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Saturday 11 December 2010

THE AURORA TEAGARDEN MYSTERIES #3: Three Bedrooms, One Corpse by Charlaine Harris

THE AURORA TEAGARDEN MYSTERIES:
An omnibus edition of Roe Teagarden's adventures!Aurora Teagarden loves reading about famous murderers - until she finds herself investigating a real-life killing spree!Lawrenceton, Georgia, may be a growing suburb of Atlanta, but it's still a small town at heart. Librarian Aurora Teagarden - Roe - grew up there and she reckons she knows everything about her fellow townsfolk, including which ones share her interest in the darker side of human nature...

As you (probably now) know, I've been having a great time getting stuck into this series. I really enjoyed the first and second books, and have become very fond of Roe. As well as her town of Lawrenceton, and the strange mix of people who seem to have so many secrets.

Since Roe quit her job at the library, she's got a bit of spare time on her hands, so she decides to hang around Select Realty, which happens to be her mother's business. She wants to see if she likes it, and maybe then she can pursue a career in the field. This makes her mother very happy.

Roe's love life seems to be stable. She's been dating the minister, Aubrey, for a while now and they've settled into some kind of a routine. One that lacks a little excitement and has her more frustrated than anything else.

When her mother asks her to show a house to a prospective buyer, two things happen that'll change the path of Roe's life: (1) she finds a corpse lying naked in the empty house, and (2) she meets Martin Bartell. After this, she decides that the realty business really isn't for her, and that she wants Martin in a way she's never wanted anyone before. Is it love at first sight? Or just a matter of lust at first sight because things aren't going as well with Aubrey as she likes to make herself believe?

Not only does she eventually work through the matters of the heart--in an unexpected way that I really didn't see coming--but when a second female Realtor is killed and dumped in a different empty house, she finds herself in the middle of yet another murder mystery. Who's killing these female realtors and then dumping them inside these houses, and why?

When Roe eventually puts all the clues together and actually figures out who did it, she puts her own life on the line... and once again comes out hurt at the end.

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse was as much fun as the other books in this very cool mystery series. Charlaine Harris sure knows how to write--not only a good and interesting mystery book--but also an intriguing series that has me totally hooked. I love how she puts poor Roe through so much. I also like that this former librarian seems to fall in and out of love, only to throw herself into another doomed romance.

Will Martin, the older and very mysteries man who gets her blood pumping, be the one to tame her heart? Or will things once again come to an abrupt end? And where's Robin Crusoe? I can't help wondering if he'll ever return to confuse her all over again...

I've now started the fourth (and final book in this omnibus) but I'm really glad that there's still a second omnibus coming out early next year. Can't wait!

The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Omnibus 1, December 2010, ISBN 9780575096479, Gollancz Paperback

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