Now best known for her New York Times-bestselling Sookie Stackhouse novels, Charlaine Harris garnered an unusual degree of acclaim with her ...
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Jan 03, 2008
Jennifer
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As a great fan of Harris's Southern Vampire Series with Sookie Stackhouse, I was interested in reading her other work. I just read Shakespeare's Landlord and really disliked it, so I was leery when I picked up this book, one of Harris's earliest.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised. I found Catherine Linton to be a likable character and the story to be engaging. Catherine has returned to inhabit her parents' house in a small Mississippi town after their suspicious deaths in a car ac More...
I was, however, pleasantly surprised. I found Catherine Linton to be a likable character and the story to be engaging. Catherine has returned to inhabit her parents' house in a small Mississippi town after their suspicious deaths in a car ac More...
Dec 28, 2011
Sarah
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I picked this one up because I've read the Sookie Stackhouse series (which are cheesy but totally awesome), but I don't think I'll be running out to pick up her other books. I know this is a first book, so I guess it's pretty good for a first book, but still...I almost feel like this was the outline for a book, and the rest was just waiting to be filled in.
The whole book takes place in the span of 3 days-ish, and the characters are definitley one-dimensional. There is a twist at the More...
The whole book takes place in the span of 3 days-ish, and the characters are definitley one-dimensional. There is a twist at the More...
Dec 02, 2011
Irishgirl1247
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I found it interesting to read one of Charlaine Harris's ealier works (I've read the Sookie & Aurora Books) It seemed different but I could see how it developed into what she writes now. I enjoyed it, but wished it was longer. I would of liked the charaters to develope more, mainly Catherine & Randall. For a thirty year old book it actually read like it could of been today, which is something I like, when a book either avoids being time specific or is either very specific. I don't like when ther
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Aug 11, 2011
Robyn
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I have not read any other Charlaine Harris novels, so cannot compare this one to her Sookie Stackhouse series. However, I was rather unimpressed with Sweet and Deadly and was only mildly appeased to learn that this was her first novel. While the writing was okay, the character development was minimal, at best. The reader gets no sense at all about the main character, Catherine, and thus feels no sympathy for her. She's a blank canvas. And none of the other characters are any more complex or deve
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Mar 21, 2011
AstrogirlM42
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Actual rating: 2.5
I put a hold on this book a while ago when I was early in my reading of the Sookie books (I have now finished) and was in my "have to read everything of Charlaine Harris phase". All I know now is, the phase has passed. After so many sookie books, harper books and aurora books, I need a break from Ms Harris.
This book is published as her first work (Copyright 1981) and has been re-released due to the publicity of her more recent work. It is a cute More...
I put a hold on this book a while ago when I was early in my reading of the Sookie books (I have now finished) and was in my "have to read everything of Charlaine Harris phase". All I know now is, the phase has passed. After so many sookie books, harper books and aurora books, I need a break from Ms Harris.
This book is published as her first work (Copyright 1981) and has been re-released due to the publicity of her more recent work. It is a cute More...
Nov 10, 2010
Aaron
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Charlaine Harris is one of the biggest supernatural writers right now thanks the the series True Blood, which is loosely based on her Sookie Stackhouse books. It was this first novel that she kicked off her writing career, which is primarily focused on cozy mysteries set in the rural South.
Originally published in 1981, this novel is the sole outing for Catherine Linton. She has just returned to her hometown of Lowfield, Mississippi, and settled into a job as a reporter for the local newspaper. More...
Originally published in 1981, this novel is the sole outing for Catherine Linton. She has just returned to her hometown of Lowfield, Mississippi, and settled into a job as a reporter for the local newspaper. More...
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Aug 20, 2010
Dlora
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This is Charlaine Harris's debut novel and it is very well written. Like all her subsequent stories, Harris's setting is where she is most comfortable--in the south. This story takes place in Lowfield, Missippippi, where small-town reporter Catherine Linton has returned to pull herself out of a black hole of depression and isolation caused by her parents death in a car accident. The story opens with Catherine stumbling on a dead body. Harris does a marvelous job describing how that impacts Cathe
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Jul 23, 2009
Amy
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Catherine Linton has just endured the tragic loss of both her parents, and has moved back to her childhood home in Lowfield, Mississippi. The only thing she wants in life is to maintain her quiet hermit-like existence. That is not to be, though - starting with her discovery of the body of her father's longtime nurse, Catherine is caught up in a series of murders that she suspects are all connected to her parents' deaths. Will she be able to get out of this muderous tangle alive, or is she the
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May 29, 2011
CRO
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Ok - this is actually a 2 1/2 star book.
I started reading this (am a fan of all the Sookie Stackhouse and Auror Teagarten books) and I was amazed and surprised. It started out as a 3 1/2 to 4 star book. Great characters, great mood and tension, great description of this small southern cotton town in the early 80's - I was really impressed because I know this is one of Charlaine Harris' first novels. And the first 7/8 of the book is incredibly well crafted - each detail and nuance of More...
I started reading this (am a fan of all the Sookie Stackhouse and Auror Teagarten books) and I was amazed and surprised. It started out as a 3 1/2 to 4 star book. Great characters, great mood and tension, great description of this small southern cotton town in the early 80's - I was really impressed because I know this is one of Charlaine Harris' first novels. And the first 7/8 of the book is incredibly well crafted - each detail and nuance of More...
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Aug 08, 2011
Jaime
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This is Harris' first published novel and it shows. The mystery and character development are weak - lacking the the experience and clever plotting found in her later mystery series. And in those series, readers become invested in the spunky heroines like Sookie and Lily Bard. It's harder to connect with Catherine in this stor, especially since this is a stand alone novel. However, even here Harris' potential shows. This is a fast and easy cozy mystery. Serious mystery fans will be unimpressed,
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Dec 21, 2010
Jeannette
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Someone else likened Sookie Stackhouse books to cotton candy: nothing but air and fluff, but once you have it in sight, you kind of crave the sweetness and junk. Sweet and Deadly was more like an appetizer: it was okay, but as soon as I'd finished, I was craving something more substantial.
I'm sure this book was written to give the reader that sense of a slow, sleepy Southern town where nothing has ever happened... until now. This might have even been an attempt to give the secrets re More...
I'm sure this book was written to give the reader that sense of a slow, sleepy Southern town where nothing has ever happened... until now. This might have even been an attempt to give the secrets re More...
Sep 10, 2010
Michalyn
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I've become a huge fan of Charlaine Harris because of the Sookie Stackhouse novels and am warming up to the Harper Connelly mysteries. Sweet and Deadly however, was a joke, even more so when one reads the glowing reviews on the cover. Not only is the heroine unlikable, she is a total Mary Sue and too much the fictional ideal of the Southern lady. I was annoyed by the fact that this woman never seemed to use her pre-frontal cortex--all thoughts come to her as if in a dream. Wisps of ideas float u
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Aug 10, 2010
Joanne
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One of the things I like best about Harris' books is their sense of place, so I chose this book for a road trip to Mississippi. Because the time period is different, I didn't quite get what I was looking for. I'm not sure why Harris chose to set this book in the early 70s. What was added? Or did she set it earlier to avoid the high-tech forensics and internet research mysteries must take into account in the present day?
I also figured this one out more quickly than the rest. Ok More...
I also figured this one out more quickly than the rest. Ok More...
Jun 12, 2010
Sara
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Considering that this was the first book that Charlaine Harris wrote, I was impressed. This was a quick read without many twists or turns, but I did enjoy it afterall. There were some parts that I found boring and it took most of the book to get me interested, but the last 20 or so pages flew by. Honestly, I didn't know who was responsible for the murders, and the ending did surprise me a little.
With Harris's other books, I have always struggled with her grammer and sentence structu More...
With Harris's other books, I have always struggled with her grammer and sentence structu More...
Aug 07, 2011
Pauline
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Murder mystery by Charlaine Harris, otherwise known for her Sookie Stackhouse novels. C.H. was writing mysteries long before she took up the supernatural stories and she was very good with them. This relatively short story about a pre-personal computer era reporter living and working in a small Louisiana town after her parents died there in a car crash. The story line is excellently held together for a tight read, keeping to the plot with the occasional charm of reminding people what it was li
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Jan 03, 2011
Tracy
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I believe this is one of Harris' earlier forays into mystery fiction. While not a bad story and not bad writing, there were some unexplained jumps in action or logic.
The main character tended toward - what? whining? maybe not that - there was a lot of "I've got to get ahold of myself", especially toward the beginning of the book. Whodunit and why was one of those "never in a million years" things - the clues (for me) just weren't there until right before the b More...
The main character tended toward - what? whining? maybe not that - there was a lot of "I've got to get ahold of myself", especially toward the beginning of the book. Whodunit and why was one of those "never in a million years" things - the clues (for me) just weren't there until right before the b More...
Dec 27, 2011
Kaitie
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This is the first book I've read from Charlaine Harris that wasn't part of the Southern Vampire Mysteries series and I was just a little disappointed. I just love that series so much, I guess I was bound to be let down by something else. Sweet and Deadly was an ok book, but nothing that really stands out from all other mysteries. Bodies start showing up and in small town and it's up to the main character to figure out what's going on. Same basic story I've read a million times before, but if tha
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Mar 22, 2011
Steve
rated it:
Charlaine Harris' first novel, back in print due to the popularity of the Sookie Stackhouse series (beginning with Dead Until Dark) and the TV series True Blood based on them.
A good mystery, without the paranormal elements that Harris fans may expect based on her more recent series, though one line suggests the germ of the idea behind the Harper Connelly series: When Catherine Linton has discovered her second dead body within a few days, she thinks to herself facetiously "People s More...
A good mystery, without the paranormal elements that Harris fans may expect based on her more recent series, though one line suggests the germ of the idea behind the Harper Connelly series: When Catherine Linton has discovered her second dead body within a few days, she thinks to herself facetiously "People s More...
Jun 10, 2009
Trulie
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This is very much a book of its time. Besides the shockingly gratuitous smoking I mentioned before (seriously, have you noticed that bad guys are the only ones that smoke in books anymore? LOL) the details of the small weekly newspaper where the heroine works really are from another century.
Charlaine Harris is a great storyteller and I enjoyed the read, but it's not something I would want to reread. I realized the killer and picked up on the twist long before the end of the book and More...
Charlaine Harris is a great storyteller and I enjoyed the read, but it's not something I would want to reread. I realized the killer and picked up on the twist long before the end of the book and More...
Jul 01, 2009
Spennke
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I am one who began exploring Charlaine Harris' works as a result of the HBO TRUE BLOOD series. I find the HBO series brilliant; the books aren't. However, CH is a good storyteller and everyone needs a bit of fluff every now and again.
I've read her Shakepeare's Landlord (very dark and violent) and Last Scene Dead -- in each CH sets the stage in such a way that "who done it" makes sense while leaving me in suspense until the end. In Sweet and Deadly, I knew "who don More...
I've read her Shakepeare's Landlord (very dark and violent) and Last Scene Dead -- in each CH sets the stage in such a way that "who done it" makes sense while leaving me in suspense until the end. In Sweet and Deadly, I knew "who don More...
Oct 18, 2010
Krista
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I believe this was her first novel, and I didn't think it was too bad. If you try to compare it to Sookie Stackhouse, it won't. This story is tame and slow paced. This could be picked up by teens as well as adults, but I did not get really interested in the story until way pass the middle. It is a murder mystery and she takes her time to develop the secrets throughout the book, and then ties up all the ends at the very end. It's not like any of her other works. So if you want an introduction to
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Jul 06, 2010
Julie
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The most distracting thing about this book is that it's just old enough for technology we're used to in modern stories to be missing. The reporters use typewriters and nobody has a cell phone. I got a few pages in, and had to check the copyright, and then thought "ah, ok." So if you can put yourself in the right frame of mind from a technology stand point, it's a decent, but not great story. The main character finds a dead body, who it turns out worked for her father, and the plot
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Apr 05, 2010
Rosabelle
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I was reading this book looking for some light reading. I found what I was looking for. In the limited time that I have to read, I managed to finish this book in just 2 days. The story is set in small town in mississipi. The main character is Catherine Linton, who came back to Lowfield to investigate the murder of her parents, who were killed in a car accident. Catherine believed that the death of her parents are not accident, but murder.
I've read Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhous More...
I've read Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhous More...
Sep 29, 2011
Jessica
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This one is my least favorite Charlaine Harris book. Don't get me wrong, she's still an excellent author. The Sookie Stackhouse series comes highly recommended! My lackluster feelings toward this book should come as no surprise, since I much prefer her supernaturally-themed series (Sookie, Harper Connelly) moreso than her mystery ones (Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard).
This being her first published work, is decent. Set in a small town where the mystery needs to be solved by the local sher More...
This being her first published work, is decent. Set in a small town where the mystery needs to be solved by the local sher More...
Aug 13, 2010
Corky
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Sweet and Deadly has a little of everything: rich regional authenticity, good dialogue, interesting characters, and taut suspense. The heroine is a self-sufficient woman who can shoot a gun and has true grit. The sheriff is a well-drawn character and so is the killer, whose motive will stun the reader. (Amazon.com - couldn't have said it better.)
Just returned to her hometown of Lowfield, Mississippi Catherine Linton's suspicions that the death of her parents in a car crash six months More...
Just returned to her hometown of Lowfield, Mississippi Catherine Linton's suspicions that the death of her parents in a car crash six months More...
Jan 23, 2010
Jaime
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It was fun to read this book from 1981 and see how Harris' work has evolved over the decades. For an early effort, it showed a good grasp of characterization and place, and the plot was fairly crafty, though I saw where it was going right away. (That's hardly the author's fault--it's only because I've studied the subject that is the villain's particular problem that I was able to identify the villain on sight). I didn't find the narrator/protagonist particularly appealing, but she does provide o
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May 02, 2010
Starling
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May 20, 2008
Arthur
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Catherine who’s the heroine or main charcter of the story, but not a reporter of a certain newspaper but was its columnist. She doesn’t have intuition guiding her or a fairy god-mother. But will make all kind of friends any day of the week. She is lonely though when she returns home to her vast home where she now lives alone. She has never married and acts though she was hardly either in any serious relationships. She looks up to the local sheriff Galton. Personally she developed a huge crush on
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May 24, 2009
Thejamiemarie
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Charlaine Harris has a series of vampire novels that I absolutely love. I thought I would give her other books a try and I started with this one. I don't regret it. The book was small and easy to get through, but kept my highly entertained. I usually am able to figure out "who did it" in murder mystery novels, but in this one I was truly surprised by the ending and by what happened and what the motive was. I think she has a few other books and I might check them out.
Mar 30, 2009
L.
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Good storyline. Characters developed well.
The only drawback were some inconsistencies about her work. She stated a time frame on one page and about 50 pages later she told it differently. Example: First time it was Wednesday. Second time it was Tuesday. So which was it.
Also, one does not light up a cigarette in a dark room.
The inconsistencies made me more aware to keep focused when I am reading a novel.
Other than that I enjoyed the story.
The only drawback were some inconsistencies about her work. She stated a time frame on one page and about 50 pages later she told it differently. Example: First time it was Wednesday. Second time it was Tuesday. So which was it.
Also, one does not light up a cigarette in a dark room.
The inconsistencies made me more aware to keep focused when I am reading a novel.
Other than that I enjoyed the story.
