Charlaine Harris, Grave Surprise

Grave Surprise

Charlaine Harris

Berkley, October 2006, $23.95

ISBN 0425212035

In a Memphis cemetery, cynical anthropology professor Dr. Clyde Nunley tests Harper Connelly's clairvoyance skills in front of his students; he expected either a fraud or failure. However, Harper realizes something is wrong with a freshly dug grave. Inside is a different person than that identified by the cemetery.

Surprisingly, the victim is a missing twelve year old, Tabitha Morgenstern, whom Harper failed to find two years ago in Nashville. The police look closely at Harper, her manager and her stepbrother Tolliver Lang as prime suspects, as the coincidence seems too much. Clyde sticks to his belief that Harper is a con artist, but soon after he accuses her of chicanery while imbibed, his corpse is found in the same burial plot that Tabitha was interred in. The Memphis police live in Harper's hotel room looking for evidence, while Tabitha's family want more from the psychic, and the media turns this into an even wilder circus.

The second grave investigative paranormal mystery (see GRAVE SIGHT) is a terrific amusing sleuth tale, in which the heroine and her stepbrother decide to take on the case because they are the prime suspects, only every clue they find adds to the growing evidence that the siblings did the homicides. The storyline is fast-paced and loaded with dry graveyard humor, yet contains a strong sleuthing subplot. As with the Sookie tales, Charlaine Harris has another winning series to her credit.