About the same as the first, maybe a shade better. It's a mystery. A little romance, but mostly a fluff book. For some reason, I find them very engaging, though. Off to read the next. ( )

The second book in the series and another fast read. The mystery is not as satisfying this time around, as its unrealistic and wraps itself up a little too neatly. But the reader learns more about Roe, who is an endearing character, and one who is still suffering the after effects of the events of the first book. ( )

Review at: http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com/20... ( )

Aurora (Roe) is back after the events in Real Murders. One of the original club, JaneEngle, has died of old age and has left her house and savings to Roe. They were not particularly close, but it seems Jane has left Roe a mystery to solve. Lawyer Bubba Sewell gives her to understand there is something Jane has been keeping from people and on investigating her house Roe finds a human skull. The house has also been broken in to which suggests that she is not the only one who knows about it's exsistance.

Roe is torn, should she move in to Jane's house but is one of the neighbours a murderer. First things first she needs to identify the identity of the skull and there are a few possibilities and missing people. She meets her neighbours including her ex lover who has recently married and his wife is about to have a baby any time now which really rubs Roe's single face in it. To even the playing field she begins to date one of the local ministers, but no one is above suspision and she is careful not to mention the skull to anyone.

I enjoyed this as a random novel but not as a murder mystery. The ending was far too rushed and was much more about Roe and her realtionships with people than about the msytery. There was also a very unrealistic scene at the end involving giving birth, but I won't spoil it here. Overall a very average book which left me very disappointed as I expected better. ( )

Aurora Teagarden, part time librarian, is barely over the huge wedding-of-the-year event where her mother, a prominent realtor, married a wealthy bank manager when she learns that an old friend and former member of her "Real Murders" club, Jane Engle, has passed away. And as she's leaving the cemetery, Roe learns from Jane's attorney that except for a small bequest to a cousin she never liked, Jane has left her entire estate to Roe. That was quite a surprise, and finding out the amount of the inheritance (a house and over half a million dollars in cash) was an even bigger one, but it's the skull that Roe finds hidden in the window seat in Jane's living room that is a downright shock. Along with a terse note in one of her many real life murder books ("I didn't do it."), Roe feels determined to try to figure out who the skull belongs to and why Jane had it in the first place, but she's hesitant to turn everything directly over to the police because she feels she owes it to Jane to keep her name out of the headlines if at all possible.

In this second installment of the series, Ms. Harris has hit her stride. The characters that were introduced in "Real Murders" are fleshed out more fully and Roe has become someone I can identify with. As soon as Roe did the little jig in the privacy of the elevator at the lawyer's office building after she learned of her inheritance, I knew she and I were going to get along just fine. I'm looking forward to more books in this series. ( )

A Bone to Pick is the second Aurora Teagarden mystery. Although Roe, her friends, and fellow Lawrenceton, Georgia denizens continue to grow as characters, her sleuthing abilities remain strictly passive in this installment.

As the story begins Roe learns that she has been bequeathed the not insignificant estate of Jane Engle, a recently deceased member of the now-defunct Real Murders true crime club. In addition to inheriting Jane's bank account, Roe has also come into possession of a small house, a mean cat, and a skull in the window seat.

Although Roe's curiosity about whose skull it is and why it's in Jane's window seat is boundless, her investigative skills, once again, sit firmly in the right-place-at-the-right-time arena. Once again, however, that's all right. The neighbors are quirky, in some cases to the point of near-insanity, establishing the series firmly, if mildly, as Southern Gothic. ( )

While leaving Jane Engle’s funeral, Aurora ‘Roe’ Teagarden was approached by Jane’s lawyer (Bubba Sewell) in order to inform her that Jane had left everything to her. With the inheritance of the money and the house, Roe decided to quick her job at the Library and was considering her option for what to do with the house. It may have been a lot of money, but she wondered if it would be enough to compensate her for dealing with the skull she found in the window seat while she was looking around the house.

*** Book 2 .…. Slow paced and not very suspenseful, just a very sweet mystery about a skull. Got to know Roe and Madeleine (the cat) better while Roe handled every things after inheriting the house. The mystery of the skull was good, but the clues were few and far between and then it was just over. I some how read these first 3 Aurora Teagarden books out of order, so I know that the previous (Real Murders) and the next (Three Bedrooms, One Corpse) are better. This one did tie up some questions I had in book 3 (that is what I get for reading a series out of order). ( )

http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com/20... ( )

Enjoyable. Once I get into a series I want to finish it ( )

I enjoyed this book probably more than I did the first Roe Teadgarden book, "Real Murders". I thought Roe was better fleshed out and a lot more fun to read about. She felt real to me, this time around, which was a bit of my gripe about "Real Murders". Here Roe Teagarden finds herself mourning the quick turnaround of losing her boyfriend and then finding him married, and his wife pregnant. Roe is hurt, she is jealous, and she is just starting to emerge from that 'mourning' period. About this time, Roe learns she has inheirited a house and a bunch of money from her recently deseased friend Jane. Seems 'friend' is a bit of an understatement. They were more like good acquaintences. But when Roe finds a skull in her new house, she learns Jane has also left her with a new mystery to solve. This was not a long book and reading it was very enjoyable. I was happy with the pace, and the characters, and even the mystery seemed more interesting than the previous one. But the ending, was just kind of boring. There was a lot of stuff going on, which was good, but the actual killer was revealed quickly and it was dull in my opinion. There was no suprise revelations, or reasonings and felt almost like an afterthought. I recall feeling somewhat the same way upon the conclusion to "Real Murders". I was disappointed, I guess. Charlaine Harris can write, really, really write. I just don't feel like the actual conclusion was fleshed out enough. This was just another average cozy and what could have been more, in the end, just wasn't. ( )

This was fantastic. I read it in two sittings – I love it when I can read a novel quickly – and it completely engrossed me. I liked Aurora a lot more in this one than the first book and the story just burbled along beautifully. Can’t wait to start reading book three and I’m delighted that after that there are a few more already released! A light mystery novel, almost chick lit, and very easy reading :) ( )

http://thenovelworld.com/2008/11/09/a... ( )

This book could easily go both ways for me. I feel Charlaine Harris floundered a bit, and I really hope Aurora gets a personality soon or I may just have to give up on the series. She's boring. She needs something that I can't put my finger on just yet. Perhaps she needs electric shock therapy or a talking dog that sniffs out clues for her. (I kid)

What she doesn't necessarily need is a man. The whole "pine for/whine for" thing throughout the book just grated on my nerves.

The mystery itself was pretty nifty, although I personally would have a problem keeping a skull in my house. I'm not sure of the rationality behind that, but it's fiction, it's fun. No harm done.

It was okay, but my money is on Sookie. ( )

The second Aurora Teagarden story and she's dealing with the aftermaths of the previous story and her job not being very busy, along with cutbacks giving her a lot of time to do other things. She inherits a house and it's contents along with some money from an old friend who used to be in the crime discussion club. While looking through the house she finds a skull in a window seat and finds clues to who it is and finds that she's a target for whoever the killer is.

It's a light mystery series and not terribly complicated. Fun series that I look forward to reading more of. ( )

A nice, cosy mystery. There is actually not much sleuthing going on until the end of the book. The solution is quite neat, but I guessed the who-dunnit fairly early on, motif included. So, entertaining little read for the weekend on the couch, but nothing earth-shattering. If you are new to Charlaine Harris, read the Sookie Stackhouse books first, they are much better. ( )

"A Bone To Pick" by Charlaine Harris is the second book in her series about librarian Aurora Teagarden. (The first being Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 1) In this mystery, Aurora aka Roe is stunned when she inherits a house and a large sum of money from elderly Jane Engle after her death. That's not the only thing Jane left her- there's a human skull in the window seat. On top of that, the people that have just moved in across the street from Jane's house are none other than Roe's ex-boyfriend Arthur Smith and his new pregnant wife.

After some snooping around, Roe finds out that a couple of people in the neighborhood have gone missing. One went out for diapers and never came home; another skipped out on his rent and left during the night. Was one of them killed? Is it their skull? Roe is determined to find out!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I fully recommend the rest in this series. Next is Three Bedrooms, One Corpse: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, followed by The Julius House: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 4, Dead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 5, "Fool And His Honey: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 6, Last Scene Alive (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries), and Poppy Done To Death: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 8.

Or if you'd like to try a different series by Charlaine Harris, check out the Lily Bard mysteries.(Shakespeare's Landlord (The First Lily Bard Mystery), "Shakespeare's Champion", Shakespeare's Christmas", "Shakespeare's Trollop", and Shakespeare's Counselor")

Or her new supernatural Southern Vampire Mysteries (Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 1), "Living Dead in Dallas", "Club Dead", "Dead to the World", "Dead as a Doornail", "Definitely Dead", and "All Together Dead") ( )

When Roe's older friend dies, she is shocked to find out that she has inherited the bulk of the estate, including a house. She knows there must be a catch, and she finds it pretty quickly, a skull hidden in the window seat. Not wanting to involve the police, Roe sets about investigating the neighbors.

This is the second in the series and I enjoyed it very much. It is a quick read with interesting characters and relationships. I am looking forward to the third in the series which is being reissued soon. ( )

This is the second in the cozy mystery series featuring amateur sleuth, Aurora Teagarden. A woman Aurora barely knows unexpectedly leaves her home and money to Aurora when she dies! But, there's a secret in the house. When Aurora accidentally discovers a hidden skull in her new home, she finds herself in danger from an unknown assailant and a mystery to solve.

The first book, Real Murders, was very predictable, but Aurora was interesting enough to get me to try another book. Thankfully, the mysteries get progressively better (though never on par with Mary Higgins Clark and the like) and Aurora's interactions with her neighbors provide a lot of humor. Highly recommended series! ( )

I didn't like this second book in the series as much as Real Murders, if only because there wasn't as much murder going on. :p

In this installment, Roe inherits the estate of her friend Jane Engle, a seventy year old "sweet old lady" who was formerly in the Real Murders club with her. Roe's got no idea why Jane would leave the house to her, but Jane's lawyer, Bubba Sewell, tells her that Jane has only a single brother left still living, who's pretty old himself, and she left him her car, her cat, and a few thousand dollars. But Roe is inheriting Jane's house, along with all it's contents and $550,000! Which is apparently a pretty good windfall down South! (Up here it'd barely buy a nice house. LOL)

Anyhow, it's the skull that Roe discovers inside Jane's house that's got her curious... just whose skull is it? And do the recent mysterious break-ins in the neighborhood—where nothing was taken, just houses ransacked—have anything to do with it? This mystery gets wrapped up at the end, but I won't give any spoilers here to ruin it.

We also learn a little more about Roe's personal life, and her longing to find a good man and get married. She's no longer with either of the two men she dated in Real Murders. The police detective Arthur has married his partner Lynn. And Robin Crusoe left the townhouse to go live in the city, and then went off to Europe for a little while, stepping back as Roe had gotten more serious (or so she thought) with Arthur. It's a little uncomfortable for Roe when she finds out that Arthur and Lynn have just bought the house across the street from the one she inherited from Jane, and to top it off, Lynn's already pregnant. (Can we say shotgun wedding! LOL) So Roe's now dating the town's Episcopal minister, Aubrey Scott, who performed her mother's recent wedding to John Queensland.

I think if Ms. Harris didn't make the rest of the story fairly entertaining, it would've flopped because the wondering of this skull is the only mystery part to this story... Roe does a little sleuthing, but since she doesn't mention the skull to anyone else, it's not a subject for dinner-time conversation or anything among her friends, acquaintances, and new neighbors, at least not until the rest of the skeleton is discovered. *grin* ( )