Dead Over Heels

I enjoyed this book. A very quick read and the characters were somewhat different than the ones portrayed in the Hallmark series. I found them a little flawed, which is satisfyingly normal rather than the more perfect Hallmark characters. I enjoy these books as a diversion from some heavier reading like "The Historian" or "Game of Thrones".

It has been years since I'd read my print copy of Dead Over Heels, the 5th Aurora Teagarden mystery, but I had remembered the opening because Angel was NOT behaving as a bodyguard should. Bad enough that her hearing would have been impacted by the sound of the lawnmower, to be listening to music as well???

The other thing I had remembered was why the killings, but not who was doing them. The most important subplot is that the downside of Aurora's fairytale marriage to rich Martn is being shown.

Ms Aurora Teagarden is at it again. Not her fault, of course. She’s minding her own business in her yard when a man falls from a plane and lands right in front of her.
This of course leads to another mystery to be solved. I’ve read so many mixed reviews on this series. I feel like these books are what they are...they aren’t meant to be literature or even a deep read. They’re just quirky little stories where belief needs to be suspended for a while. Basically, just enjoy the ride and shake your head at all the unlikely events that occur.

Better than the previous books. There's not as much of a rush to wrap it all up at the end. Still a candy book - fun & quick to read. Engaging writing & characters. A good who-dunnit.

This fifth installment in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series is just as cute and cozy as it's predecessors. The story takes place about two years after the events of the previous book, The Julius House. Roe and Martin have settled into married life quite comfortably, and things have been relatively quiet around the small Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceton, GA for the last few years. But that all changes when a body is dropped from a low-flying airplane, right onto Roe's lawn! But just wait a day or two because you know that won't be the only dead body showing up!

Having a body fall out of the sky into her yard left even Roe (Aurora Teagarden) wondering if there was some connection between the death of police Detective Jack Burns and him landing in her yard. Everyone knew that Jack and Roe didn’t like each other but what connected the strange things that had started happening around Roe and Angel (Youngblood, bodyguard, neighbor and friend)? The mysterious delivery of flowers, a pretty ribbon on Madeline (the cat), the death of the Librarian assistant, the attack of Shelby (Angel’s husband), then another police officer was stabbed. Could these things all be connected to Angel, Roe or is it all just a coincidence?

Book 5 ….. I was so happy to see Roe and Martin still together, still trying to show more make the marriage work. I really enjoyed the new side of Angel and the scene between Shelby and Roe in the kitchen was fun and in character for Roe. This time through, the mystery was fun to try to piece together. The character development is so much more complex now that we ’know’ her better. This was (for me) one of the better Aurora Teagarden stories. Not sure why, it wasn’t action packed but it kept a very good pace and the personal aspects of the crime as well as other situations Roe found herself in, gave the book a good overall fun and happy feeling to me. show less

Dead Over Heels opens with a bang. Or perhaps splat would be a more accurate description of the sound of a man's body falling from an airplane onto a lawn. The man, Lawrenceton police detective Jack Burns is thoroughly and grotesquely dead but really, why do things like this always happen to poor little Aurora Teagarden?

The arrival of Detective Burns on her front lawn is just the first in a series of weird and often violent events that dog Roe's footsteps with increasing and disturbing frequency. But how, and why, would a ribbon turning up around mean cat Madeleine's neck, a library coworker's brutal beating, the arrival of a gorgeous flower arrangement from an anonymous admirer, and the stabbing of former boyfriend Arthur Smith be show more related to the gruesome death of Jack Burns? And what the hell do all of these things have to do with Roe?

As always, Charlaine Harris produces a compulsively readable, beautifully detailed mystery, full of quirky characters and Southern charm. show less