An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

An Ice Cold Grave Charlaine Harris Book  2007 23.95 Rating: B/B+

An Ice Cold Grave is the third book in Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly series about a woman survivor of a lightning strike who can now read the dead around her.  Harper has turned it into a business, actually.  When a dead person's loved one wants to know the real cause of death or if that person has passed over, or when the police want to locate a dead body but have used any available "normal" resources, Harper gets called in.  She and her step-brother, Tolliver, travel the country reading the dead and making a decent living at it.  

In this particular case Harper gets a call from Doraville, North Carolina.  Adolescent boys have been coming up "missing" for awhile now there, and the new sheriff and one of the boys' grandmothers want to get to the bottom of it.  The sheriff is skeptical of Harper's ability to do the job, but under pressure allows her access to the areas in question.  Very shortly Harper learns the true nature of these disappearances: there's a serial killer on the loose in Doraville, and he's buried 8 bodies in the yard of an old abandoned out-of-the-way house.  Suddenly Harper and Tolliver - as well as all of Doraville - are enveloped in a media frenzy.  And then Harper herself is attacked.

An Ice Cold Grave picks up pretty much where Grave Surprise left off.  The mystery - well, I can't comment on its strength because I rarely try to "figure it out" before the mystery is revealed - seems fairly straightforward. The reader is only introduced to so many characters, and one or more of these could be the killer.  So the options are limited, and in this case they are all men.  Harper is in more peril in this one.  At least, she winds up needing more medical attention.  She was, after all, in peril in both of the previous installments, but here it seems perilous throughout and not just at the denouement.

Harper's relationship with her not-brother Tolliver changes rather abruptly mid-book.  SPOILERS (highlight to read):

Lots of hot monkey sex here, much less subtle than in most of Harris's other books.  These two really jump over the edge into Totally Different Relationship territory here.  I liked it, but some of the descriptive language Harris chose seemed a bit, um, crude.  Especially in dialogue. 

Overall, this book was a good continuation of the series, maintaining consistent characterization and narrative quality.  Harris's easy writing style is always a treat to read.  Harper and Tolliver are so down-to-earth and comfortable while also having such an interesting job - it's hard not to wish you could meet them in real life.  My copy was a library copy, but I did go and purchase Grave Surprise in softcover as a good compromise to my previous dilemma .  Harris is such a comfort read for me that I figure I owe her my cold hard cash.  And I hope hope hope there will be more installments in this series.  I could do with more Harper and less Sookie.

One final note: the cover on this one, I'm sure it was done by the same artist, due to the skull motif.  And I know the little flags on the cover are consistent with the story and how Harper and Tolliver identify and mark the mass grave.  But I've always thought it looked more like a ski slope than anything else, esp. given the parallel lines in the center of the picture.  Confusing. 

tags: books  mysteries  charlaine harris