This is the second book in the Harper Connelly Mystery series, which features the team of Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver Lang who travel around the country helping to locate missing persons.

Twenty-four year old Harper was struck by lightning at age 15, and ever since, she can find dead people if the approximate location is known, and she can determine the cause of their deaths.

In this book, Harper and Tolliver travel to Memphis, hired by a prickly college professor to go through an old graveyard and share information about the dead with the students. At the last grave, however, Harper gets a surprise, when she discovers that the old grave has a second body inside, a body she “recognizes.” Several years earlier, she had been hired to come to Nashville and try and locate the body 11-year-old Tabitha Morgenstern, a young girl apparently abducted. She had failed to do so, but now, in more than a remarkable coincidence, Tabitha is literally right under her feet.

Harper and Tolliver connect with the Morgenstern family again, but Harper also experiences a more significant connection: she senses a ghost in the graveyard who communicates with her, and she doesn’t know why. Furthermore, she finds out that the grandson of a psychic called in on the Morgenstern case may be able to read minds. And finally, she is beginning to understand that the only one in her life she can trust is her stepbrother; should she stop thinking of him as her “brother?” She muses:

"I often thought, and sometimes said, that Tolliver would be better off if he hadn’t undertaken the role of my backbone. But when I tried to imagine myself going on the road alone, I felt a huge hole in my middle that refused to fill with anything.”

Discussion: Charlaine Harris can’t resist the tug of the supernatural! It wouldn’t surprise me if in the next “episode” of this series, we meet up with werewolves and vampires!

The characters in this series are darker than in the Sookie Stackhouse books; Harper uses language Sookie wouldn’t dream of using, and although both young women have a “disability,” Harper’s has bad physical repercussions, and she’s often in pain and/or depressed.

Nevertheless, Harris’s sense of humor and endearing quality of self-deprecation lighten up the series. As an example, when Harper encounters the ghost, she and Tolliver have this conversation:

Harper: ‘This is a thin place.’”

Tolliver: ‘What’s that?’

Harper: ‘A place where the other world is very close to this world, separated only by a thin membrane.’

Tolliver: ‘You’ve been reading Stephen King again.’”

Evaluation: The “mystery” portion of this book is rather insubstantial, but Harris's characterization is rich and marbled. I like the characters of Harper and Tolliver, I love Harris as a writer of tongue-in-cheek supernatural books, and because of those two factors, I wouldn’t hesitate to continue with this series. ( )

Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver have been invited to Memphis to give a demonstration. Dr Nunley, who teaches an unorthodox class at Bingham College, has it in mind to expose Harper as a fraud. But when Harper makes a surprising discovery at the old cemetery, even Dr Nunley is left speechless.

Harper had finally found Tabitha Morgenstern who had disappeared eighteen months ago in Nashville; only its months later and in the wrong city. Something about all this was not quite right, and when a new body turns up Harper and Tolliver decide its time they did some investigating of their own.

However, Harper finds herself distracted with prophecies, and ghosts and other things... Harper is accused of having more then one suitor. But is it the teenager Victor who is so obviously hiding a secret or two? the black leathered, white haired, pierced all over Manfred who so obviously has feelings for Harper? or is it the last person Harper expected, who will capture her affections?

Harper is gifted, strangely so, but despite her unique talent and association with death she is still very human and very likeable. As a character Harper is attainable and full of personality, her story highly imaginative while still remaining grounded. A thrilling mystery and a great read. ( )

Book 2 of the Harper Connelly Mysteries. Harper and Tolliver turn up in Tennessee to perform a parlor trick for a college class. While she's identifying remains in an old graveyard, Harper realises that the new body of a young girl is stuffed in an old grave and that she's finally found Tabitha Morgenstern. But as she's re-investigating the grave later, Harper discovers yet another body inside - that of the professor who asked her to town in the first place. Much better mystery than the first in the series, with great character depth and development. I only continued on with the series because I'd already bought the second book, but now I'm glad I did. ( )

Not a bad book, but not quite as good as the first due to redundancy. Very similar to the first in the plot & all. Again, the heroine isn't very upbeat nor is the story line. Same issues with folks accepting her for what she is/does.The biggest drawback was background of the heroine. We're treated to several pages where she crams in all the background info we learned through the first book & then she dishes it out again through out the book. OK, she & her step-brother had a rough time as kids, but I had that drilled into me in the first book. It was shoved in my face over & over again until I was skimming at times.There is one 'shocking revelation' on her part. I don't like spoiler reviews, so I won't say what it is. It didn't strike me too well, though. It was understandable in many ways, but her reaction seemed over dramatic. Maybe it's a female/moral thing. Very possible. I'm a guy & my morals tend toward practicality, so others could think this was OK. I think I'll go looking for a topic that discusses this & see what others think. ( )

This is the second book in a series and the second one that I have read. It is jems like this that make me glad that I still have access to a real live book shop and not stuck with online shopping only.
The basic bacground to the series is that the main chatacter, harper, after being struck by lightening is able to locate the bodies of those who have passed away. She can also determine cause of death. She and her half brother Tolliver are going arround America offereing her services. In this case she has been asked to demonstrate her tallent to a group of students. The lecturer has arrranged for her to visit an old graveyard for which the details have only just been found so that she will not have been able to look up details of the burrials in advance. In this old graveyard there is a modern burial that should not be there that she identifies and so the mystery begins.
I am notr certain that I was every really in doubt as to the final outcome of the book however the characterisation and flow of the book made this one of the most enjoyable read I have had in some time. It was not creepy, the matter of fact way that harper describes what she feels makes what she does and the circumstances seem almost normal.
It was interesting to have a small vinagret of another person with special tallent and have harpers opinion on those who have a talent and those who pretend to have one shown.
I will be looking for more books by this author, not only good characters and story line, but good writing of descriptice passages and characters that are three dimensional and believable ( )