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After her early success, Harris released the first installment in a series of lighthearted mysteries starring spunky, small-town Georgia librarian, true crime enthusiast, and amateur sleuth Aurora Teagarden. When Aurora debuted in Real Murders (1990), Publishers Weekly welcomed "a heroine as capable and potentially complex as P. D. James's Cordelia Gray." The book went on to receive an Agatha Award nomination.
Anxious for another challenge, Harris began a second series in 1996. Darker and edgier than the Teagarden novels, these mysteries featured taciturn, 30-something housecleaner Lily Bard, a woman with a complicated past who has moved to the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, to find peace and solitude. The first novel, Shakespeare's Landlord, was well-received. BookList raved: "Harris has created an intriguing new character in this solidly plotted story." [Much to the disappointment of her fans, Harris concluded the Lilly Bard sequence in 2001 with Shakespeare's Counselor.]
Although Harris achieved moderate success with these two series (which she laughingly describes as "cozies with teeth"), she would hit the jackpot in 2001 with Dead Until Dark, a sly, spoofy paranormal mystery starring a telepathic Louisiana cocktail waitress named Sookie Stackhouse, who falls in love with a vampire named Bill. The novel, a delightful hybrid of mystery, science fiction, and romance, was an instant hit with critics. ("Harris' Sookie has the potential to attract more readers than Hamilton's Anita Blake," raved the dark fantasy magazine Cemetery Dance.) Readers, too, adored the Southern Vampire Series and have rewarded the author with bestseller after bestseller. (In 2008, the Sookie saga came to HBO in a top-rated television adaptation, True Blood, starring Anna Paquin.)
With 2006's Grave Sight, Harris added yet another fascinating character to her stable -- a young woman named Harper Connelly whose youthful encounter with a lightning bolt has left her with the ability to find corpses and determine how they died. In addition to juggling characters and plots for her popular series, Harris has also contributed short stories and novellas to several anthologies of paranormal fantasy fiction.
"I'm really a boring person. My family (my husband and three children) is the most important thing in my life. I go to bed early, I get up early. I love to go to the movies with my husband. My favorite things about finally making some money as a writer are (a) I can buy as many books as I want, and (b) I can hire a maid. The first job I had was working in an offset darkroom at a very small newspaper. I stood on a concrete floor all day and made minimum wage -- which then was $1.60 an hour. I hated it, and I learned a lot, though not necessarily about working in a darkroom. So being a writer is much better."
Introduction Charlaine Harris Toni L. P. Kelner ix
If I Had A Hammer Charlaine Harris 1
Wizard Home Security Victor Gischler 27
Gray Patricia Briggs 45
Squatters' Rights Rochelle Krich 71
Blood on the Wall Heather Graham 101
The Mansion of Imperatives James Grady 125
The Strength Inside Melissa Marr 141
Woolsley's Kitchen Nightmare E. E. Knight 163
Through This House Seanan McGuire 185
The Path S. J. Rozan 211
Rick the Brave Stacia Kane 237
Full-Scale Demolition Suzanne McLeod 263
It's All in the Rendering Simon R. Green 289
In Brightest Day Toni L. P. Kelner 309
About the Authors 337
theReader278
Posted July 16, 2011
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I am so excited. I can't wait to read this book. Love all the other books by Charlaine Harris.
5 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This fourteen urban fantasy anthology are tongue in cheek tales that humorously lampoons the sub-genre and self help guides. All the entries are lighthearted fun as the readers leans the true meaning of bump in the night. The editors book end the collection as Charlaine Harris opens with Sookie greeted by a newcomer when a wall comes down in "If I Had a Hammer"; while Toni L.P. Kelner finishes the book with "In Brightest Day" in which raising the dead Gorrfried proves difficult as he keeps getting dead. Elyna "Gray " (Patricia Brigg's learns you can't go home to renovate in Chicago. Broahm calls "Wizard Home Security" (by Victor Gichler) when someone broke into his home. In New Orleans, Defeo goes home to find pig's "Blood on the Walls" of the family tombs by Heather Graham. The European knows he needs to change his GPS now that he is in the American Midwest's Switzerland Wisconsin learning first hand about "Woolsey's Kitchen Nightmare" by E. E. Knight. All the entries are enjoyable humorous Home Improvement tales that Tim Taylor would appreciate the paranormal power tools.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 20, 2011
I love the antholigies that Charlaine Harris puts together. It's nice to be introduced to new writers and characters.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 7, 2011
Only the first (20 page) story is by Charlaine Harris. DO NOT Purchase this book if you are looking to read stories by Charlaine Harris!
2 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.faery-recluse
Posted December 6, 2011
Very enjoyable reading since I didn't want to commit to a long book at the time. I was able to enjoy reading a story on my bus ride to work. As a big Sookie Stackhouse fan, the stories in this home improvement theme based book did not fall short.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 27, 2011
After delighting in the first few stories, had to force way through to the end, all the while hoping selections would be as excellent as the first ones. Didn't happen.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 1, 2011
Gave me a chance to read some of my favorites and pick up some new ones.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 4, 2012
This book was not what I was expecting but the stories are great. I definitely recommend this book.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Good companion.....
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Posted November 9, 2011
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Posted August 26, 2011
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Posted October 21, 2011
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Overview
14 TALES BY PATRICIA BRIGGS • VICTOR GISCHLER • HEATHER GRAHAM •
JAMES GRADY • SIMON R. GREEN • CHARLAINE HARRIS •
STACIA KANE • TONI L. P....