Just finished book 4. Another satisfying read.

Harper is hired by a wealthy Texas family to learn the circumstances of the death of the family patriarch. The decision to hire Harper is for amusement at first, until Harper reveals the actual way the patriarch and his caretaker dies.

Harper and Tolliver are not related by blood at all and so they establish a monogamous relationship. This coupling is not embraced by their relatives. They also find out that Matthew (Tolliver's father and Harper's stepfather) is out of prison. The couple must decide if they can forgive and trust Matthew. The same Matthew who, along with Harper's drug-addicted mother, severely neglected their children.

Charlaine Harris succeeds in developing a compelling mystery that intermingles with several issues. I won't add more to avoid spoilers but be prepared for an emotionally complex ride.

Harper is one of the best characters I've read. Her gift is desired by people but in the end they despise her because they can't handle the truth. She is so relatable as a person who didn't come from the best background and isn't perfect and nice and happy all the time.

I hope this book isn't the last.

My thoughts...Let me start by saying if you have not read any books in the series, you need to go back and read Grave Sight. This series is different from the Sookie books. I would describe it as a mystery with a hint of paranormal. You may want to cover your eyes here, while I will not give away any Grave Secret spoilers, previous events may be disclosed.

Grave Secret picks right up where Ice Cold Grave left off. They start off on a usual job assignment that lands them in a graveyard. Where as the other books mentioned it, this last installment really got deep into Harper and Toliver's past. We learn the full extent of the abuse, neglect, and poverty they and their siblings lived through. Harper and Tolliver's quest to find their missing sister Cameron continues and they find themselves where it all began, their hometown. Charlaine Harris writes incredible strong characters. Harper shows tremendous growth in this book. She is much more dependent on herself, partially because Tolliver is unable to help her, and she changes for the better. I was satisfied at the end of the story with the characters situations and their relationships with each other.

The storyline in this book was OK. Although I was not on the edge of my seat, I was intrigued enough to keep reading. The ending came very quickly and left me shocked. It took a twist I was not expecting. The ending did feel a little abrupt and the current mystery wound up so conveniently. But overall, it was a great read and I am satisfied with the way the series ended. ( )

4th in the Harper Connelly series. Not to give away major plot points here: Harper and Tolliver on a case which ties back to their own childhood. This could be the end of the series because, as another reviewer said, there is resolution to several major plot lines.

It's the usual Charlaine Harris - tight, good story, good characters that you love, hate and care about but...... The second half of the book feels rushed. Almost as if Harris was thinking "I want this done so I can get back to my major money-maker (Sookie Stackhouse) but my contract requires four books so.." The ending is a surprise (and a bit of a shocker) but you don't feel *pulled* to it. It's more like the author is both pulling you and shoving you at the resolution. You enjoy the book, but you do end up feeling like there should be something else. ( )

This mystery, number four in the series was excellent. ( )

Grave Secret is the fourth Harper Connelly paranormal mystery from Charlaine Harris. For the uninitiated, Harper Connelly, after suffering a lightning strike at the age of 15, has the ability to sense the dead and to know how they died. She and her brother--that is to say, her stepbrother, Tolliver, who is also her manager and business partner--make a living by traveling around the country consulting for local police departments and people who want to learn the truth about the death of their loved ones.

At the end of last installment, An Ice Cold Grave, Harper and her brother--um, stepbrother--had finally acknowledged the nature of their love for one another, overcome the ick factor, and become partners in all senses of the word. In this latest, everything they do is informed by this development in their lives--they're telling everyone they know, and most everyone is as skeeved and intrigued by the situation as I was. Some are downright disgusted, and it doesn't help matters that Harper frequently still refers to Tolliver as "my brother." And, although Harper and Tolliver don't share any blood, they do share two half sisters, the children of his father and her mother. Why, it's a regular old Southern Gothic!

Grave Secret neatly dovetails the current case, that of a wealthy Texas family that wants to learn the details of their grandfather's cause of death eight years earlier, with the trauma that drives them, the disappearance of their--rather, Harper's--sister Cameron nearly a decade before. Tolliver's father, Matthew, has been released from prison, and although his desire to connect with the son he abandoned for drugs many years earlier is both obnoxious and suspect, it helps steer the lovers closer to an understanding of the truth.

Charlaine Harris is a master craftsman, and endlessly creative (although she juggles four different series, each is distinct in tone, voice, and story from the others). She brings together the paranormal, the Gothic, and the crime aspects of her story neatly, and in a most satisfying way. ( )