Roe possesses a passion for real-crime stories, which she shares with a small local club called Real Murders. The group meets regularly to discuss historical murders- the weapons, the suspects, the victims, the motives- and dissect every detail, sometimes sharing an original theory or two. So naturally, when one of their own is found dead at the meeting hall, it doesn’t take long to recognize the act as an imitation of another crime, or wonder which of them could have something to hide.
This was the first of Charlaine Harris’ books that I’ve read, and I enjoyed it very much. The plot proceeded in a organic fashion, and seemed to grow so that the smallest seemingly insignificant detail was shown to hold meaning by the end of the book.
I decided to also watch the Hallmark movie channel movie based on this book, and thought the contrast between book and cable-ready movie was fascinating. Naturally there were changes, most of which seemed to be “taming down” the book’s action to a more family friendly episode, as the villains in the novel were far more insidious than those presented on the small screen.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery, or simply anyone enamored by a strong, independent heroine.