Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 1)

A Grave Sight is a well-written mystery that surrounds a young woman, Harper Connelly, who has special powers in discerning the location of dead bodies as well as the cause of death. Harper gained these powers after being struck by lightening. She is aided in her pursuits by her stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, who extends empathy and support as needed.

The story of individuals who live through being struck by lightening is such an interesting topic; I had been unaware of the impact such an event can have on an individual. I found the mystery of the murders in this story to be well concealed in that I was not sure who the perpetrator(s) were until very close to the end. There are no red herrings; more like a large list of equally culpable suspects. It is much fun to read. Only one small complaint - the story could have used just a little bit of comic relief, macabre though it might have been, to lighten the grim load that Harper and Tolliver carry and the storyline in general.

I am looking forward to Book 2 in the series, A Grave Surprise.

This author is probably my favorite of the paranormal chick lit sort of genre that I've been introduced to in the last two years; her Sookie Stackhouse books are outstanding, well-written and genuine and fun. I love Sookie's strength and vulnerability, and the way nothing specific defines her; Sookie is a whole person, and the books explore her working life, her family life, her romantic life, her life as a psychic, as a homeowner, as a Southerner -- everything. No one facet is allowed to dominate, and I really like that. So I was excited about reading a whole new character with a whole new power, and exploring another well-rounded life.

I was disappointed. The book wasn't bad, because Harris is just a good writer, but everything I liked about Sookie was lacking from Harper. Her vulnerability was annoying, her strength was haphazard and undefined, her relationships with everyone but her brother were shallow and one-dimensional. The story wasn't enough to carry me through, though it wasn't bad; it had an interesting twist, but the bad guy wasn't set up as bad enough before he started killing, so it felt unbelievable. For Harper, a woman who was struck by lightning and gained the ability to sense the dead and see their last moments, her power, while interesting, barely made an appearance in the story -- she finds the dead people in the town within the first hundred pages, and the rest of the book is sort of about her flailing around the town without much in the way of purpose. She depends on her brother to the point of psychosis, something that I couldn't relate to, and it wasn't explained enough for me to understand. She has a fling with a sheriff's deputy, but since it's basically a one-night stand, there wasn't much point to it.

I didn't feel like there was much point to the whole thing. But maybe I'm being too hard on it. But there are a lot of other books I'm planning on reading before the second book of this series.

Harper Connelly was struck by lightening as a child and has ever since been able to sense the dead. She can sense the final location and the final minutes of their life. So not having many other skills, she hires herself out to find missing persons, she see's it as helping, others see it as a way to take advantage of people at their most vulnerable moments.

Harper travels from town to town with her step-brother Tolliver. They have a very strange relationship that left a funny feeling in me. He is supposed to be her bodyguard, but it plays off more incestuous then that. Harper is about 23, but is less than mature and quite incapable of taking care of herself while Tolliver appears to be the knight in shinning armour who saves her from the terrible fate of bad guys and lightening storms.

This story was a bit twisted with Harper traveling to Sarne, Ark, to find the body of a missing girl. Finding the body is no problem, but being able to get back out of town still alive is the real challenge here. Too much seemed to be thrown into this book with who was related to whom and who was dating who and who sleeping with whom. Harpers relationship with the local cop seemed unnecessary and rather unbelievable. The whole book just didn't flow right.

This is the first in the Harper Connolly series, but it left me a bit cold and I don't know if I will continue on.

Harris' hook is different enough to make this series a fun change in the genre. The book was well edited and pretty well written, which gave it at least one of its stars. She did a good job with most of the characters while keeping us in the dark on others (it is a mystery).

My biggest problem was with the semi-siblings. Their relationship and dialog was way, way too sappy! I hope they become more "real" in the future.

I'll read at least one more.

Unlike the lead characters in Ms. Harris' other books, Harper is somewhat passive. I found the characters believable and interesting, but I can understand how others who have read the book found them annoying or a bit dull.

The story is quite dark, like the later Sookie Stackhouse plots.

Maybe not for everyone, but I am glad I jumped into this paranormal series.