introduced. Grave Surprise is a very enjoyable read and I recommend it to anyone looking to sit down for a few hours with a good book.

The thing I like most about this author is that while the clues are there, it is not always the most obvious culprit. Harris is for me, the queen of red herrings.

There were a few pacing issues for me, but I kept reading because I had to know how the mystery would play itself out.

As far as unique mystery series go, this one is right up there. After being struck by lightning, the protagonist, Harper, finds herself ambivalent about her new talent -- being able to sense the location of dead bodies, as well as tell their cause of death. She travels the country with her stepbrother, Tolliver, helping grieving families and the occasional police department.

In this book, she is asked to take part in an "Open Mind" college course, where she demonstrates her skills in a local graveyard. To her -- and the professor's -- surprise, she finds a new body in an old grave. She and her brother are pulled into the investigation when it is determined that the body is that of a missing 11-year-old whom Harper was hired some time ago to find, unsuccessfully.

The plot is intriguing, the characters strong and unique, and the writing smooth. My big complaint -- and it is is BIG one -- is the relationship between Tolliver and Harper. It is apparent that these two are headed for romance. That in itself would be fine, if it weren't for the fact that the first 3/4 of the book is spent portraying their relationship as a brother-sister one. Yes, they aren't related by blood -- but still, everything Harper says leads us to believe that she sees Tolliver as a brother, not as a close friend. So it was with a great deal of discomfort that I read that her feelings were beginning to change and she sees him in a sexual way. A little too "Flowers in the Attic" for me.

What a treat to read this whole series in one shot. Harris is such a good writer. I thought I had the answer about sixteen times, but missed. She kept me guessing, but when the answer came, it was very satisfying and made good sense. These books really take the reader to a different world. The only problem with this series is that it's hard to find other books that measure up after you've read these. That's a happy problem. What a good writer. Wow.

I love to read mysteries but was quite skeptical when I saw the cover, title, and summary of this book since I'm not into anything supernatural, but I read an excerpt and was instantly drawn in and absolutely loved it. I passed it on to my mother-in-law and got her hooked too. After reading the books in this series I was so hooked on Charlaine Harris' writing that I read almost every single one of her many others. Definitely check her out. You won't be disappointed with this book.

I would love for Charlaine to add more books to the series. All of her female characters are strong , yet vulnerable. They have had to transform themselves into somebody who could deal with society, and also find a way to be loved.

I couldn't help feeling that there was more at stake here for Harper and Tolliver than finding out who killed Tabitha. I think the best part about Harris' writing is the normal everyday stuff her characters deal with. They have feelings and problems that are beyond dead bodies, ghosts and irate family members. Grave Surprise is a wonderful addition my personal library.

I liked this book and will buy the others in the series. It was the first time I read anything by Charlaine Harris. It was well written and enjoyable to read. The characters were smart and handled themselves well. I liked them very much. I didn't guess who dunnit before it was revealed - always a plus. Harper's gift is a unique take on "6th sense" possibilities.

I really like the way Charlaine Harris writes. Her style is so easy to read and gives you clear pictures of what she's talking about. I like her new series, Grave Sight and Grave Surprise but I LOVE her Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series. You know you've got a good book in your hands when you stay up till 3 am to finish it. It happens to me every time I read Charlaine's work, this series is no exception (but PLEASE, PLEASE come out with another Sookie adventure this summer--I've got Definitely Dead just about memorized!)

Harper and Tolliver are great characters who Charlaine has made a memorable pair to follow across the South. I enjoy putting myself in her shoes as she encounters New people whip have left this world unexpectedly.

Harper Connelly and her loving (in more ways than one), stepbrother Tolliver, arrive at a graveyard for a college course and discover the body of a young murder victim. The girl is someone Harper failed to find on a previous case.

Like the last novel this was a fast read. Harper is an interesting, character. Her relationship with her brother is unique and different, and the lack of sex is a bit refreshing. I also think Harper has a cool gift.

Negatives: the characters themselves. I find Harper a bit cold. Yes she's a pro, yes she's been around death for a while. But she is such an introvert and her inability to attach herself to anyone other than her brother Tolliver is a little annoying and codependant.

Which brings me to Tolliver. Yeah I know, he's not her brother... But he's described in a very unattractive way. (Acne scars) alternatively long/short hair. I just don't feel the love. Yes. He's great as her brother/partner... But a love interest? No thanks. It skeeves me out. Yeah I know they aren't related but... Ew[...]

Final objection? I don't really like kiddie victim stories. I think they are a bit depressing. Plus the endless guilt, family drama, and police disapproval was a bit similar to the previous volume. I also found the end a bit of a letdown. I wanted there to be something MORE to the story than what there was.

Recommend: Yes. But I'd like to see the author do something a bit more creative with this character than have her solving sad missing person cases. That tends to get a bit tedious and dreary. Perhaps Harper's talent could be utilized in other ways.

It's so rare to find an author who can successfully produce 2 anthologies. Charlaine Harris does this flawlessly. It almost doesn't seem as though the author of the Southern Vampire books could also be the author of these (so far 2) books. Each series has its own appeal and specialness. Grave Surprise has an extreme sensitivity and a pull that makes it a book you loathe to put down, but hate to finish.

I really enjoyed this new entry in the Harper Connelly mystery series. She and her step-brother Tolliver find the remains of a kidnapped and murdered child and family finger-pointing begins with a surprising twist at the end. I'm looking forward to the next one coming out in paperback.

Don't let the cover picture of this book stop you from reading it. I almost didn't read it because it looked like it might be silly. I sure am glad I gave it a chance. This is my first time reading Ms. Harris, it won't be the last. I love the way she writes, doesn't add all the "filler description words". That is so refreshing. Try it, you will like it.

I have read the first two books in this series (this is the second) and won't follow up with the third. This book is slow, with plodding, uninteresting characters. 75% of the book is taken up with either unproductive internal monologue inside Harper's head or boring dialogue between the characters. Very little attempts have been made toward forshadowing, and what little there was, was obvious with the conclusion wrapped up quickly at the end. Weirdly, only a few pages are devoted to Harper's gift of reading dead people. Is this not the premise of the book?

All Ms. Harris's books have a "depressing" underlying theme in which she focuses on the negative side of southern life (discrimination) which makes me wonder if this is reflective of her own experiences, or if she is a "downer" herself. I do like her Sookie Stackhouse series, which I think the saving grace there are the characters, by being unusual bring interest to the story but then again, there is the pervasive depressing/discrimination theme running through the series. I have never been able to read more than one or two in her series and apparently am a glutton for punishment as I keep hoping (unrealistically) for a better series based on the Sookie Series.

I liked the book, but not as much as the first one. The main reason was the continuity problems between Grave Sight and this one. In the first book Mariella is eleven (the book says the same age as Cameron when she disappears, in this one she is nine. The first book also says that Iona is Tolliver's aunt (his father's sister) while in Grave Surprise Iona is Harper's mother's sister. Considering that this is a published book with at least one editor, someone should have caught these errors. I really wanted to like it a lot more; someone needs to pay closer attention to details.

I had an idea who dun it, but Charlaine keeps you gussing all the way till the end. So I was never really sure. Really enjoyed the 2nd book in the Harper Connally series and I look forward to starting the 3rd.

Pay attention to what you are reading people; this story has many continuity problems! First, after the discovery of the two bodies in the grave, Harper and Tolliver discuss how the "older male student" (who turns out to be a private detective) seemed suspicious. Go back and reread the scene they allude to--nothing was particularly odd about the man,except he stood out because of his age, and he voiced one suggestion, which was described as sounding "objective".
Second, ditto Harper's run in with the FBI agent. A harmless conversation becomes blown out of perportion when Harper and Tolliver talk about it.
Third, (and this is the worst)re-read the phone conversation between Harper and her little sisters. Work out their ages on a time line. The youngest is 9, making her 16 years younger than Harper's 25. Then Harper says her sisters were 3 and 5 when Cameron(?, the missing middle sister) disappeared. Doing the math makes Harper 19 when Cameron disappeared--BUT Harper was supposely younger, as she spent her senior year in a foster home after Cameron disappeared!
Lack of Continuity ruins what could have been a good story.

Every series that Ms. Harris creates is wonderful and this one is right up there. It is a little on the dark moody side. But, Harper is finding Dead people (not a happy moment), while Toliver tries to protect and watch over Harper, and of course the police and most people don't believe that she can do, what she does, (so they are not exactly nice). this is a great read and a fairly quick read. If you like the Teagarden series, Shakespear series or the Southern Vampire series, you will like this one.

Second in a series, "Grave Surprise" is simply too much like the first: judgemental bystanders, unfriendly main characters, murder mystery with increasing body count, lame "you must be guilty because you found the corpse" excuse to involve the main characters. Can be read independently of the first novel -- and probably would be much more enjoyable that way. Mood is vaguely depressing.

Having read most of Ms. Harris' books, this series has captured my imagination! I just wish she could write them at a faster pace. While I find the Sookie Stackhouse books a fun read, this series compels me to read and ponder forensics in an altogether different light.

I couldn't put this book down. I read it in two days. I am a big fan of all of the series written by Charlaine Harris. This second book in this new series is very promising. There is more back-story revealed in this book about Harper and Tolliver and their shared past. Also, the mystery in the story is complex and fast paced. The paranormal aspect of the book is original and refreshingly void of vampires and werewolves which seem to have taken over the paranormal genre.

I am so glad I kept going after Grave Sight. It was a little slow but did lay down the foundation for this one. There are a couple of new characters with their own "abilities" making the story even better and the mystery surrounding this latest case will keep you guessing til the end. Enjoy.

Charlaine Harris has done it again. This series is just as wonderful as her other. Grave suprise joins the world of the dead and keeps you guessing who done it till the end. I really loved the characters in this book, they have alot of depth. I can't wait to read the next one.

A wonderful sequel to the first in the series, Grave Sight. Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver Lang are again embroiled in an intriguing mystery. As circumstances begin to implicate them in the crime, Harper and Tolliver find themselves forced to prove their own innocence. A well written and emotionally satisfying installment to a terrific series.

I read the first Harper Connelly book (Grave Sight) because I thought Harper's "gift" would make for a great story. I was wrong. It SHOULD have made a great story, but the writing was so tedious and the characters so one-dimensional that I was left wondering what in the world Harris's publishers were thinking when they gave the go-ahead on the book. But because I like the Sookie Stackhouse series (at least the characters in THAT series actually have personalities) I decided to give the second Harper Connelly book a try.

I couldn't even finish it. The characters, once again, have ZERO personalities. They are about as interesting and likeable as navel lint. None of them come even close to being believable, and conversations between characters are ridiculously abrupt, dry, combative, and bear no semblence to reality whatsoever. Does Harper ever encounter people who are kind or helpful or treat her with any type of respect at all? Apparently not, because everyone she meets either accuses her, sets her up, suspects her, or is "out to get her" in some way. That's just not believeable.

But the real reason I couldn't finish the book came when Harper suddenly realized she was in love with Tolliver. It seems as though even Ms. Harris couldn't quite stomach THAT relationship because she couldn't even bring herself to come right out and say it - she could only allude to it. What a cop out. If you're going to bring in a quasi-incenstuous relationship, at least have the guts to directly address it.

For the last two books (okay...one and a half books) I had to listen to Harper introduce Tolliver as "my brother" about a hundred times and explain their relationship over and over again. By the end of the first book, I was like, "We GET IT. You're SIBLINGS. Not blood siblings, but you were raised as such. We get the point." So with that point being brought up OVER and OVER, we're all of a sudden supposed to believe that all of a sudden this brother/sister relationship has turned romantic? Ms. Harris should have never made them siblings only to have Harper lust after Tolliver later. I agree with another reviewer on this point: "EWWWWWWWW."

It is a safe bet I will NOT be reading Ice Cold Grave.

I really enjoyed this book. The heroine is complex and her abilities are interesting. How would you like to be able to find dead bodies? I am quite taken by the concept. But glad that is not in my skill set. <wink>

having given myself a few days to figure out how i felt about this book, the only thing i came away with was "i paid 23 dollars for this little thing". and it's not like the story was bad, it's just too similar to the first. i expected a little more than the same script only different actors.

the psychic and her grandson are interesting, however, and i'll be curious to see what becomes of them, but i think from now on i'll wait for PB or get it at the library

I liked this book better than the first one, Grave Sight. I am a big fan of Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series and I am happy to say I like this series almost as much. I look foward to the next one, I can't wait to see what happens between Harper and Tolliver!