Dirty Little Secrets

it's quirky whodunit, without the grisly details. really do like the main character of JJ Graves, feisty real and goofy. a few annoy flaws about her character but part of why you actually like her. the plot line, i have say i thought i had it all figured out when it turned completely out of nowhere.

Read in less than a day. The author has a sense of humor and writes in a similar vein to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries, but with a bit less physical comedy.

Started out like a pretty good who-dun-it serial killer mystery with a little three-way romance mixed in. Not the kinky kind - the Guy and Girl are friends since childhood but nothing more until the new guy shows up and sweeps her off her feet making the old friend a little jealous….that kind of three way.

The murder mystery clues seemed to be leading somewhere but things are not even close to being wrapped up. Since the clues weren't pointing to anyone in particular but to so many different people there was no way to narrow anything down yet. Then suddenly here's the show more killer, admitting to everything and wrapping it all up in about a page and a half. The murderer is someone who they never even mentioned in the book until the last few pages. It just didn't make any sense. Of course the main character is attacked by the killer at the end and is of course saved my her long time friend and wakes up in the hospital to see him sitting at her bed-side, before she passes out again. But then BAM! The End!! Books over! I was left feeling cheated by this book. There was no closure!! There was so much more that could have been written and other ways it could have gone that would have made more sense. I think the author was setting up for sequels, because there are three more. But after reading this first book, I may not continue on with the series. show less

An enjoyable book. I really liked the dynamic between J.J. (Jaye) Graves and her bestie Jack. You just know there is something between them even if she doesn’t see it yet and is still wrapped up in a man called Brody. Their tension and the snarky humour between them is a definitive plus and therefore I liked Jack way better than Brody. The only downside to this story was the killer’s identity, I felt it came out of nowhere and there was not enough character building here. Despite the rather out-of-the-blue outcome, I still think I’ll check out the following novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed the main character's narration. I enjoyed the small town scenes. I did not enjoy that I didn't suspect the murderer. It made all my involvement seem pointless.

I really hate being a copy cat, but I just had to give this book the 5 stars it deserves like everyone else to now has done.
This book had an interesting mix of humor, sarcasm, mystery and romance and an ultra surprising ending.

J.J. "Jaye" Graves is a mortician and she is also the coroner of her small community. At one time she was a Doctor in a decent sized hospital until her parents died together under suspicious circumstances and she came home. (she also is keeping a large secret about her time spent in that hospital!) And home is where she grew up, where she met her best friend Jack Lawson who is now on the Bloody Mary PD. And lately Bloody Mary Virginia is having one of its deadliest week ever. So many suspicious and naturally show more horridly grizzly murders. Just after the first one an interesting person shows up for Jaye, a crime novelist that wants to sort of tag-along and maybe help Jaye and Jack solve the murders.

Everyone has secrets in this town and some of them are real lulu's! Throw in the typical towns-people that you would find in a cozy mystery, a serial murderer, an evil newspaper reporter, and the fact that Jaye hasn't had sex in about 4 years... and you end up with a fairly explosive mystery. I can't classify this as a 'cozy' mystery, although it does have some of those elements. About the best I can do is say that it is somewhat between the novels of Peri O'Shaughnessy and J.A. Konrath.

The story and the mystery itself is tight and had several very believable red herrings to keep you going, an extremely surprising ending that I didn't see coming, well fleshed out, likable and very believable characters. Excellent Decalogue really helped keep the story moving and although advertised as a "romance" there really is not much of a romantic element to it. No overly-descriptive sex scenes, just a lot of sort of oblique hints and very mild descriptions. the back-round could be Anywhere USA, and I really like that since I am not wasting too much of my reading time trying to imagine everything. We just know that it is a small town in Virginai and leave it at that.

I can't wait to revisit Bloody Mary again and I hope it will be real soon! show less

Look out Janet Evanovich, here comes Liliana Hart!

J.J. Graves is a crime solving Coroner in Bloody Mary, Virginia. She is funny, sarcastic and full of secrets. J.J. has to come back home to Bloody Mary after her parents die in a horrible accident. Well, no one knows if it was an accident or murder suicide.

Not only is she trying to make a living as an Undertaker but she is also the county Coroner. She is barely making enough to stay in business. Thankfully she has her best friend Jake, the Sheriff.

Soon J.J. has more business than she can handle, unfortunately its people she has known for years that are being murdered. She & Jake need to find out who is killing their friends. Is it J.J.'s new boyfriend? Is it someone they've known all show more of their lives. How well did they even know the Victims? In a town this small, how can there possibly be any secrets? show less

This was a nice little suspense mystery told from the coroner, J. J. Graves, point of view. I did enjoy the build-up of suspense as the body count rose and the different little clues that pointed in different directions for our coroner and detective to follow.

This book hit on one of my mystery pet peeves. One of the things that I enjoy about a good mystery is being able to follow along with the lead person and try to figure out what is going on right along with them. Sometimes I can figure it out and sometimes I can’t, but I enjoy the attempt. My pet peeve is when absolutely no clues lead to the person doing the crime or when a previously unknown character comes into the story at the end and reveals all. Although the person doing the show more crimes in this book is mentioned in the story, absolutely nothing points his way until the big reveal. So at the end of the story is a nicely wrapped up conclusion given to you by the killer when he tells why he did everything … not the mystery being solved by the detective or the coroner.

This book is the first book in the J. J. Graves Mystery series. Even though this book is part of a series, it could definitely be read as a stand-alone book. No cliffhangers, thank you Ms. Hart!

The Narration Review
This audiobook was narrated by Laura Faye Smith. This was the first narration I heard from Ms. Smith and I really enjoyed it. She had good voices and a crisp clean sound to her narration. She was a good choice for this mystery detective read. show less