Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries, #3)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries #3)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 7,456 ratings · 270 reviews

Even in a sleepy Arkansas town, the holidays can be murder.

Lily Bard is going home for the holidays. More comfortable in baggy sweats than bridesmaid's frills, Lily isn't thrilled about attending her estranged sister's wedding. She has moved to Shakespeare, Arkansas, to start a new life, cleaning houses for a living, trying to forget the violence that once nearly destroyed...more

Mass Market Paperback, 242 pages

Published March 1st 2005 by Dell (first published 1998)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Best Murder Mysteries Of All-Time

111th out of 268 books — 56 voters

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Fearless Females

145th out of 238 books — 316 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 18, 2009 Katreniah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Normally, I do my homework, check and see if the book is part of a series, double-check to learn what type of book it is, do some research on the author, but I didn't do any of that for this book, and I won't make that mistake again. I had been given this book, I read the back, and I plowed right into it one day. I didn't even look for the author's name until I was finishing chapter 3, so imagine my surprise when I learned it was Sookie Stackhouse's Charlaine Harris. I'd read the entire Sookie s...more

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 16, 2008 Julie (jjmachshev) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-reads

I've enjoyed every one of Charlaine Harris' 'Shakespeare' mysteries. These are much darker than her other series with the exception of the 'Harper Connelly' series. If you're expecting anything like her 'Dead' series...don't. But if you like a gritty mystery with a kick-ass heroine with a dark past...you'd be doing yourself a favor to try this series out. These were originally written in the 90s, but have been reprinted in the last couple of years.

Lily has to return to her hometown after all thi...more

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 07, 2008 Ronda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, romance

This one has been my favorite so far. It takes place outside the comfort of Lily's new home and life in Shakespeare and finds her revisiting her childhood home for her sister's wedding. Lily doesn't want to be there, but it seems the visit might be cathartic for both her and her family--so long as her brother-in-law to be doesn't turn out to be guilty of kidnapping and murder.

1 like · like · see review

Apr 06, 2008 Cherie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another great entry in the Lily Bard Mystery series. In this one, Lily travels home during the holidays to be a bridesmaid in her sister's wedding, and of course trouble follows her... as does her sexy new boyfriend Jack! ;)

We learn a bit more about Lily's background in this one as she stays with her family during her homecoming. This is really the first time she's been home since the incident which scarred her both physically and emotionally.

I'm looking forward to reading more of this series!

1 like · like · see review

Apr 15, 2013 Petty Witter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The third in the Lily Bard/Shakespeare Mystery series. At last a plot that has some substance to it, a whodunit that though the reason why is fairly obvious the perpetrator is less so.

Interesting that the author chose this, the third book in the series, to really explore the aftermath of Lily's assault not just through the eyes of those closest to Lily but also through Lily herself's eyes, though this works ok as a stand alone novel it is because of this that I think the books are probably best...more

like · see review

Jan 29, 2013 Doris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cozies

The flawed heroine of our story is Lily Bard, rape survivor, who now has to face her family and her childhood friends and neighbors as she heads 'home' to Bartley for her sister's Christmas Eve wedding. Lily has agreed to Maid of Honor, but even before she arrives she gets a premonition that something isn't right.

Lily cleans houses, along with a few other mini business adventures, in order to make ends meet. While cleaning a business for a friend, she stumbles across a newspaper featuring old s...more

like · see review

Sep 28, 2012 Jeff Cothern rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lily Bard heads home for the holidays.

Lily heads to her hometown of Bartley for her estranged sister’s Christmas Eve wedding. But there is something in the air besides holiday cheer—there’s murder. And Lily must work fast to clean up the messy case before her sister promises to love, honor, and obey a killer.

From Publishers Weekly

Harris, author of the Aurora Teagarden cozies, adds a touch of grit to her books featuring briskly efficient, 31-year-old Arkansas cleaning lady Lily Bard. Lily h

...more

Lily Bard heads home for the holidays.

From Publishers Weekly

Harris, author of the Aurora Teagarden cozies, adds a touch of grit to her books featuring briskly efficient, 31-year-old Arkansas cleaning lady Lily Bard. Lily hides a traumatic past under a prickly exterior, but, in the series' third book (after Shakespeare's Champion, 1997), this karate expert lowers her defenses just long enough to reconcile with her family and help solve a series of grisly murders. Returning to her home town of Bartley (a stone's throw from her residence in Shakespeare, Ark.) for her sister Varena's wedding, Lily is plunged headlong into an eight-year-old kidnapping investigation after her lover and confidant, Jack Leeds, a PI with a questionable past, arrives to follow up an anonymous tip that the kidnapper and the missing girl are both in Bartley. When the town's beloved family practitioner, his nurse and a young mother are bludgeoned to death, suspicion falls on Varena's fiance—a widower who just happens to have an eight-year-old daughter. The investigation intensifies, and Lily uses her family connections and her impeccable cleaning skills to ferret out some crucial information. Harris tells a forceful story with a complex, flawed heroine who is wary of emotional attachments. The denizens of Bartley—the shrewd sheriff; old high-school classmates with long memories; Lily's loving but overprotective parents—form a memorable gallery of secondary characters. Harris's blend of cozy style with more hard-boiled elements isn't always smooth, but it's interesting to see her working toward a deeper complexity.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

At the first appearance of the maid Lily Bard in Shakespeare's Landlord , we predicted crime fiction's first cleaning-lady series. It's nice to be on the money (at least once in a while), for here is Lily in her third adventure. And she's in rare form, too, as she steels herself to visit her family on the occasion of her sister Varena's wedding. Lily, physically and psychologically scarred by a horrifying sexual assault years before, still finds it hard to attend social events as she struggles with her wariness and distrust of all people. But she is overwhelmingly happy when her PI friend Jack Leeds shows up for the prenuptial festivities. Jack is on a case--an unsolved kidnapping of a small baby some years back, a baby that might very well be the eight-year-old daughter of Varena's fiance . Lily does the only thing she can--help Jack resolve the case before the wedding. Lily Bard is one of the best-drawn and most compelling characters in contemporary mystery fiction--complex, smart, streetwise, tough. Add tight plotting and a smooth style, and it's no surprise that Harris has reached a new high. Don't miss it. Stuart Miller

(less)

like · see review

Aug 20, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am so glad to have Lily actually connecting with her new boyfriend Jack in such a way that he may become permanent. She has grown-up feelings, and recognizes them, and isn't running away from them, or Jack.
Lily is growing, coming out of her shell, and becoming more confident in herself, and others. She is willing to see that opening yourself up to others and their feelings SOME times does not end in pain, and is trying, once more.
Lily went to be in her little sister's wedding, and helped Jack...more

like · see review

Feb 21, 2011 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lily Bard, 31, now lives in Shakespeare, Arkansas, having fled to this sleepy town in search of solace and anonymity after a brutal rape four years earlier. Her family still acts awkwardly around her, so she dreads returning to Bartley for her sister Varena’s Christmas wedding.

As it turns out, an eight-year-old cold case of a missing girl, Summer Dawn Macklesby, gets hot again, and the suspects are all in Bartley. Lily’s boyfriend, Jack Leeds, who is a private investigator, ends up in Bartley wo...more

like · see review

Jun 08, 2010 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most people look forward to going home for the holidays, but Lily Bard's difficult past means that she is more than happy to stay in small-town Shakespeare for a quiet Christmas season. Unfortunately, she is not going to get to do that. It turns out her younger sister Varena is getting married, and that means a trip back home to Bartley.

Lily left Bartley after being raped and tortured years earlier. While it was clear the people in town cared about her, she just couldn't live with their constant...more Most people look forward to going home for the holidays, but Lily Bard's difficult past means that she is more than happy to stay in small-town Shakespeare for a quiet Christmas season. Unfortunately, she is not going to get to do that. It turns out her younger sister Varena is getting married, and that means a trip back home to Bartley.

Lily left Bartley after being raped and tortured years earlier. While it was clear the people in town cared about her, she just couldn't live with their constant looks of pity. She needed to move on from that experience and she could do that with the constant reminders the looks on their faces gave her.

Lily, who could never be considered an extrovert, slugs through all the traditional pre-wedding events knowing that she wants to be their for her sister. Surprisingly, she finds herself drawn into a mystery that involves an 8-year-old kidnapping case and a series of murders that seem to surround those involved with the wedding.

One pleasant surprise involving the case is the fact that Jack Leeds, her boyfriend and talented private investigator, has come to town because he has been hired to hunt down a lead involving the kidnapping. It quickly becomes clear that there are three likely suspects involved with the kidnapping, the local minister and his wife, Varena's landlord and his wife, and Varena's fiance Dill. All of them have 8-year-old daughters, and the three girls all appeared in a memory book picture that was sent in as the clue.

Lily and Jack swear to solve the case before the wedding in the hopes of either clearing Dill or preventing Varena from making a major mistake. They are also hoping that a quick resolution will mean an opportunity to head back home for the quiet holiday they planned.

I really enjoyed this book, which shifts the series out of the terribly dark and racist storyline that was the basis of the previous book set in Shakespeare. Readers get a chance to further explore Lily's roots and get to see where she came from. Up until know, she was primarily defined by her trauma and the fact that she is working so hard to get past that as she settles into life in Shakespeare. This interesting look at her family and hometown provides a glimpse of the woman she was before the attack.

As with Shakespeare, Bartley is filled with interesting and quirky characters. Some of them provide opportunities for light and comedic moments. The plot proved to be a really interesting one, and the combined crimes of murder and kidnapping really presented a unique twist not often found in mystery novels. All-in-all, this was a really good addition to the series.(less)

like · see review

Aug 25, 2009 Kayeb rated it 4 of 5 stars

I truly chuckled with this one....weddings can bring lots of options for the comical.and the serious. This is my favorite of the 2 I have read so far.

Even in a sleepy Arkansas town, the holidays can be murder.

Lily Bard is going home for the holidays. More comfortable in baggy sweats than bridesmaid's frills, Lily isn't thrilled about attending her estranged sister's wedding. She has moved to Shakespeare, Arkansas, to start a new life, cleaning houses for a living, trying to forget the violence t...more

like · see review

May 05, 2009 Kel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Jan 09, 2013 Jenn Bragg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reading-challenge

I flew through Shakespeare's Christmas. This story was written at a much faster pace than the previous two in the series, and the leap forward in Lily's healing made for a much more enjoyable reading experience!

Jack is still around, and still hanging tough. I love that he doesn't take Lily's passive aggressive behavior as lightly as everyone else in her life...the man fights back! Her family, however, tend to sit around like whipped puppy dogs every time she has a "moment". I can't help but feel...more

like · see review

Mar 12, 2012 Marianne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed-copy-returned

Shakespeare’s Christmas is the third in the Lily Bard series by Charlaine Harris. It’s almost Christmas and Shakespeare’s endless tinny carols and tacky decorations are driving her crazy, but when Lily Bard has to return to her hometown of Bartley for her sister Varena’s Christmas Eve wedding, she is unenthusiastic. She loves her family but everyone in Bartley looks at her and remembers the traumatic events of seven years ago. Lily would much rather stay in her little cottage with Jack. In the m...more

like · see review

Mar 16, 2011 Liz Filippone rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What can I say, but that I really just love Charlaine Harris's books. In this book, Lily goes back to her hometown, which intrigued me more because of her unfortunate, traumatic past. I feel you get to see the REAL vulnerable side of Lily Bard in this one with, not only her family and old friends around, but her new detective boyfriend. I learned from the other two that she wasn't so tough-as-nails because there were definite hints from the writer.

Shakespeare's Christmas adds more drama to Lily'...more

like · see review

Apr 14, 2012 Yvonne Boag rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Lily Bard cleans houses for a living but in her spare time she solves crime, not because she gets paid to but once she gets something in her teeth she can't seem to let it go. This time she is home to her parent's place for the holidays and a wedding. Lily isn't comfortable around people, especially her family but she is making an effort and goes with her sister to the doctors to pick up a prescription. When they get there they find the nurse and doctor brutally slain. Lily starts making connect...more

like · see review

Jan 24, 2011 Yolanda Sfetsos rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

This is the third book in The Lily Bard Mysteries Omnibus, and I'm really enjoying this series. I have to admit that I'm a little sad, because I only have two more books left to read. :(

Lily Bard is a very tough cleaning lady. She lifts weights, knows how to fight, and can take care of herself just fine. She likes to keep to herself and is really looking forward to spending Christmas with her new beau, Jack Leeds. She's also decided to expand on her business. There's not much she's afraid of and...more This is the third book in The Lily Bard Mysteries Omnibus, and I'm really enjoying this series. I have to admit that I'm a little sad, because I only have two more books left to read. :(

Lily Bard is a very tough cleaning lady. She lifts weights, knows how to fight, and can take care of herself just fine. She likes to keep to herself and is really looking forward to spending Christmas with her new beau, Jack Leeds. She's also decided to expand on her business. There's not much she's afraid of and certainly doesn't shy away from telling it how it is. But there is one thing that can weaken her: going back to Bartley, to visit her family.

That's exactly what happens in this excellent installment of this very clever series.

Lily's younger sister, Varena, is getting married and she's agreed to go to the wedding. So she drives out there with new clothes, knowing she's going to be one of the bridesmaids, and just wanting it to be over. Everyone in the small town she grew up in knows what happened to her in the past, and most look at her in a way that reminds her. Still, the town's grown a bit and new residents have settled in. All people that she winds up meeting during one of the many social functions leading up to the wedding.

Of course, this is Lily. So, just because she's not in Shakespeare, it doesn't mean that crime doesn't follow her. Now, she finds herself in the middle of a double-murder, soon followed by another, and it all seems to relate back to the missing child's case that Jack is also in this town investigating at the same time.

Shakespeare's Christmas takes a different approach to Lily's usual story. The murder-mystery doesn't slam you in the face as soon as you start reading, but slowly develops and shocks you when it does turn up. Almost as much as the horrible things Lily and Jack slowly uncover, while trying to keep her sister's upcoming wedding unblemished. It was an interesting glimpse into Lily's past, and meeting her family and past friends was a nice, personal touch too.

Once again, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next two...(less)

like · see review

Mar 09, 2012 Angela Oliver rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

There's nothing like a good, quick murder mystery to keep one entertained on the short walk home! I picked up this book from the library for just that purpose - having become bored of "Discovery of Witches" and not wishing to carry that weighty tome home with me. Thus I slipped into the library with the main aim to be - find something short and interesting. This fit the bill nicely. Lily did not quite enamour herself to me as quickly as the rather more amiable Aurora Teagarden, but I did find th...more

like · see review

Aug 19, 2012 S. J. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of the series

Recommended to S. by: Rebecca

Shelves: awesome-heroines, brilliant-averageness, favorites, mystery, southern-charm

*4.25 Stars*

See my review on the previous two books in the series.
Shakespeare's Landlord
Shakespeare's Champion

*The Gush...and the Rant*
Let me state while this might be my least favorite of the stories, that does not mean it is not a very good book. I just don't think it can completely compare to the others in the series.

Lily Bard is facing a situation she wishes she was cold enough to turn her back on. Her younger sister is getting married on Christmas Eve and she is heading home for the first t...more *4.25 Stars*

See my review on the previous two books in the series.
Shakespeare's Landlord
Shakespeare's Champion

*The Gush...and the Rant*
Let me state while this might be my least favorite of the stories, that does not mean it is not a very good book. I just don't think it can completely compare to the others in the series.

Lily Bard is facing a situation she wishes she was cold enough to turn her back on. Her younger sister is getting married on Christmas Eve and she is heading home for the first time since her flight four years before from the memories and the media after The Event. Though at times painful, she has to admit to feeling better about reestablishing ties and reconciling. However, not everything is as it appears. Her boyfriend, PI Jack Leeds, is in town searching for a young girl missing since she was an infant eight years before. His search has lead him to Lily's home town and a group of three girls, one the daughter of her sister's fiance! Lily and Jack must rush to solve the mystery of just which girl is not who she appears to be before the wedding in less than a week!

Lily and Jack are once again amazing in this. Their relationship, while still new and uncertain, has grown and Jack meeting her family is simply lovely. We get to see her family and Harris does a good job of while not making them ogres, making it clear that they simply had been unable to cope with what had happened and therefore were unable to help their daughter. The reconciliation is done well and appears lasting. The new characters are interesting and though not as well developed as many Shakespeare residents, are done well enough for this story.

The mystery is good but I just feel it isn't as tight as the others. Can't completely say why. Perhaps because I figured it out rather early and felt the lead in, while obvious, was not what it could have been. Too, I think she was trying to do rather too much in this volume with Lily's family, the wedding, the mystery, and on and on.

Once again Harris tackles some rather heavy subjects, though this time it is rather dropped into one's lap like a bomb. It comes out from no where and the first time I was beyond shocked. Even rereading, it just seems to come from no where. Still, a good addition all told.

*Conclusion*
A good addition to the series, though not quite on par with others. If you are firmly with Lily Bard and the events surrounding her, this is a must read. If you don't know who Lily Bard is, check out Shakespeare's Landlord first. (less)

like · see review

Feb 16, 2009 Lesley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, 2009

As much as I've enjoyed the setting of Shakespeare, Arkansas, for the rest of this series, I did enjoy the change of scenery as protagonist Lily Bard returned to her small hometown of Bartley for her sister's wedding. Since I've just recently read the first book in this series (backtracking a bit), I liked learning more about Lily's background and family.

At the risk of sounding like I'm blaming the victim, Lily does seem to get in a lot of situations where she needs to use her karate skills, bu...more

like · see review

Aug 14, 2011 Trendhater73: S. Bledsoe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Before reading this book, I had read several reviews. Most of them were negative, because I always like to start with the one-stars. The biggest complaint was the setting of this book. It is the third in the Lily Bard series, which takes place in the fictional small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. However, this one mostly takes place in a town called Bartley which is a three hour drive from Shakespeare. The other complaint is that changing the setting, we don't get to see the characters we know a...more

like · see review

Dec 30, 2008 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

I was in the mood for mystery, and I thoroughly blame the holiday season as well as having just read the first of the Aurora Teagardens on picking up Shakespeare's Christmas, the third of the five Lily Bard novels. And, as it's turned out, the last of the ones I hadn't read yet (in no small part because it was only recently re-released to paperback).

It's odd to have read the series out of order, and dealing with the oddity of seeing Lily's relationship with Jack Leeds in non-sequential stages; i...more

like · see review

Nov 21, 2008 Tierney rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, christmas

I've fallen in love with the Lily Bard character and can't wait to read all of the other books in this series (along with the rest of Harris' books - like the Sookie Stackhouse series on which they based HBO's True Blood). Lily is a smart, kick-ass, yet strange heroin with a dark and traumatic past that the author gradually revals, piece by piece, throughout the story. In this book, Lily reluctantly returns to her hometown of Bartley, Arkansas for her sister's Christmas wedding. She gets caught...more

like · see review

Dec 04, 2011 Ellie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime

Lily is looking forward to spending Christmas with Jack but first she must return to her home town, and the family she ran from, for her sister's wedding. Before she leaves, she reads an article in the paper about unsolved crimes including a baby snatched around Thanksgiving eight years earlier. When she gets to Bartley, she's horrified to be in the middle of a murder case once more...

Another good mystery from Charlaine Harris. I did think Lily's family were going to be horrible when compared to...more

like · see review

Feb 03, 2013 Danielle Mccormick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, fiction

I've been really enjoying this series. I found that, with this third installment, I just couldn't put the book down. I read it in two sittings. The mystery was good and the writing was solid. But what I think I loved the most is that Lily herself is evolving a great deal. I love being in a Charlaine Harris-verse for this reason. Her characters are always well grounded even in the worst of times and prone to a great deal of developing and evolving throughout her series'. I enjoyed the mystery its...more

like · see review

May 09, 2010 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a fun introduction of our sweet heroine – Lily Bard sitting on a float wearing a Santa suit and chucking candy to kids...it seemed so surreal.

Lily has to go home to Bartley for the holidays and be her sister's maid of honor. It was a sweet surprise for Lily to find Jack in town as well. Coincidently, Jack is helping a friend find an 8 year old missing girl. An anonymous person mailed a page from a yearbook of 3 girls in a playground, one of the girls is her sister's fiancé's daughter. This...more

like · see review

Sep 26, 2010 Jeri rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the third book of the series, house cleaner and karate expert Lily Bard goes home for her sister's wedding and finds herself in the middle of another mystery. Her lover Jack turns up investigating a years-old kidnapping case, and Lily must cope with dealing with family obligations while worrying that the case might come too close to home.

Lily is a fascinating character; a mysterious woman with a painful past. I like the way you can see that she is strong and fearful at the same time -- it ma...more

like · see review

Oct 18, 2009 Mascanlon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-100-book-challenge, 2009-library-challenge

A Lily Bard mystery by the prolific Charlaine Harris. As with the first volume in this series we love the heroine. Lily is stubborn, moody and oh so gusty as she solves an old kidnapping that might interfere with the wedding of her sister. Of course its not so easy for Lily to go home again, where her family wants to smother her with attention. I am always amazed at the different but in some ways similar heroines in Harris' series. Sookie, Lily, Harper and Aurora are all very different womem but...more

like · see review

Dec 09, 2009 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Now this one was quite a bit better than book #2 Shakespeare's Champion and I even liked the plot and mystery more than book # 1 Shakespeare's Landlord.

Lily's Sister is getting married and Lily needs to go home to participate in all the pre-wedding celebrations because she is the maid of honor.

Since the rape/torture that happened to her over seven years ago, Lily has remained largely apart from her family. They simply didn't know how to react to her trauma and in the aftermath Lily simply did no...more Now this one was quite a bit better than book #2 Shakespeare's Champion and I even liked the plot and mystery more than book # 1 Shakespeare's Landlord.

Lily's Sister is getting married and Lily needs to go home to participate in all the pre-wedding celebrations because she is the maid of honor.

Since the rape/torture that happened to her over seven years ago, Lily has remained largely apart from her family. They simply didn't know how to react to her trauma and in the aftermath Lily simply did not know how to communicate with her family either. So she's moved away and has led a distant relationship with them.

But she can't back out of the wedding and since it is so close to Christmas, she feels that she needs to be there. Also, Lily has healed a bit and has become a bit more centered since her relationship with PI Jack Leeds.

So Lily heads back home and is slowly feeling her way back into her family and into her home town when Jack show up unexpectedly. He is on the trail of a missing child. A baby was kidnapped eight years ago and Jack has received reliable evidence that one of three little girls who live in Lily's hometown is that baby.

But horrors, one of those three little girls is the daughter of Lily's sister's fiance. Lily is reluctantly drawn into Jack's investigation even while she and Jack are falling in love and he manages to charm her family.

This book had a much better flow and feel than the previous book. The mystery was interesting and quite suspenseful. And the best part was reading how Lily and her family negotiate through their feelings and expectations to come to some terms with what happened to Lily.

The only thing about this book that niggled at me, and it could just be a flow over from how he was introduced in the previous book, is Jack. As a character he is actually quite interesting. He has a great back story and looks really good on paper. The problem is, his relationship with Lily leaves me feeling oddly cold. He is charming and wonderful and they are seriously falling in love. There isn't anything sinister or alarming about him. I get the impression as reader that he is exactly who he (and the author) says he is -- the guy for Lily. And yet, I am not feeling them at all.

But that aside, this book was a really good read and actually made me feel like I was reading a good cozy mystery.(less)

like · see review

Sep 24, 2009 chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: charlaine-harris-books

Lily hides a traumatic past under a prickly exterior, but, in the series' third book (after Shakespeare's Champion, 1997), this karate expert lowers her defenses just long enough to reconcile with her family and help solve a series of grisly murders. Returning to her home town of Bartley (a stone's throw from her residence in Shakespeare, Ark.) for her sister Varena's wedding, Lily is plunged headlong into an eight-year-old kidnapping investigation after her lover and confidant, Jack Leeds, a PI...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Can I read the other two books after this?	8	52	May 04, 2012 08:49pm

combine
Other Editions (20)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery

453 users

Mystery > Crime

32 users

Romance

28 users

Holiday > Christmas

25 users

Mystery > Cozy Mystery

23 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

20 users

Adult

17 users

Contemporary

13 users

Thriller

13 users

Womens Fiction > Chick Lit

13 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy
by Dana Stabenow (editor / contributor)
Killer Insight
by Victoria Laurie
Devil May Ride
by Wendy Roberts
Legend of the Jade Dragon
by Yasmine Galenorn
Bookplate Special
by Lorna Barrett

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)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Czyste intencje

3 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

title link	preview: Shakespeare's Christmas
avg rating	preview: Shakespeare's Christmas Goodreads rating: 3.84 (7456 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32513.Shakespeare_s_Christmas?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345722531l/32513.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32513.Shakespeare_s_Christmas?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Shakespeare's Christmas by Charlaine Harris[/url]

Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries #3)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website