This book is about a women who is hiding herself in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. She finds the dead body of her former land lord in a park and calls the police anonymously, not wanting to blow her cover. She soon realizes the suspicions are turning to her and in order to save herself needs to find the murderer.

I have to be honest, I am not much of mystery fan. I know this, but, I do love Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse and Harper Connelly books so I decided to try this one as well. The story line was ok, but the narration and writing of the story seemed impersonal to me at times, and I just could not pick up a flow and get in to it. The book itself is small, only about 214 pages, so it didn't take too long, but actually reading it, it felt like an eternity.

Also posted: http://nexttimesaymyname.blogspot.com... ( )

Interesting read more for the characters and their secrets than the mystery, which hinges on a throwaway comment about something in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hey, I even guessed whodunit, and I never do. But it kept my interest throughout. ( )

This was the first of the Lily Bard mysteries. Lily is a tough, strong woman with a traumatic past that lives in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. One night she takes a walk and witnesses someone stealing a cart that belongs to her. This person walks into the park across from her house, dumps whatever is in the cart, and then returns the cart to Lily's house. Lily investigates and finds the body of a local man who owns properties in town. The mystery is, of course, who killed this man? And can Lily, who has kept her past a secret until now, continue to live in town without everyone knowing her history?

These are perfect books for the summer: quick, but intense where they need to be! ( )

I might need to warm up to Lily. She doesn't have any supernatural powers though she does have spunk. Still, Harris tells a good story here and I'll try out the next one. ( )

While Shakespeare's Landlord certainly isn't the most interesting book I've read this week, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The further Harris retreats from the supernatural the stronger her technical writing skills seem to be. This first Lilly Bard novel shows all the insecurities of many series-openers, but succeeds in focusing on the gruesome without being uncharacteristically morbid (for the genre), and in incorporating the small-town setting that is Harris' trademark. My personal interest in mystery novels isn't what it used to be, so it is unlikely I will read more Lilly Bard novels. However, if anyone has been thinking of giving them a try I'd suggest diving in.