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Grave Secret (Harper Connelly #4)

by Charlaine Harris

3.88 · rating details · 8,452 ratings · 798 reviews

New in the series from New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

To make matters ...more

Hardcover, 306 pages

Published October 27th 2009 by Berkley Hardcover (first published 2009)

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Community Reviews

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Nov 16, 2009

M— rated it

Shelves: reviewed

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

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Jan 11, 2010

Robin rated it

Love this series with Harper Connelly but understand this will be her last book.

Update: I have followed this author for years, reading the Aurora Teagarden mysteries until I tired of them, followed by the Lily Bard series, which was ended by the author. I was excited when she started the Harper Connelly series and enjoyed the first three and was disappointed when I heard this would be her last, but after reading it, decided it's best that she put Harper out to pasture.

H...more

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Sep 09, 2011

Myfavoritegeorgie rated it

Shelves: audio-book, paranormal, and, z2010-read, 2010-read

This volume of the Harper, see-er of the dead, opens with the usual Harper finding out what killed the body in the grave. Along the way, the requisite number of deaths occur, as seems to be necessary today in most books of this type. This aspect of the story, however, is not the main thread of the book.

The main thread of the book actually concerns Harper's family, specifically, her two younger sisters who were adopted by her aunt, and her missing for seven years sister Cameron. Also figuring pr...more

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Nov 26, 2011

Laura Lucy rated it

Another decent mystery from Harris. I would give this one 3 1/2 stars if you could do halves. This book gives us more insight into Harper's family, her childhood and the circumstances surrounding her sister Cameron's disappearance. I assume Harris is done with this series since it really felt like a period at the end with lots of closure.

This book takes Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver back to Texas. We get to know their little sisters, Harper's aunt and uncle and Tolliver's broth...more

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Sep 27, 2011

Emmie rated it

Shelves: series, supernatural-creatures

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

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Aug 01, 2011

Mlle. X rated it

Shelves: extra-gritty, paranormal-urban-fantasy, mystery, satisfying-romantic-subplot

I'm sorry to see this series end, really I am. I kept marveling, as I read GRAVE SECRET, at how vivid and distinct Harper Connelly's narrative voice is - Charlaine Harris can somehow pack a world of personality into a single, clipped sentence. Harper is an interesting head to get inside of - so fiercely contained on the outside, on the inside she's a simmering pot of cynical insight, deep feeling, and determination.

As the probably-last book in the series, there's a lot of payoff here....moreI'm sorry to see this series end, really I am. I kept marveling, as I read GRAVE SECRET, at how vivid and distinct Harper Connelly's narrative voice is - Charlaine Harris can somehow pack a world of personality into a single, clipped sentence. Harper is an interesting head to get inside of - so fiercely contained on the outside, on the inside she's a simmering pot of cynical insight, deep feeling, and determination.

As the probably-last book in the series, there's a lot of payoff here. Harper and Tolliver are back in Texas, where they grew up, and back in touch with their family. They visit their two little sisters, who were adopted by sour but solid Iona and Hank. They spend some time with Tolliver's older brother Mark, a boring, dependable sort who's working as a manager at a local JCPenny's. Usually Harper and Tolliver are glad to see Mark, but that's changed now that he's playing host to his - and Tolliver's - father, Matthew Lang. Matthew is a bad man, a bad parent, a drug-dealer and former addict. Matthew is fresh out of prison and while he approaches his children asking for forgiveness, he doesn't much want to earn it.

All these visits re-open old wounds, caused by Harper and Tolliver's horrible childhood and by Cameron's disappearance. At first Harper is just sifting through her memories of the day that Cameron disappeared, leading the reader through the known facts hour by hour. But eventually Harper has a breakthrough, thanks in part to a job looking at the grave of a wealthy Texas rancher and oil baron, Rich Joyce. She finds some things that upset the Joyce family, like the existence of a baby that may or may not be the issue of Rich Joyce, and may or may not be due a sizable inheritance. From the start, Harper suspected that she'd met the Joyces before - at least a couple of them - but it takes her a while to figure out when and where. It's not a pleasant recollection.

I agree with other reviewers who have commented that GRAVE SECRET, or at least the conclusion, feels a little rushed. Charlaine Harris is a wonderful, atmospheric writer and for most of the book we get a minute by minute account of Harper's life and work, everything from minutes spent in front of the mirror applying mascara to time spent hiding in terror behind a car while a murderer paces by, hunting his quarry. It's all so vivid and gritty and real. Then, towards the end, a whole lot of things happen all at once, all the mysteries are wrapped up, and bang, it's over. We get bare-bones answers, but not enough satisfying details. We get summaries instead of scenes, wrap-ups instead of crucial moments with Harper and Tolliver. I wish there had been another chapter or two, fleshing out the conclusion.

I'll miss Harper Connelly, but we're leaving her in a good place.(less)

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Jul 28, 2011

Sarah added it

Shelves: 2010, reviewed

The last of the Harper Connolly novels, alas. If you've only read the Sookie Stackhouse series, you might be surprised by the much darker tone of this series. Sookie tends to put a positive spin on everything - danger is exciting and fun! Harper has a much more dour outlook on life and this series reflects it back to the reader,and it certainly doesn't shy away from potentially controversial topics. My favorite of the series, for the record, was the last novel: An Ice Cold Grave. The story hung...more

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May 05, 2011

Sharon Lewis rated it

I picked up the audiobook from the library to listen to during my commute without realizing that I had, indeed, skimmed through the book before. I now know why I skimmed! This series finale is a bit of a mess, I think. I remember really enjoying the first couple of novels in the series but the resolution is somewhat of a disappointment. I found that I didn't much like Harper very much which is a big problem because of the first person narration. Her continual references to Tolliver as her brothe...more

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Apr 09, 2011

ALPHAreader rated it

This is the 4th and (according to Charlaine) last book in the Harper Connelly series. It’s sad going into ‘Grave Secret’ knowing it will be the last time we journey with this wonderful character. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.

‘Grave Secret’ is a bit of a hodge-podge of a novel. On the one hand, Harper and Tolliver are dealing with very serious circumstances in the present as a case Harper is working on takes a curious and dangerous turn. On the other hand, an an...moreThis is the 4th and (according to Charlaine) last book in the Harper Connelly series. It’s sad going into ‘Grave Secret’ knowing it will be the last time we journey with this wonderful character. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.

‘Grave Secret’ is a bit of a hodge-podge of a novel. On the one hand, Harper and Tolliver are dealing with very serious circumstances in the present as a case Harper is working on takes a curious and dangerous turn. On the other hand, an anonymous call brings up their past as someone claims to have seen Harper’s missing sister, Cameron, at a local shopping centre. The book is split between current events, while also backtracking through Harper and Tolliver’s troubled childhood and the events surrounding Cameron’s disappearance eight years ago.

It is interesting to delve into Harper and Tolliver’s past. Harper has confided little bits and pieces about her past in the previous three books, but not to the extent in ‘Grave Secret’.

Harper and Tolliver are not related by blood; Harper’s mother and Tolliver’s father found one another and got married right when they were both at the bottom of their respective bottles – both Laurel (Harper’s mum) and Matthew (Tolliver’s dad) were junkies. They sold drugs from the trailer where Harper and her sister Cameron, and Tolliver and his brother Mark were living with them.

Most of Charlaine’s female protagonists have bleak pasts (with the exception of Aurora Teagarden) – but Harper has the worst of them all. Her stepfather would frequently pass her off to the highest bidder in exchange for pills, and she was the primary caregiver when her little sisters were born. Then she was struck by lightening and dealing with the physical side effects as well as the supernatural ones. Harper is a warrior, and Harris’s austere description of her and Tolliver’s past is chilling, but an amazing indictment of their character. Charlaine Harris seems to be really fascinated by how people’s pasts can affect their future and their personalities. She favours female leads who have overcome great personal tragedy, and been made stronger for it. This is very much true of Harper, and at several points in the book she quietly muses about how she and Tolliver ended up ‘okay’ despite their childhoods and genetics. Putting aside her ability to locate dead bodies, Harper is a fascinating character for her past alone. She is a strong, hard-working woman and in ‘Grave Secret’ you really appreciate all that she had to overcome to get that way.

People who meet me in my line of work fall into three categories; those who wouldn’t believe me if I produced an affidavit signed by God, those who are open to the idea that there are strange things in this world that they might encounter (the “Hamlet” people, I call them), and the people who absolutely believe I can do what I do – and furthermore, the love that connection I have with the dead.

For three books now, Harper has been making mention of her sister’s disappearance 8 years ago. Harper has never suspected her sister was anything other than dead, and has been keeping her feelers out for any ‘buzz’ of Cameron’s bones ever since she went missing. For three books readers have been as anxious to know Cameron’s fate as Harper herself – even more so after a huge foreshadowing in ‘An Ice Cold Grave’. Fans can be assured that this issue is laid to rest. But be warned – it is a tricky and convoluted explanation that is made somewhat hollow for its loopy plot.

I wasn’t terribly satisfied with ‘Grave Secret’. Knowing that it was the last ever book in the series, I expected great things. But I don’t think Charlaine delivered, much as it pains me to admit.
The novels big mystery is hastily wrapped up, and in a manner that I absolutely detest in murder-mysteries; the villain explaining their reasoning and execution of their devious plans while still in the process of completing them. Urgh. Having read her other novels, I can assure you that this is Harris’s sloppiest wrap-up ever, and it’s a shame because the build-up beforehand was perfectly suspenseful.
I was also disappointed with the progression of Harper’s new romance. I love this couple (not going to say who, that would be a MASSIVE spoiler) and I wanted a few more cutesy moments (like we got in ‘An Ice Cold Grave’).
All in all I think ‘An Ice Cold Grave’ was a far more satisfying book and I would have preferred that that be the final book in the Harper Connelly series.

Once again, having read Harris’s other books, I can assure you (and warn you) that even when Charlaine is concluding a series, she doesn’t like to tie things up neatly, but prefers to leave a certain open-endedness for her characters. That is once again the case with ‘Harper Connelly’. The open-endedness isn’t a frustrating cliff-hanger, just potential for more. And after reading and being disappointed by ‘Grave Secret’, I really, really hope that Harris relents and writes one more, just to redeem the series.

2.5/5(less)

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Jan 01, 2011

Yolanda Sfetsos rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

This is the fourth book in the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris, and I was totally blown away by it. Seriously.

When Harper and Tolliver go to a cemetery near Dallas for their latest case to help a woman from a very rich family find out how her grandfather died, Harper uncovers a few hidden secrets that someone desperately wants to keep buried. Badly enough to shoot at Harper. But the bullet misses her and instead hits Tolliver, and he ends up in the hospital.

And...moreThis is the fourth book in the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris, and I was totally blown away by it. Seriously.

When Harper and Tolliver go to a cemetery near Dallas for their latest case to help a woman from a very rich family find out how her grandfather died, Harper uncovers a few hidden secrets that someone desperately wants to keep buried. Badly enough to shoot at Harper. But the bullet misses her and instead hits Tolliver, and he ends up in the hospital.

And if that's not bad enough, Tolliver's father is out of jail and has decided that now is the best time to reconnect with his children. Even if he doesn't seem to think too highly of Harper. Not to mention that people keep getting shot around Harper as she slowly uncovers small pieces of the Joyce mystery, with a little help from her psychic friend, Manfred. I was really glad to see that he keeps popping up in the series. He's a very interesting character.

The familial entanglement of the wealthy Joyce family are darkly mirrored and even connected to Harper's. It seems that the longer she spends in Dallas, the more complicated things get. And the less tolerant people seem to be of her newfound relationship with Tolliver. Except for their mutual little sisters who seem excited at the prospect of a wedding.

I absolutely loved this book and adore the series. I'm a huge Sookie Stackhouse fan and didn't think I would get this caught up in Harper's world, but I have. Every book gets better and deeper into the core of Harper's gift and circumstances. The heartbreak of her sister's disappearance has hounded her for years, and in this book it resurfaces in an unexpected way. As sad as it is, I'm glad that Harper is finally able to find some closure in this department.

Grave Secret is an amazing addition to this wonderful series and only deepened my involvement in Harper and Tolliver's life. While also revealing some very shocking and bizarre secrets about their family's harsh past.

I also love how Charlaine Harris can introduce the reader to seemingly simple heroines that are really extraordinary and very resourceful. She did it first with Sookie, and she's done it again with Harper. (less)

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Dec 30, 2010

Karissa Eckert rated it

This is the fourth (and surmised last) novel in the Harper Connelly mysteries series. This was a pretty good book and it tied up a lot of the mystery surrounding Harper and Tolliver's family.

In this book Harper and Tolliver are doing a job near the area they were raised in as children. During Harper's reading she unintentionally upsets her client by revealing some unknown information about death of one of the people in the cemetery. She thinks nothing of it until someone shoots Tolli...moreThis is the fourth (and surmised last) novel in the Harper Connelly mysteries series. This was a pretty good book and it tied up a lot of the mystery surrounding Harper and Tolliver's family.

In this book Harper and Tolliver are doing a job near the area they were raised in as children. During Harper's reading she unintentionally upsets her client by revealing some unknown information about death of one of the people in the cemetery. She thinks nothing of it until someone shoots Tolliver through the window of their motel. During a visit with Tolliver's brother, Mark, they find out that their dad (Tolliver's dad, Harper's step-dad) just got let out of jail. All of these things start piling on top of each other; someone's out to kill Harper, Tolliver's dad won't leave them alone, there is a spotting of Harper's sister who went missing twelve years earlier, and Harper's most recent client is out to get some answers. Could it all be coincidence? Or is everything that is happening related?

This was a great mystery. I was a bit concerned when the beginning of the book read more like a complex soap opera than anything else. But to Harris's credit there are a lot of entangling relationships to set up at the beginning of the book. Maybe a third way through the book things really start to pick up pace as the mystery grabs hold and Harper is constantly fearing for her life.

I have always liked Tolliver and Harper's characters. They are believable and vulnerable; and yet, they do their best to be good people. I loved how Harris dealt with their evolving relationship. Harris does a good job with all of the characters in this series.

The plot was twisted and somewhat complicated. I enjoyed it. The pace of the book is definitely relentless and griping once you get past the first third. Poor Harper goes through so much over and over again. It was a well put together book, with a good pace, and a good plot.

I also enjoyed how everything was wrapped up. You get answers to most of your questions, there are a couple small unknowns left, but the book sums up everything nicely and leaves the characters in good spots. This has been a fun series to read all around and this book was no exception to that.(less)

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Dec 04, 2010

Melanie rated it

Shelves: favoritereread, mysteries, series

I am never disappointed with Charlain Harris's story telling abilities, I obviously enjoy her books when I give them 4 stars...but I have to say that I get incredibly frustrated with her confusion of her own details. I've read her Sookie Stackhouse series and I really enjoyed it; now I'm reading Harper Connely, and it's good fun. But from one book to another, Harper's sisters' ages change, their birth order changes, the NAME of her Uncle changes, along with who her aunt is related to. It's so fr...more

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Dec 02, 2010

Shelley R rated it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Harper Connelly was struck by lighning when she was a child. Now she can locate dead bodies, and has traveled across the country doing jobs for the local PD; some of who think she's bonkers and a quack. Her step-brother Toliver is her business partner, and now lover. They return home to visit their two sisters, who are now pretty much strangers to them thanks to their aunt and uncle who are raising them.

Harper has been trying for years to locate her missing older sister Cameron who d...more

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Jun 30, 2010

Shannon C. rated it

Shelves: magic-special-powers, suspense-mystery

Good paranormal mystery

A lighting strike survivor, Harper Connelly has the unusual ability to find dead people and read their cause of death. She and her partner Tolliver turned it into a business--traveling on the road as they work cases. Not everyone is accepting of her ability, some thinking her a fraud. Harper and Tolliver's relationship is also unusual. They are step brother/sister, but no blood relation. Harper's mom married Tolliver's dad while they were in their teens. As the...more

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Jun 13, 2010

Phoenixangel444 rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I waited for this book for so long, only to be mildly disappointed. A lot of things in this book don't work. The biggest of the things that doesn't work being Mark. He changed from the caring older brother to the crazy killer. He was supposed to care for Carmen and be closer to her then her own sister, but he murdered her in cold blood and then hid her body for years. It makes more sense for Mark to tell the father what Carmen said and then he could have told Chip and Chip could have killed her....more

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Mar 18, 2010

vylit rated it

Shelves: 2010, fiction, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I loved the first two books in this series so much that it pains me to write this review. First, I find that the way in the relationship between Tolliver and Harper has developed to be completely unbelievable. Within the span of less than two months, they've gone from being brother and sister to being married, and they didn't seem to give any of that a seconds pause.

Harper, who I have spent most of the previous books loving, has become so self-centered between the end of last boo...more

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Jan 31, 2010

Gail rated it

The perfect book for a long wait at the hospital with interesting story and characters, not too simple and not too complex. A perfect mark.

Harper Connelly was struck by lightening as a teenager and now is able to find corpses and tap into their feelings at the last moment of their death. Her stepbrother Tolliver -- who is really not related to her and is now her lover --manages her career and takes care of her. They are hired by a rich Texan family to find out how their rich grand...more

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Jan 30, 2010

Larissa rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: own

Harper and Tolliver were heading to Dallas. This was not a business trip, it was personal. A visit to their sisters, and Tolliver's brother. However if making a quick stop off was going to make a very rich Lizzie Joyce very happy and also put some money in their hands then what is the harm in that?

Just as things had started to come together for Harper and Tolliver, their past comes back to haunt them. Although they live with the scares of their past everyday, this time their past has...more

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Jan 04, 2010

Ellen rated it

Shelves: mystery, ghosts

I've become bored with the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series (TMS--too many sequels), but I'm still eager to open a new Harper Connelly mystery. The two main characters, Harper and her manager/step brother/romantic interest Tolliver, are survivors. Harper survived a lightning strike that left her with the ability to track down dead people and sense the last moments of dead people. She makes her living as a freelance body dowser, traveling cross-country with Tolliver. But Harris does her best wo...more

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Dec 27, 2009

Harper rated it

Recommends it for: mystery fans

Shelves: mystery-suspense, paranormal, series, books-i-own

I've seen mention that there are supposed to be more books in this series, but Mrs. Harris has confirmed on her website that this book is the last Harper Connelly book. She says "never say never," but she currently doesn't intend to write any more books in this series. Just wanted to clarify that for the people who are assuming there are more books to come.

As for the book itself, I think it was a weak conclusion to the series. Other people have said it, but there really is...more

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Dec 19, 2009

Katy-Del rated it

Harper Connelly is a woman with an unusual talent. She can find dead people and sense how these people died. She was raised in a chaotic household that fell apart while she was in high school after her sister went missing.

Harper and her buisness partner/ step brother/ boyfriend hire out her services to people looking for missing people who are presumed dead and by people who want to know for sure how someone died.

Sometimes these situations bring out details that are...more

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Dec 19, 2009

Aaron rated it

Harper Connelly makes her living by traveling around southern states helping to solve mysteries. She has the ability to not only locate bodies but to get a sense of how the individuals died because she can relive their final moments when she is near the body. She is joined by her stepbrother and manager Tolliver Lang. In this fourth volume in the series, they are going to be confronted with something a little closer to home.

It all starts when they are hired by the Joyce family, a wea...moreHarper Connelly makes her living by traveling around southern states helping to solve mysteries. She has the ability to not only locate bodies but to get a sense of how the individuals died because she can relive their final moments when she is near the body. She is joined by her stepbrother and manager Tolliver Lang. In this fourth volume in the series, they are going to be confronted with something a little closer to home.

It all starts when they are hired by the Joyce family, a wealthy Texan oil family (think the Ewings from Dallas) to get a better understanding of what killed their grandfather Rich. It is believed that he died from a heart attack after being confronted by a snake, and their is some question as to whether or not the snake was thrown at him or whether he ran across the snake on his own.

As Harper is exploring the cemetery, she comes across the grave of Mariah Parish, a young woman who was Rich's nursemaid in the final months of his life. It was believed that she died of blood poisoning, but Harper gets the impression that she died in childbirth. This leads to a whole bunch of concerns because everyone can't help but wonder if the baby was Rich's child and how that might affect everyone's inheritance.

The Joyce's are less than thrilled with Harper's uncovering of a family controversy and basically dismiss her. This leaves Harper and Tolliver able to visit with their two youngest half-sisters. They both find it important to do so, and this visit will be a special one since it will allow them to tell the girls and Harper's aunt and uncle, who have adopted the girls, that she and Tolliver are getting married. As you can guess, this does not go well with the aunt and uncle.

Tolliver has his own family issues coming to the fore when it is learned that his father Matthew is now out of prison and living with Tolliver's older brother Marc. Matthew and Harper's mother had both had fairly respectable lives until they fell into drugs. Now, Matthew is an ex-con, and Harper's mother has died. Surprisingly, Matthew is also not quite thrilled to hear that his son will be marrying one of his stepdaughters.

The Joycess seem to not stay far from the center of the story, and before long it becomes clear that the the Connelly-Lang families has deeper ties tot he Joyces than anyone expected. The tension will lead to Tolliver getting shot in the shoulder, a detective being shot trying to protect Harper, and a series of revelations that will help reveal what happened to Harper's missing older sister Cameron as well as some other surprising family skeletons.

While Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books have become tremendously popular, particularly since HBO started a show loosely based on the books, I have always felt that Harper and her books are surprisingly overlooked. The mysteries have always been very interesting, and her talent, which she got after being struck by lightening when she was 15, adds and interesting twist.

This volume is not quite a strong, but I think it is because it is so closely tied to Harper and Tolliver's own stories. I tend to prefer my mystery books to present tales in which the mystery is not entwined with the detective. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it. It was really interesting to finally find out the reality behind a lot of things that have been brewing in Harper and Tolliver's past. The ending felt a little rushed, but that is more because the book is moving a little slower in the earlier portions.

It was also good to have Manfred Bernardo return. Besides adding a bit of humor, he adds his own psychic talents, which he honed while traveling with his psychic grandmother for years before her death in an earlier book. Mandred and Harper definitely seem to be shifting from a younger man with a crush to a friendship/colleague relationship.

This is definitely a good addition to the series.(less)

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Dec 17, 2009

Cornerofmadness rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Let me preface this review with stating I like Harris’ work. I’ve read all of her series and a few short stories in addition. The Harper/Tolliver series was a decent one (I preferred Sookie a bit but I’m a sucker for vampires, pun intended). That said, this was the worst thing I’ve ever read by her. I mean, nearly tossing the book across the room bad. It felt like she realized her deadline was in 3 weeks and cranked out anything (except the ridiculous ending had to have been planned and ...more
Let me preface this review with stating I like Harris’ work. I’ve read all of her series and a few short stories in addition. The Harper/Tolliver series was a decent one (I preferred Sookie a bit but I’m a sucker for vampires, pun intended). That said, this was the worst thing I’ve ever read by her. I mean, nearly tossing the book across the room bad. It felt like she realized her deadline was in 3 weeks and cranked out anything (except the ridiculous ending had to have been planned and that makes it worse).

The hardest part about doing a review for this is I can’t give you examples of why I think it’s so awful without ‘ruining the surprises.’ Before anyone thinks this is just another reviewer cheerily bashing some book, it’s honestly not that. I put up excerpts for my blog’s friend’s list and asked for their opinions (blind, I didn’t say where the quotes came from until afterward just to be sure that there wasn’t a Harris-hater in the bunch). It was unanimous; no one could believe these plot twists.

The basic plot is Harper has been asked to find out how Rich Joyce, wealthy rancher died, nearly a decade after his death. No problem until Harper also uncovers that his home nurse died in child birth (obviously setting us up to think this baby is his). Then that story gets shunted aside as we get into Harper and Tolliver’s personal lives. They were raised as brother and sister even though they’re step siblings and last book they became lovers. Obviously all their relatives are shocked at this, friends too and instead of trying to help people past it, Harper’s reactions is to be the most abrasive witch she can be. Tolliver is much more tolerable. In fact, Harper is nothing but obnoxious and rude through this whole book.

Mathew, Tolliver’s real dad, shows up, fresh from jail, supposedly rehabbed and wants back in his kids’ lives. Tolliver and Harper want none of this but Mark, the oldest does. This goes on for about 150 pages before the other subplot comes back into it. At least the flying bullets make it vaguely interesting but people had to act totally unprofessionally and stupidly to make this plot work and the Jerry Springer ending was telegraphed at least 70 pages before the end which lame as the justifications were, still strained credibility. I mean, it all starts with one random phone call to a stranger and ends here? Shakes head.

Harsh review I know. And in all honesty I was left wondering at the people reviewing this for my book club who were raving about it. This was so bad I’m not sure I’d even get the next in the series from the library, let a lone buy it. Okay, I can’t help myself. spoiler here:

What cop would come to deliver a death threat to someone and instead, let’s Harper talk him into jogging, changes in his car and leads her away from the hotel where the person threatening her knows she’s staying? No one would do this. No detective would let someone under a death threat go running around in public without at least giving her the warning first. And this isn’t the most preposterous thing that happens.
(less)

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Dec 04, 2009

Marlyn rated it

Shelves: mystery, paranormal

Charlaine Harris has previously written an 8-book series about librarian Aurora Teagarden and a 5-book series about housekeeper-cum-private detective Lily Bard. Currently, besides the immensely popular Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series, Ms. Harris writes another wonderful paranormal mystery series about Harper Connelly, who is able to find (and, to some extent, "read") dead bodies as a result of having been struck by lightning when a teen.

Harper and her step-brother...more

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Dec 02, 2009

LJ rated it

Shelves: contemporary_post_1945, female_author, mystery, paranormal_fantasy

First Sentence: “All right,” said the straw-haired woman in the denim jacket.

Harper Connelly can see the dead and experience their death. She and her step-brother (no blood relation)/lover, Tolliver, come to Texas at the request of a member of the wealthy Joyce family. Not only was dad’s death as innocent as they thought, but his caretaker died, not of a burst appendix, but from childbirth. The question is raised as to who was the baby’s father and where it the child now?
...more

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Nov 20, 2009

Ellz Readz rated it

My thoughts...Let me start by saying if you have not read any books in the series, you need to go back and read Grave Sight. This series is different from the Sookie books. I would describe it as a mystery with a hint of paranormal. You may want to cover your eyes here, while I will not give away any Grave Secret spoilers, previous events may be disclosed.

Grave Secret picks right up where Ice Cold Grave left off. They start off on a usual job assignment that lands them in a gra...more

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Nov 10, 2009

Angie rated it

Shelves: good-uns

So ever since my decadent little re-read of Fire I've been in a reading slump. One foul doozy of a slump. I restlessly picked up and put down a handful of books, all of them full of potential, none of them able to hold my attention. Fortunately I'm still thinking clearly enough at this point to know it's me with the problem, not them. And I carefully set them aside on the nightstand to be picked up in a later, more amenable mood. But desperation was setting in and my family was starting to feel ...moreSo ever since my decadent little re-read of Fire I've been in a reading slump. One foul doozy of a slump. I restlessly picked up and put down a handful of books, all of them full of potential, none of them able to hold my attention. Fortunately I'm still thinking clearly enough at this point to know it's me with the problem, not them. And I carefully set them aside on the nightstand to be picked up in a later, more amenable mood. But desperation was setting in and my family was starting to feel the effects. And then a friend saved the day by reminding me the new Harper Connelly book was out! The fourth installment in Charlaine Harris' "other" series, I'd been looking forward to the release of GRAVE SECRET ever since finishing the excellent An Ice Cold Grave two years ago. Entirely different from her Sookie Stackhouse series, the Harper books are gritty mysteries with just a hint of the paranormal. I absolutely love them.

Harper and her stepbrother (and manager) Tolliver are on the road again. Having left the horrors of North Carolina behind them once and for all, they're headed to Texas to check in with their little sisters. With the disappearance of her sister Cameron eight years ago, their family dissolved. Harper went into foster care, Tolliver to live with his older brother Mark, and the little girls went to their Aunt Iona and Uncle Hank's in Texas. Over the years Harper and Tolliver made it a point to stay in touch with their siblings, despite their aunt and uncle's deep disapproval of their lifestyle and Harper's way of earning a living. This particular visit is unexpectedly prolonged when Tolliver's jailbird father is released from prison and shows up full of remorse and wanting to reconnect with his children. At the same time, Harper finds a few more dead people than she bargained for on her latest case, sending shock waves through the family of the deceased. As old memories threaten to overtake the careful peace these two have constructed, Harper and Tolliver find themselves caught between family, clients, and the law.

I sank back into this world as if no time at all had passed since my last visit. There's something about these two characters and the mature way they've gone about reclaiming their lives after the horror of their childhoods that just fills my empty spaces. Harper and Tolliver accept that they are all each other has in such a matter-of-fact way, with such stoic integrity, it pulls at my heartstrings. I read each book hoping nothing happens to them they won't be able to recover from, looking forward to each interaction, enjoying that tense, dark reality with which Harris surrounds her characters. GRAVE SECRET lived up to expectations on more than one level. Harper and Tolliver's relationship never falters even as they find the truth about their past is even more heinous than they believed it to be. I found myself chanting, "Don't trust him, don't trust him" over and over throughout the book, on the edge of my seat worrying about them. I liked how Harper was forced to deal with some things alone in this one. I liked that Harris didn't ease up at all when it came to what actually went down in that trailer in Texarkana. This series has remained refreshingly consistent over the course of four books. And, despite the fact that several overarching plot threads are wrapped up in this volume, I would happily read as many books as she'd like to write about Harper and Tolliver. Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series is by far the more famous of the two, and I love it, but I find myself gravitating toward these more serious, quietly compelling mysteries. Highly recommended.

Reading order: Grave Sight, Grave Surprise, An Ice Cold Grave, and GRAVE SECRET(less)

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Nov 03, 2009

Barb Walker rated it

Excellent. I loved it as much as I loved the first three. Though, I hate to see it go, I guess I understand. For some reason, I was never "eaked" or "grossed out" over the entire Harper/Tolliver situation. Never. I saw it from book 1, and I waited for emotions and feelings to surface between the 2 of them, which, finally occured in book 3. It made sense. They are all they have. As proven in nearly all the books, who can they really trust? Each other. The experiences they have...more

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Nov 02, 2009

Becky rated it

Grave Secret is the fourth Harper Connelly paranormal mystery from Charlaine Harris. For the uninitiated, Harper Connelly, after suffering a lightning strike at the age of 15, has the ability to sense the dead and to know how they died. She and her brother--that is to say, her stepbrother, Tolliver, who is also her manager and business partner--make a living by traveling around the country consulting for local police departments and people who want to learn the truth about the death of their l...moreGrave Secret is the fourth Harper Connelly paranormal mystery from Charlaine Harris. For the uninitiated, Harper Connelly, after suffering a lightning strike at the age of 15, has the ability to sense the dead and to know how they died. She and her brother--that is to say, her stepbrother, Tolliver, who is also her manager and business partner--make a living by traveling around the country consulting for local police departments and people who want to learn the truth about the death of their loved ones.

At the end of last installment, An Ice Cold Grave, Harper and her brother--um, stepbrother--had finally acknowledged the nature of their love for one another, overcome the ick factor, and become partners in all senses of the word. In this latest, everything they do is informed by this development in their lives--they're telling everyone they know, and most everyone is as skeeved and intrigued by the situation as I was. Some are downright disgusted, and it doesn't help matters that Harper frequently still refers to Tolliver as "my brother." And, although Harper and Tolliver don't share any blood, they do share two half sisters, the children of his father and her mother. Why, it's a regular old Southern Gothic!

Grave Secret neatly dovetails the current case, that of a wealthy Texas family that wants to learn the details of their grandfather's cause of death eight years earlier, with the trauma that drives them, the disappearance of their--rather, Harper's--sister Cameron nearly a decade before. Tolliver's father, Matthew, has been released from prison, and although his desire to connect with the son he abandoned for drugs many years earlier is both obnoxious and suspect, it helps steer the lovers closer to an understanding of the truth.

Charlaine Harris is a master craftsman, and endlessly creative (although she juggles four different series, each is distinct in tone, voice, and story from the others). She brings together the paranormal, the Gothic, and the crime aspects of her story neatly, and in a most satisfying way.(less)

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Oct 31, 2009

Grace rated it

Shelves: paranormal, mystery

There are two main mysteries going in the concluding volume of the Harper series. One of them's pretty well-done, and the other seems like an afterthought. But by the end of the book, there aren't any lingering questions that would merit another book in the series, so there's that.

The story moves along at a fair clip, and unfortunately relies on contrivance a lot to either prolong suspense or force resolution. At times, Harper and her brother/lover/whatever (and it's pretty weird tha...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) Char...moreCharlaine 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)

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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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“Oh, no, I love going into a pen of lions wearing a sign that says Edible Lamb.”
-- Manfred” — 2 people liked it

“Manfred,” I began, exasperated, “I just don’t know what to do with you.”
“I have some very good ideas,” he said. He waggled his eyebrows.
He was making it funny, but he was serious. I never doubted that at my slightest response, Manfred would be booking us into the nearest hotel as fast as he could whip out his wallet.” — 1 person liked it

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Grave Secret (Harper Connelly #4)

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