I've become a huge fan of Charlaine Harris because of the Sookie Stackhouse novels and am warming up to the Harper Connelly mysteries. Sweet and Deadly however, was a joke, even more so when one reads the glowing reviews on the cover. Not only is the heroine unlikable, she is a total Mary Sue and too much the fictional ideal of the Southern lady. I was annoyed by the fact that this woman never seemed to use her pre-frontal cortex--all thoughts come to her as if in a dream. Wisps of ideas float up from her subconscious and only solidify pages later much to her own surprise.

Still the most absurd thing about this book was the plot. The murderer's motive was pathetic and due to something that no one in their right minds would kill not just one but four people over. Given the poor plot it's no wonder Harris seemed eager to just wrap it up and put us all out of our misery with a very abrupt ending.

Surprisingly bad, even for a first novel.