"Aurora "Roe" Teagarden is your typical librarian: thick, coke-bottle glasses, long brown hair, sensible librarian-like clothes, single, lives in a small town - you get the picture. She doesn't have much of a social life and has resigned herself to having her Saturday nights free. But, once a month, on Fridays, she meets with her fellow murder-mystery enthusaists and they discuss a real murder. This Friday it is Roe's turn to present the case of the Wallaces. She spent hours preparing and arrives a little early at the community center to make sure that everything is ready. However, she cannot find the woman who unlocked the building, laid out the cookies and coffee and set up the chairs. When she does find her, she wishes that she hadn't as she has been murdered and displayed in the kitchen in a gruesome fashion. Even though Roe is in shock, she cannot help but notice that this murder bears a startling resemblance to the Wallace case. Could one of the club members have taken their little hobby a little too far? When other bodies begin to pile up, all copycat murders from famous past crimes, Roe cannot help but wonder which victim she resembles...
This is a fun, short, easy mystery read that I sat down and read in a couple of hours. Roe is a likeable character whom most readers will relate to as being in her shoes at one time of their lives or another. The other characters are also fairly interesting, but not as fully fleshed out as I would like. Charlaine Harris doesn't really present the plot in such a way where you would be able to solve the mystery on your own with the clues presented so the ending has a surprise twist, but it was a nicely paced story. The romantic subplots were a little perfunctory, but added a nice touch to the story. I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it, but I really loved the Lily Bard series and highly recommend those books. Keep in mind that most of the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard books are out of print, but they are worth hunting down - especially the Lily Bard series!
"
Debbie, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of Real Murders
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases - 20% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30% How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- very upbeat
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
Kind of investigator
- amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- librarian or superKlausner
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
United States
Yes
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 1
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
