An Ice Cold Grave

by Charlaine Harris,

This is the first in a new series by the author of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries.  In this series Harper Connolly, a victim of a lighten strike, has the ability to sense the dead and the cause of their death.  She is summoned to Doraville, N.C. by a reluctant but desparate Sherrif.  Six young boys have gone missing.  The previous Sherrif seemed to think the boys had run away but boys keep disappearing.

Harper is given tips on a few places near where the young people were seen prior to their deaths, including where vehiles have been found.  They eventually go to a barn on an abandoned property and she senses not six but eight bodies.  The authorities are stunned by the news and the accuracy of her work.

Harper is devastated by the number of deaths and the amount of pain the boys suffered prior to their deaths.  She wants to get paid and get out of town.  However, she is attacked outside her motel by an unknown assailant and ends up in the hospital.  When she is released from hospital she is asked to stay in town for the memorial service for the boys and agrees to do it. 

She wants to leave town but then goes to another location where animal deaths were sensed but now she senses a human body and discovers a den with a victim, still alive, who is chained up and a local boy, who was accused of the animal murders, has committed suicide.  His father is arrested but Harper thinks he must have had an accomplice to help him overpower the boys.  The police agree that there probably was another criminal involved.  Harper's hunch is right and the other man captures her and tries to kill her.

This was an okay mystery, it wasn't terribly engaging and the story of the pedophilia bothered me, it seems to be a very frequent story in books and tv crime shows these days.  I am not sure that I would bother reading any others in this series, there wasn't really anything unique or appealing.

I am Half-Sick of Shadows

by Alan Bradley,

This is a book in the mystery series about the precocious little British girl Flavia de Luce.  This is the fourth book that I have read in the series, and will probably be the last.  The books still seem to be receiving acclaim but I get more disappointed with each one I read.

I found the first one fun and interesting, both the character of the little girl and the setting were interesting and novel.  The second was okay, and the third was, in my opinion even weaker.  I picked up the fourth one because I wanted a Christmas story read but again I was disappointed. 

Not much happens in the story - the murder doesn't occur until past the halfway point of the story.  I was ready to say.... kill somebody already! so the story gets some action and intrigue.  The mean sisters and the disinterested father who is drowning his fear about losing his home in his passion for stamps, are running thin as storylines.  The story just happened to take place at Christmas but could have taken place anytime.  I was hoping for more of a Christmas theme, poisoning with some sort of Christmas product, or something like that... but none of it happened.

I think i will try Dicken's Christmas Carol next, I am sure it will be more engaging.