Murder is not some fictional conceit, imagined for the purpose of entertainment, but actually happens: and afterwards no credits roll, and life has to continue to be lived even if you have absolutely no idea where the deeds to the house are kept, or who services the lawn mower.
MICHAEL MARSHALL, Blood of Angels
Allow me to admit up front that I am not a fan of Charlaine Harris. Or more precisely, I am not a fan of Harris's writing style. I tried her fist series and made it exactly one book and less than half a chapter in before selling the rest of the books I had. I just find her technique rather bland and her characters a little dry, and some VERY annoying. BUT, in regards to Shakespeare's Landlord, I did enjoy the mystery and was surprised when my assumption turned out to be incorrect.
In the beginning it took me a little bit to get into the book. Mostly because I had a hard time warming up to Lily. I understood that she was aloof for a reason and it was hinted that her reclusive ways were a result of some past trauma but I just didn't feel very sympathetic towards her and had a hard time connecting with her character. The one thing I really did admire about Lily though was her ability to keep mum. Being the town cleaner, she was pretty much in a position of power. She knew everything about the people she worked for; things that could damage their reputation and wreck some of their lives. But she showed such discretion and chose not to use the information she gathered to gain any type of foothold.
I enjoyed learning about Shakespeare and those who lived in it. The community seemed like a cross between the apartment complex in Lady in the Water and Melrose Place. Probably leaning a little more towards Melrose considering when murder and tragedy struck the town, there was a whole lot of finger pointing and a lot less bonding together.
Since I am not sure how far the rest of you are, I will keep quiet on other observations and comments. I don't want to ruin the mystery or give anything a way. This one has a nice little twist to it that I enjoyed.
I wondered what you thought of this since you didn't care for the Sookie Stackhouse series. I really liked that Marshall helped her start actually living her life again rather than just floating about the way she was.
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