An Ice Cold Grave

by Charlaine Harris

Berkley, 288 pages, $23.95

The third book in the Harper Connelly series.

In her teens Harper was struck by lightening. Now the dead talk to her as they seek closure. Using her talent to support herself, Harper and her step-brother/friend/manager Tolliver Lang travel the US helping families set their dead to peaceful rest.

This time Harper is hired to find the body of a missing boy in rural North Carolina. Instead she finds eight bodies and a serial killer. Things heat up as Harper is assaulted, the tension between her and Tolliver reaches a head and her psychic friend Xylda Bernardo and her grandson, Manfred, make a gruesome discovery when they come to help. Add in extreme winter storm, skeptical law enforcement and townspeople reluctant to acknowledge that a killer has lived undetected in their midst for years and you have yet another exciting novel.

While I enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse novels, Harper is fast becoming my favorite of Ms Harris’ characters. The crime stories are interesting in and of themselves and the paranormal twist adds the edge to keep you turning each page with a “can’t wait to see what happens next” anticipation. I can’t believe it will be a whole year before I can find out more about Harper. Highly recommended. - Stephanie L Bannon