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Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #1)
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...more
Mass Market Paperback, 290 pages
Published
December 4th 2007
by Berkley Prime Crime
(first published December 1st 1990)
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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. ...more
Aurora is pretty plain and boring, even without her being a librarian. She lives alone and doesn't even have a pet. ...more
view all 12 comments
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 seem...more
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 seem...more
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 ...more
Overall I enjoyed this book. I was hoping that ...more
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 Co...more
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 Co...more
Charlaine Harris is best known for the recent success of her Southern Vampire series starring Sookie Stackhouse, which was turned into the HBO series True Blood. But she has been an active, prolific writer for two decades. In addition to the Sookie Stackhouse books, Harris is the author of three other series--the Lily Bard mysteries, the Harper Connelly mysteries, and the series that started it all, and which is just recently back in print, the Aurora Teagarden mysteries. It's a mark of Charl...more
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...more
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...more
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...more
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...more
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
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...more
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...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 S...more
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 Ar...more
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 Ar...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 li...more
La acción se desenvuelve en un pequeño pueblo llamado Lawrencenton, en Georgia y nuestra protagonista es Aurora Teagarden, una bibliotecaria aficionada a los li...more
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....more
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 i...more
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 i...more
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 li...more
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 li...more
I don't like Aurora as much as Harris's other protagonists. I'm not sure if it's too much stereotypical mousy librarian or the whole weird name monologue that Aurora goes off on towards the beginning of the book (and for all that, I think "Roe" is a weird and not very nice nickname, whereas Aurora is a nice name and her mother's name Aida isn't as unusual as Aurora makes out in that weird monologue).
So why did I give the book five stars? I liked Aurora a lot more after re...more
So why did I give the book five stars? I liked Aurora a lot more after re...more
This book is the first of the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, written by Charlaine Harris. Aurora Teagarden is a small town librarian and member of the 'Real Murders' club, a group of crime enthusiasts who meet to discuss famous murder cases, like Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden etc. However, when one of the club members is murdered, Aurora uses her knowledge to figure it out.
This book was a light, easy read. The plot lines were easy to follow, yet still contained unexpected twists and turns. Th...more
This book was a light, easy read. The plot lines were easy to follow, yet still contained unexpected twists and turns. Th...more
I thought the characters in this story were interesting enough, though they were all ordinary to the extreme. The premise, a club that meets monthly to discuss a real murder, was unique and help kept me interested in the rest of the story. When someone starts to murder people in the town imitating these real murders, everyone in the club becomes a suspect. Aurora, the main character, who normally has trouble finding a date, suddenly is juggling two men. As more people are murdered in the sma...more
I found the first three books in the Aurora teagarden series at a used bookstore, 10 books for $1!!! I picked these up and figured I'd get them once I collected the series, which happened quite quickly.
I brought 6 of the books with me on vacation and finished them all in less than a week. This is the first of Charlaine Harris' stories tht I've read and I'm so glad I got the series!!!
Aurora Teagarden lives in a small town, Lawrenceton, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. She's a libr...more
I brought 6 of the books with me on vacation and finished them all in less than a week. This is the first of Charlaine Harris' stories tht I've read and I'm so glad I got the series!!!
Aurora Teagarden lives in a small town, Lawrenceton, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. She's a libr...more
Charlaine Harris has written two of my favorite heroines: Sookie Stackhouse and Harper Connelly. They are spunky and dynamic, and have lots to offer to the reader. Aurora Teagarden...not so much. Don't get me wrong. She's a fine narrator. But her personality doesn't quite live up to her name. She's a bit boring actually. Maybe boring is the wrong word. Underdeveloped? Regardless, she's got promise, but no pizazz. At least not in this first installment.
The plot of this mystery was o...more
The plot of this mystery was o...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
In the little town of Lawrenceton, Georgia, lived a little girl (or shall I say woman? But her height was that of a child) named Aurora Teagarden.
She was a pretty little thing, with an odd fashion sense. But being a librarian, we couldn't really blame her for sticking to the norms. She was a member of a quaint little club called Real Murders where she and her clubmates talked about, well, real murders. There was nothing really odd about their club. Just normal people coming together ...more
She was a pretty little thing, with an odd fashion sense. But being a librarian, we couldn't really blame her for sticking to the norms. She was a member of a quaint little club called Real Murders where she and her clubmates talked about, well, real murders. There was nothing really odd about their club. Just normal people coming together ...more
Julie
rated it
Recommends it for:
mystery lovers
Recommended to Julie by:
saw it on the shelf at work
The first book in the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, the book starts off fairly well. I like Aurora as a character, and I enjoy Charlaine Harris's matter-of-fact writing style. However, I started to see strong similarities between this book and Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books. In both series, the main character lines up multiple love interests (who of course, all think she's wonderful) and then ends up somewhat involved with both/all of them. Aurora never tells the two men in this book that she is...more
I enjoyed this book, and I will read the rest of the series. This isn't a deep or meaningful read, but it's entertaining, quick, and features a mid-size cast but-not-too-many-I'm-talking-to-you-George-Argh-Argh-Martin of quirky personalities with just enough of their backstories to matter.
The big reveal comes somewhat out of nowhere, which I guess is how things tend to happen in reality, now that I think about it. It is clear that the author has done her research on the more famous ki...more
The big reveal comes somewhat out of nowhere, which I guess is how things tend to happen in reality, now that I think about it. It is clear that the author has done her research on the more famous ki...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A club that reviewed and discussed old real murder crimes was the setting of the first real murder that could be connected to the group. Finding the body and knowing the need to cooperate with the police, Aurora ’Roe’ Teagarden as well as the rest of the clubs members endured the scrutiny of the investigation process. Then there was more murders, the realization that the current murders imitated the older murders left everyone in the Real Murder club either a victim or a suspect.
This...more
This...more
My ratings system is as follows. One star is GOOD. The book is entertaining, easy to read and you don't want to stop reading because something about the book is compelling you not to. Two stars is GREAT! This time the story is not only entertaining, but highly creative, unique, easy to read and hard to put down. Three stars is EXCELLENT. Here the book has all aspects of one and two stars, but now the book is thought and emotionally provoking. Four is AWESOME. This is the read that is not onl...more
This was the start of an interesting mystery series by Charlaine Harris. The protagonist is Aurora Teagarden, a southern woman who's single, short, and a librarian (her physical description matches Cat B. rather closely, actually). She's the member of a club that meets once a month to study and analyze real murders -- usually historical murders with some point of interest. When people in her small town start dying, each murdered in a way that imitates a famous historical murder case, it's cle...more
Aurora Teagarden is a twenty-eight year old librarian who loves to read mysteries and true crime. She's part of a group called Real Murders that gets together each month to discuss and analyze a real crime. At this month's meeting, Aurora is making her presentation. Before the meeting begins, she discovers one of the group members murdered, the body arranged like the murder she was discussing.
Then the dimunitive librarian seems to be the center of an investigation, as well as garn...more
Then the dimunitive librarian seems to be the center of an investigation, as well as garn...more
Charlaine Harris has clearly gotten famous enough with the success of True Blood that her publishers are going all out to reprint her older work as well. So I picked up a copy of Real Murders, the first book of her Aurora Teagarden mystery series, just to check it out.
This book was originally published in 1990, and it's a very different read than the Sookie Stackhouses, or even the Lily Bards. We are well and thoroughly into the realm of the cozy mystery here; our heroine, Roe, is ab...more
This book was originally published in 1990, and it's a very different read than the Sookie Stackhouses, or even the Lily Bards. We are well and thoroughly into the realm of the cozy mystery here; our heroine, Roe, is ab...more
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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) Char...more
More about Charlaine Harris...
Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Char...more
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“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.”
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