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Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #1)

by Charlaine Harris

3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 · rating details · 11,406 ratings · 807 reviews

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Hardcover, 175 pages

Published December 1st 1990 by Walker & Company (first published 1990)

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Jul 29, 2011 The Holy Terror rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, owned, cozy-mystery, 2010

I decided to read this on a plane trip because it seemed easy to read and get into without having to think too hard, which is good because I get sleepy on planes. I don't often read mysteries but I'm determined to read everything Harris writes. I like her other two mystery protagonists, Lily Bard and Harper Connelly, but I have to say I like Aurora Teagarden the least.

Aurora is pretty plain and boring, even without her being a librarian. She lives alone and doesn't even have a pet. She's 28 and...more

13 likes · like · see review

Feb 11, 2008 a_tiffyfit rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm commenting on the entire Aurora Teagarden mysteries series in this one review...

It is an OK series. The plotlines are entertaining, but the editing, in a word, SUCKS.

The names of the characters (last names) get screwed up, the spelling errors are abundant, the prose doesn't flow, and it makes you stutter as you read it.

That being said, I did enjoy the series. I read five of the books in one night. Easy read. Good brain dump.

Harris' Harper Connolly series is much better and with a lot fewe...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Jensownzoo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-reads, mysteries

I started this earlier this week but just finished it today. Already a bad sign. I thought when I picked this up that it was a mystery novel with a librarian protagonist which was written by someone who's other work I rather enjoyed. Apparently, that was not enough to avoid a bad egg.

This book was sparely written, in descriptions of the setting as well as development of the characters. One or the other I could have forgiven if blown away by the remainder, but not both. It seemed like a book tha...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars

After reading all the Sookie books, and then starting this series out of curiosity, I've realized that Charlaine Harris needs to quit preaching through her characters.

Both female characters, Sookie and Aurora (not sure about the other two), have mentioned more than once about not having a boyfriend and being lonely and envying people who do date, both want babies, neither one feels comfortable sleeping around, both feel they should be more religious than they are, and it gets old really fast. (B...more After reading all the Sookie books, and then starting this series out of curiosity, I've realized that Charlaine Harris needs to quit preaching through her characters.

Both female characters, Sookie and Aurora (not sure about the other two), have mentioned more than once about not having a boyfriend and being lonely and envying people who do date, both want babies, neither one feels comfortable sleeping around, both feel they should be more religious than they are, and it gets old really fast. (Both characters also own a white dress with yellow flowers, which amuses me more than it should. Does Lily Bard own one? I'll read one of those books and find out.)

There's nothing wrong with any of those things, but it's a big world. And personally, Aurora is boring enough that I feel she needs to sleep around, just so there's something interesting about her. I'd be happy even if it was just a one-night stand - anything to draw attention from the fact that she gets joy out of buying pleated pants.

And what is up with guys not noticing this chick til she discovers a dead body? She's boring, yes, but discovering a dead body doesn't automatically mean she's exciting now and her life is full of fun and adventure. It just means she found a dead body. The one guy, it's understandable - he just moved to town. But the cop, who's a member of Real Murders? You have your pick-up line right there! Ask her about someone you think is possibly some obscure murderer she's never heard about, duh.

Ignoring the preaching, whining, and Aurora, this actually isn't a bad book. The murders are interesting enough to keep your attention, I liked how everything pointed to an entirely different person, and I'm curious where the series goes from here, and if Aurora actually becomes interesting. Just a comment about her likes other than crime and cleaning. Harris has a personable writing style, where you feel like you could run into any of these characters on the street. Despite what I've written here, I do like her books for the most part, and will be keeping my fingers crossed this series only improves.(less)

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Jul 13, 2008 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, mystery-and-suspense

I like reading Harris' Southern Vampire series and I am a librarian so I thought I would give her Aurora Teagarden series a mystery (Aurora is a librarian). At first I was a little overwhelmed with the cast of characters introduced off the bat (12+ characters, some significant, some not so much...). I did like that the murder was discovered within the first chapter or two. It is a drag when the murder happens 1/3 of the way through the book...
Overall I enjoyed this book. I was hoping that Aurora...more

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May 02, 2013 Cody Pendant rated it 3 of 5 stars

I tried getting into this book. It shouldn't be difficult, right? Wrong! But I just can not do it. Aurora Teagarden is as exciting as watching paint dry. (Which may be a preferable activity over reading this book I might add.) There is nothing likable, or memorable about any of the characters, or situations in this book. The only reason Aurora Teagarden is memorable is because Ms. Harris reminds the reader at least three times per chapter that the main characters name is Aurora Teagarden, you kn...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Librarian Aurora (Roe) Teagarden lives in a small suburb outside of Atlanta. She is a member of a local club called 'Real Murders,' a diverse group that gets together monthly to discuss real life crimes. Aurora is excited to present an unsolved case when one of the members is found brutally murdered. Shockingly, the crime is staged just like the murder Roe was about to present. When additional murders start happening to members of the club (which are copycats killings of famous cases) Aurora has...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Katie Bock rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: murder-mystery loving Grandmas

Shelves: fun-meaty-reads

Like many readers, I love reading every book by Charlaine Harris. If I thought it would make her writing more prolific, I would donate $10 out of each paycheck to Ms. Harris..

That said, the Aurora Teagarden series is not the one I'd recommend to first-time readers. In it, I miss the darkness of the Lily Bard novels and the manic fun (and sex scenes!) of the ridiculously famous Sookie Stackhouse novels. However, it is nice to find a Harris novel I could recommend to Grandma - if Grandma liked mur...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Rhia rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thought I'd give this a try because I'm a fan of murder mysteries and loved the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

It was terribly disappointing.

Aurora is incredibly dull. No, not because she's a small town librarian. There's just no personality there. She doesn't seem to have any habits or hopes & dreams or anything.
I think in the hands of another author, there is a lot of potential for a cute librarian with a quirky name! Sadly, Charlaine did not do this character justice.

Same goes for the two...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Jeff Cothern rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Though a small town at heart, Lawrenceton, Georgia, has its dark side-and crime buffs. One of whom is librarian Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, a member of the Real Murders Club, which meets once a month to analyze famous cases. It's a harmless pastime-until the night she finds a member killed in a manner that eerily resembles the crime the club was about to discuss. And as other brutal "copycat" killings follow, Roe will have to uncover the person behind the terrifying game, one that casts all the mem

...more

From Publishers Weekly

An ingenious plot and sufficient flow of blood keep the pages flying in Harris's ( Sweet and Deadly ) third novel, as a series of killings patterned after celebrated murders is perpetrated on the small community of Lawrenceton, Ga. Twenty-eight-year-old Aurora (Roe) Teagarden, professional librarian, belongs to the Real Murders club, a group of 12 enthusiasts who gather monthly to study famous baffling or unsolved crimes. As a meeting is to begin, Roe discovers the massacred body of a club member. She recognizes the method of slaughter as imitating the very crime she was to address that night--suddenly her life as armchair sleuth assumes an eerie reality. The murderer continues to claim victims, each in the style of a different historical killer. Roe herself becomes a target, and also attracts two admirers, Robin Crusoe, a famed mystery writer new to Lawrenceton, and club member/detective Arthur Smith. Death seems to have infused new life into her waning social calendar, an irony not lost on this pensive character. Harris draws the guilty and the innocent into an engrossing tale while inventing a heroine as capable and potentially complex as P. D. James's Cordelia Gray.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Someone is killing the crime buffs of the Real Murders Society in Lawrenceton, Georgia. A librarian, Aurora Teagarden, sets out to catch the brutal murderer after fellow club members end up as victims. The uncanny resemblances to famous crimes challenge Roe and her two admirers, policeman Arthur Smith and mystery writer Robin Crusoe, to pursue the criminal. The lighthearted, witty handling of characters contrasts with the heightening suspense as Aurora seeks clues by searching past mysteries for the killer's identity--until she is caught in the sadistic web of terror herself. Clever pacing along with ample red herrings and judiciously placed clues keep Harris's story moving briskly. Let's hope for another fast-paced mystery featuring Aurora and her friends.
- Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School, Upper Marlboro,
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Sep 25, 2012 Damaskcat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Aurora Teagarden – Roe to her friends – is a librarian in Laurencetown. She enjoys her job and is a member of the Real Murders Club which meets once a month to discuss famous murders. When Aurora gets to a meeting of the club and finds one of its members battered to death in the kitchen she recognises the circumstances as being similar to the Wallace case which she was going to talk about at the meeting. Further murders soon follow and all are patterned on famous cases.

All the club members are...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Grace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well. I officially spooked myself by knowing all of the cases referred to in this book. This is what happens when you read too much Crime Library in college. Hm.

The Aurora series certainly has the same flavor that Harris used later in the Stackhouse series - a quiet small town with multiple generations and long memories. I like that flavor, so this was an okay read for me. The mystery went along at a good clip, and because I had knowledge of true crimes I was actually able to guess a few things...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-thriller

This is a "dark horse" of a book. It starts out as a rather ordinary story about "small town" people that becomes shockingly chilling and ultimately kind of terrifying.

Aurora Teagarden is a librarian in Lawrencetown, Georgia. She is also a member of the "Real Murders Society", a group of local folks who get together to discuss and dissect old murder cases.

On the night of a meeting when Aurora is to present a murder she's selected, someone decides to re-create that exact case, murdering another m...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Dan Thompson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It was all right, but ultimately I did not find it very satisfying. It was well written, and the first-person narrator was both interesting and compelling. The crime was fairly interesting, and it was fun trying to keep track of various bits of information, hoping to track down the murderer before the narrator did, and that part was fun.

Where it failed for me was in the killer’s motivation, but that was mostly the nature of the beast for this particular crime. Someone was committing murders just...more

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May 28, 2012 Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lawrencetown è una piccola citadina tranquilla, fino a quando una serie di assassinii, modellati su vecchi casi d'omicidio, vengono commessi con efferata crudeltà... Le indagini sembrano coinvolgere i vari componenti di un club alquanto bizzarro: il Real Murders, i cui componenti una volta al mese si riuniscono per parlare di vecchi omicidi del passato...

Una trama degna di Agatha Christie quella di Real Murders, dove non mancano suspense e la giusta dose di adrenalina oltre ad una certa quantità...more Lawrencetown è una piccola citadina tranquilla, fino a quando una serie di assassinii, modellati su vecchi casi d'omicidio, vengono commessi con efferata crudeltà... Le indagini sembrano coinvolgere i vari componenti di un club alquanto bizzarro: il Real Murders, i cui componenti una volta al mese si riuniscono per parlare di vecchi omicidi del passato...

Una trama degna di Agatha Christie quella di Real Murders, dove non mancano suspense e la giusta dose di adrenalina oltre ad una certa quantità di sangue sparse...
La storia viene raccontata dalla protagonista Aurora Teagarden ed è attraverso i suoi occhi che il lettore entra nelle vite degli abitanti di Lawrencetown, a traverso lei si imparano a conoscere i vari componenti del Real Murders e sempre con i suoi occhi chi legge assisterà al ritrovamento dei cadaveri...
Ogni personaggio che viene introdotto durante la lettura è sempre ben descritto, ben caratterizzato e ne vengono messi in risalto soprattutto i lati più misteriosi e "strani".
Aurora è una bibliotecaria di 28 anni, che incarna il classico stereotipo della bibliotecaria con occhiali, con poca autostima e non eccessivamente interessata a curare l'aspetto, ma è anche una donna intelligente e una grande osservatrice.
La Harris conduce il lettore dentro ogni singolo omicidio, lo porta a indagare pagina dopo pagina insieme alla polizia e ad Aurora: chi legge si ritrova ad analizzare ogni dettaglio cercando di capire chi sia, tra i 12 componenti del Real Muders, il vero assassino...
Leggendo Real Murders vi ritroverete a indagare, accorgendovi che tutti sono sospettabili e quando vi sembrerà di aver capito chi è stato tutto verrà nuovamente ribaltato lasciandovi letteralmente a bocca aperta!
Lo stile è fresco, accattivante, mai noioso e incalzante: la Harris sa come attirare l'attenzione del lettore e mantenerla sempre alta, inchiodandolo al libro e facendolo sentire parte della storia.
Un libro questo adatto a chi ha amato i gialli della Christie, perfetto per tutti coloro a cui piacciono i gialli vecchio stile dove fino alla fine non si capisce chi sia il vero colpevole!
Inoltre è una lettura adatta all'estate, poiché non è eccessivamente impegnativa, ma comunque coinvolgente, piacevole ed interessante e che vi lascerà soddisfatti.
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Apr 22, 2012 Ste80 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Real Murders Il Club dei delitti irrisolti" è il primo capitolo di una nuova collana, Odissea Novels, inaugurata dalla Casa Editrice DelosBooks, nata dalla penna della ormai nota Charlaine Harris, e pubblicato lo scorso 20 marzo.

Vista la notorietà di Charlaine Harris, conosciuta per il famoso personaggio di Sookie Stackhouse, sulla quale è stata prodotta la nota serie televisiva trasmessa anche in Italia (True Blood), ho deciso di leggere questo romanzo a colpo sicuro.
Avevo bisogno di una buona...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries

*4.5 stars*

I don't often read mysteries nowadays, but I loved the narrator's voice so much, it sucked me right in. I love librarian Aurora Teagarden, her intelligence, her sense of humor, and her deeply grounded, common sense attitude combined with her barely-hidden desire for adventure. I love her mom and her community, and for once, I'm actually really enjoying the love triangle Aurora is in.

(Normally, I really dislike love triangles and just have to shrug and cope with them when they appear...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Amy added it

Shelves: 2012, books-about-librarians, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is one of those series that I turn to when I just want to read something fun. There are several series like that for me: the Sookie Stackhouse books (also by Charlaine Harris), the Stephanie Plum books, and the Booktown books. I wouldn't want to read more than one of these books in a row, but they're great for when I'm in the mood for some brain candy. This book is the first installment in the Aurora Teagarden series. I think I've read the second and third books, so it was nice to see where...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Michelle Randall rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I enjoyed author Charlaine Harris's Vampire books with Sookie Stackhouse and so I decided that I wanted to try some more of her books, so I got ahold of some of the Aurora Teagarden Mystery books.

Real Murders is the first book in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series and begins with the monthly Friday night meeting of the Real Murders Club. This is a group of people that get together to study, read and analyze old murders, argue for the conviction or against, or present suspects if never solved. I...more I enjoyed author Charlaine Harris's Vampire books with Sookie Stackhouse and so I decided that I wanted to try some more of her books, so I got ahold of some of the Aurora Teagarden Mystery books.

Real Murders is the first book in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series and begins with the monthly Friday night meeting of the Real Murders Club. This is a group of people that get together to study, read and analyze old murders, argue for the conviction or against, or present suspects if never solved. It is all very scholarly, and they are an unlikely bunch that probably wouldn't be friends otherwise. This week, Aurora is leading the discussion of the Wallace Murder in England in 1931. Funny thing happens on the way to the meeting, as Aurora enters the VFW Hall, where they hold their meetings, the phone on the wall rings, and someone asks for Julia Wallace. Ok, now that is enough to freak out little Aurora, or Roe to her friends. She mentions it to another member but they shrug it off, and along the meeting goes, as each member arrives, until Roe is getting concerned. Maime Wright was suppose to open the building, and her car is here but she isn't. Finally Roe decides to check the other rooms for Mamie, only to find her in one room, murder in exactly the same way and staged exactly like Julia Wallace! ACK!

Roe is a down-to-earth librarian and she has never been around anything like this in her life before, and it becomes unsettling to her. Then when a box of poisoned chocolates how up on her door step, addressed to her mother, Roe is even more concerned. What is happening to their little town and why her?

As Roe continues through, she thinks about what is going on and puzzles and ponders over the murder, first one, then a second and so on. As a scholarly person, she puts bits and pieces together that seem logical to her in her studious mind, but not so logical to the police, only for her to find the true murderer before the police do.

I would not consider this a cozy mystery, it' just a mystery. It is well written. I come to like Roe, I feel for her as a person and what she is going through, and I want to see her come out on top. I enjoy the Southern life and the charm of that place in the book, and it is a good book and a good read. She is not a nosy-body, she just puzzles and ponders, she isn't really out to investigate but she just can't get it out of her mind. She is a likable character.

I enjoyed this book, and moved on to the next in the series.(less)

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Feb 06, 2012 Regge Episale rated it 4 of 5 stars

So, I read the Sookie Stackhouse books first and found it nice and a little interesting that someone could right an entire series built around the trailer parks and bars and remote country villages. It was fun, I read them, done.

I was very pleasantly surprised to read this book and realize that Charlaine Harris is anything but a one-style-writer. Still in easy to read language, still patterned after the people you meet everyday, but with the upgrade to good research, a higher level of language,...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Jacqui rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cosy, mystery, reviewed

Charlaine Harris has written many series of books the most famous is probably the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire stories, recently televised as True Blood. This is another of her series or at least the first in the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries.

Set in Lawrenceton, Georgia, growing yes, but still with a small town mentality. Aurora grew up and still lives there and is the stereotypical librarian of fiction, at least in the beginning. She has an interest in crime, famous cases of the past and is a member...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Madame X rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

I picked this up because I've totally adored Harris' Southern Vampire series and I figure anything she writes has got to be good. Real Murders does have a lot of the qualities that I love in the Southern Vampire series - a sense of place, a way of incorporating the quotidien, really perceptive one-liners that somehow manage to describe a character in a complex and subtle way. The small-town setting, the way she writes about people and manages to make them utterly normal while also extraordinary...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Yolanda Sfetsos rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

It's no secret that I'm a Charlaine Harris fan. I love the Sookie Stackhouse series and the Harper Connelly one, too. I think I just added another one of her series to my 'fave' list. :)

Aurora 'Roe' Teagarden is a single, twenty-eight-year-old librarian who lives in the small town of Lawrenceton. She lives in an apartment by herself--which happens to belong to her mother, so she also manages it--and has an odd interest in true crime. Actually, she's part of a little group called Real Murders. Th...more It's no secret that I'm a Charlaine Harris fan. I love the Sookie Stackhouse series and the Harper Connelly one, too. I think I just added another one of her series to my 'fave' list. :)

Aurora 'Roe' Teagarden is a single, twenty-eight-year-old librarian who lives in the small town of Lawrenceton. She lives in an apartment by herself--which happens to belong to her mother, so she also manages it--and has an odd interest in true crime. Actually, she's part of a little group called Real Murders. They meet once a month in the VFW Hall to discuss famous crimes, and share their strange interest in this subject.

Nothing out of the ordinary usually happens, though. It's all a very theory-based interest for all the members. They know their crimes, murderers, motives, speculations, and dates. Well, that changes the night that Roe finds the dead body of one of the club's members bashed to death and left lying in the kitchen. What's weird about the whole thing is that it's been set up to look just like a much older crime. A crime all the members of this macrabre club are very familiar with

And this isn't the last time it happens.

Now, Roe and the other members of Real Murders find themselves either victims, or made to look guilty by the murderer, as he goes about copying a whole bunch of other famous murders. Leaving a body count that has the police running around in circles and Roe getting caught up in the mystery.

Only Roe doesn't know just how close she'll come to being another one of those victims...

Real Murders is another Charlaine Harris gem. It's narrated by a very likeable character. I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes, and going through the bizarre experiences she's forced to deal with too. Oh, and it's got a very cool love triangle. I wonder who Roe will eventually choose: the blond, stocky cop who's determined to do things the right away, but took some time to let his intentions be known... or the tall, redheaded crime writer who's very open about his interest in her? Either way, this is a killer of a book!

It's the first book in the series, which is very exciting because I've still got three more left in this volume. Can't wait!(less)

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Nov 15, 2010 Valetta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Una porcheriola ogni tanto me la devo proprio leggere, è più forte di me, ne ho bisogno per placare una certa perversa attrazione per il trash che non sono mai riuscita a soffocare. Non che questo libro sia così terribile, tuttaltro, semplicemente va affrontato partendo dall'idea che si voglia leggere qualcosa di leggero, scorrevole, abbastanza particolare da suscitare un certo coinvolgimento ma decisamente poco impegnativo in toni e contenuti.
Con questo criterio mi ero accostata alla saga di S...more
Una porcheriola ogni tanto me la devo proprio leggere, è più forte di me, ne ho bisogno per placare una certa perversa attrazione per il trash che non sono mai riuscita a soffocare. Non che questo libro sia così terribile, tuttaltro, semplicemente va affrontato partendo dall'idea che si voglia leggere qualcosa di leggero, scorrevole, abbastanza particolare da suscitare un certo coinvolgimento ma decisamente poco impegnativo in toni e contenuti.
Con questo criterio mi ero accostata alla saga di Sookie Stackhouse di Charlaine Harris e, in attesa del nuovo episodio della serie, col medesimo criterio sono andata a recuperare il primo libro di un'altra saga dell'autrice: I Misteri di Aurora Teagarden.
Real Murders ha un po' tradito le mie aspettative. Si tratta della prima opera della Harris, scritto una decina di anni prima rispetto alle avventure di Sookie, e si sente. L'idea di base ricorda un po' una puntata de La Signora in Giallo:un gruppo di persone piuttosto eterogeneo si riunisce mensilmente per discutere di celebri omicidi del passato. Durante una di queste riunioni uno dei membri del gruppo viene trovato morto in circostanze che ricalcano esattamente quelle dell'omicidio di cui il gruppo avrebbe discusso quella stessa sera. Da qui prende il via una catena di omicidi "fotocopie" di casi celebri che nessuno sembra sapere come fermare.
Del gruppo di appassionati di crimini fa parte la giovane bibliotecaria Aurora Teagarden (Roe da qui in poi, e sia maledetta la mania degli americani dei diminutivi idioti)la quale, un po' come accade a Sookie, si trova suo malgrado coinvolta negli sviluppi delle indagini, più agente inconsapevole che investigatore dilettante in cerca della soluzione del mistero. Anche in questo caso la narrazione è in prima persona ad opera della stessa Roe, che ci accompagna passo passo nell'eccitante vita di una biblitecaria un po' insipida di una cittadina di provincia.
Ecco,avendo letto le opere successive della Harris, questo giallo sembra un po' una prova generale, un riscaldamento per la saga sui vampiri che verrà composta dieci anni più tardi. Anche se qui non c'è alcun elemnto sovrannaturale, la struttura è molto simile: protagonista giovane con scarsi legami familiari e vita sociale piattina, ambiente di provincia,narrazione in prima persona, un mistero da risolvere. Solo che qui la Harris sembra avere ancora poca confidenza col mestiere di narratore. Posto che nemmeno la saga di True Blood è scritta con la maestria del grande romanziere, qui la narrazione è decisamente priva di ironia, un po' monocorde e, nonostante per tutto il romanzo si viaggi nella testa della protagonista, alla fine del libro ancora si è capito pochissimo di lei, del suo carattere, dei suo gusti. Anche la trama gialla, nonostante l'inizio banalotto, ha sviluppi interessanti ma ancora invischiati in alcune cadute di stile che rischiano di trascinare inevitabilmente questo libro nella categoria dei gialli dozzinali.
Comprerò il secondo libro? non lo so, ci devo pensare...(less)

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Jul 19, 2009 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Joy by: Impishimpi

A cute cozy mystery. Aurora Teagarden does not run a teahouse, she is a librarian.

Aurora belongs to a club for true-crime buffs, where the first body is found. Someone is taking the crimes they study as blueprints, for a game that is all too real.

REAL MURDERS is notable for having no clues from which to figure out the killer, until the climactic event. In the meantime we can enjoy Aurora and her mother, her neighbors, and her two suitors: Robin the mystery writer, and Arthur the policeman. The...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Real Murders is the first novel in the Aurora Teagarden series by American author, Charlaine Harris. When twenty-eight-year-old librarian, Aurora Teagarden (Roe to her friends) goes to her Real Murders Club meeting in her small town of Lawrenceton, Georgia, she isn’t expecting to discover the body of a Club member. After all, their Club only discusses murders; it seems, though, that someone in the Club has decided to re-enact famous murders, for soon there are more victims. Roe and her mother, A...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Xulieta NeveraDeLibros rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, intrigue, favorites, cozy-mystery

He tenido en mente leer este libro desde hace muchos años. Las razones son las siguientes, la portada me encanta y me da muy buena sensación, el argumento es muy llamativo y la escritora, Charlaine Harris, siempre me ha gustado desde que comencé a leer las aventuras y desventuras de la camarera Sookie Stackhouse y sus amantes.

La acción se desenvuelve en un pequeño pueblo llamado Lawrencenton, en Georgia y nuestra protagonista es Aurora Teagarden, una bibliotecaria aficionada a los libros de crím...more He tenido en mente leer este libro desde hace muchos años. Las razones son las siguientes, la portada me encanta y me da muy buena sensación, el argumento es muy llamativo y la escritora, Charlaine Harris, siempre me ha gustado desde que comencé a leer las aventuras y desventuras de la camarera Sookie Stackhouse y sus amantes.

La acción se desenvuelve en un pequeño pueblo llamado Lawrencenton, en Georgia y nuestra protagonista es Aurora Teagarden, una bibliotecaria aficionada a los libros de crímenes que forma parte de un club llamado Real Murders en el cual se reúne con otros miembros una vez al mes para discutir sobre algún asesinato famoso.

El club está formado por doce miembros que aveces traen acompañantes. Entre los miembros están Gifford Doakes, Jane Eagle, Mamie Wright, Gerald Wright, Sally Allison, Melanie Clark, Bankston Waites, John Queensland, Arthur Smith, LeMaster Cane, Benjamin Greer y Aurora Teagarden.

El ritmo de la novela es rápido y muy entretenido. Empieza con el asesinato de Mamie, una miembro del grupo que es mutilada del mismo modo que uno de los asesinatos que se iban a tratar en el club en el que se reúnen.

Esto me gusta mucho porque comienzan a haber asesinatos en Lawrencenton cuyo patrón se encuentra en libros de asesinatos reales por lo que nadie está a salvo y alguno que otro comenzará a buscar con desenfreno si encaja en algún patrón. Además, ¿quién puede ser el culpable de esto? Lo más probable...¿un miembro del club?alguien cabreado con ellos?. La confianza llega a ser un bien muy preciado para algunos en este libro...

Es una novela simple que engancha y es muy liviana, con un argumento fantástico y una protagonista muy peculiar con la que me he llegado a identificar.

Sobre la traducción me ha gustado el hecho de que algunas cosas se hayan dejado en su versión original como el club de los Real Murders entre otras cosas. Además se ha adjuntado una pequeña nota al final de cada página que aparecía algo que destacar como una frase que realmente se ha dicho en castellano, o la explicación de un nombre que ha aparecido o un autor poco conocido aquí en España y nos explican quién es.

También he de destacar que entre los personajes del libro a parte de tener a una bibliotecaria (adorable!), tenemos a un escritor, Robin Crusoe para darle un poco más de magia a la lectura.

Y ahora estoy deseando hincarle el diente al siguiente libro!(less)

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Jul 01, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a book written about 20 years ago, it does show its age in some of the language. This is one of Charlaine Harris's older novels, and there is a bit of a difference between her writing style with this and with her Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire novels (which are the first novels of hers I read). I really enjoyed reading this, even though I had to laugh at some of the datedness. As a mystery, it is pretty good - in many books with mystery, I pick out the bad guy pretty early in the book. I...more

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May 15, 2010 Destinee Sutton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: grown-up-books, libraries, mystery, crime

I'm almost caught up on Sookie Stackhouse, so I thought I'd see what Charlaine Harris' other offerings are like. Of course, I gravitated towards the series where the main character is a librarian.

I enjoyed it, and I laughed when I recognized some of Harris' favorite phrases ("I asked politely," "I slapped on some makeup," etc.). Though not quite as lively as Sookie, Roe is an interesting character with multiple men interested in her and a tendency to get caught in the middle of violent situatio...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Vanessa rated it 2 of 5 stars

After reading Sookie Stackhouse and Lily Bard-two series I really like-I was interested in reading this older series of Harris' now back in print. I had mixed feelings about it.

Aurora Teagarden is a young librarian in a small satellite town near Atlanta. She is also in a group called Real Murders that studies old unsolved murders. Then Aurora finds a corpse at one of the meetings posed to look like the scene they were to discuss that night. Then more people die, all staged to look like famous cr...more

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About Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over twenty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she grew up in the middle of a cotton field. Now she lives in southern Arkansas with her husband, her three children, three dogs, and a duck. The duck stays outside.

Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Charlaine was wr...more Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over twenty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she grew up in the middle of a cotton field. Now she lives in southern Arkansas with her husband, her three children, three dogs, and a duck. The duck stays outside.

Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Charlaine was writing poetry and plays. After holding down some low-level jobs, she had the opportunity to stay home and write, and the resulting two stand-alones were published by Houghton Mifflin. After a child-producing sabbatical, Charlaine latched on to the trend of writing mystery series, and soon had her own traditional books about a Georgia librarian, Aurora Teagarden. Her first Teagarden, Real Murders, garnered an Agatha nomination.

Soon Charlaine was looking for another challenge, and the result was the much darker Lily Bard series. The books, set in Shakespeare, Arkansas, feature a heroine who has survived a terrible attack and is learning to live with its consequences.

When Charlaine began to realize that neither of those series was ever going to set the literary world on fire, she regrouped and decided to write the book she’d always wanted to write. Not a traditional mystery, nor yet pure science fiction or romance, Dead Until Dark broke genre boundaries to appeal to a wide audience of people who just enjoy a good adventure. Each subsequent book about Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic Louisiana barmaid and friend to vampires, werewolves, and various other odd creatures, has drawn more readers. The Southern Vampire books are published in Japan, Great Britain, Greece, Germany, Thailand, Spain, France, and Russia.

In addition to Sookie, Charlaine has another heroine with a strange ability. Harper Connelly, lightning-struck and strange, can find corpses… and that’s how she makes her living.

In addition to her work as a writer, Charlaine is the past senior warden of St. James Episcopal Church, a board member of Mystery Writers of America, a past board member of Sisters in Crime, a member of the American Crime Writers League, and past president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance. She spends her "spare" time reading, watching her daughter play sports, traveling, and going to the movies. (less)

More about Charlaine Harris...

Books by Charlaine Harris

Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse, #2)

Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse, #4)

Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse, #5)

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Quotes from Real Murders

“I gripped the stapler even harder and felt like a fool planning to battle a crazy man with a stapler that even, I suddenly remembered, contained no staples. Well, strike that line of defense.” — 11 people liked it

“I settled opposite him in my favorite chair, low enough that my feet can touch the floor, wide enough to curl up inside, with a little table beside it just big enough to hold a book and a coffee cup.” — 2 people liked it

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Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #1)

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