I think I may be the only one that has not read any other works by Charlaine Harris. Therefore, I couldn't compare this book to her more popular Sookie series (which I have no desire to read after watching some of season one of True Blood). Her writing style is very simplistic but her story is very character driven which left me wanting to know more about Lily and the other Shakespeare residents. I do like the use of the first person perspective because we can get inside Lily's mind as she brings together the puzzle pieces of the mystery. Of course with this, we also get a limited perspective in solving the murder ourselves. We can't find out till the end that Claude had be staking out the camper so he also had some suspects in mind.
When I first started reading the book, I thought the romance would be between Lily and Claude. But I was very glad when Marshall and Lily started their romantic relationship. It was at this point I really started connecting with the book. I was so happy for Lily that even though she went through a very traumatic experience, she is still willing to take a chance on having a relationship. I really love Marshall for being the man he is, for looking past the scars and trauma and seeing the person she truly is. I think Marshall is also able to connect to Lily because of the sexual experiences he's had with his wife. Of course his experience is not nearly at the same trauma level as Lily, but it still gives him a basis of understanding the humiliation and pain.
I wasn't completely wrong about Claude. The end of the book reveals that he does care for Lily as well. I am curious as to what happens to Lily romantically. I know everyone else seemed to be happy to find out Lily's past in this book but seeing as there are several more books I wonder what else we can discover about Lily to keep us interested in her. Maybe her family history?
As far as the actual murder mystery, I suspected the Yorks because of their odd behavior but as I've said before, I became more interested in Lily and who was taunting her. I thought the murderer was the same person that was leaving the items for Lily but I was wrong on that conclusion. Lily's story became a distraction from the actual mystery as I grew more interested in her and Marshall. Then Norvel is set up to be the most hated character in the book so then I was hoping it would be him but not really expecting it to be. Because the story seemed so centered on Lily, I'm not sure how to rate this as a mystery novel. The only other mysteries I've read have been Nancy Drew but I found Shakespeare's Landlord an enjoyable read and would be interested in reading the next book to see where Harris takes Lily on her next mystery.
The same thing happened for me. I became more interested in Lily and less in the murder. I figured Marshall's wife was screwing with her after Lily discovered Claude had left the info he discovered out on his desk. I kinda forgot about the mystery in my determination to find out what happened to Lily.
ReplyDeleteI read quite a few mysteries myself, though one series has turned from kinda deep w/ humor to stupid slapstick. But mystery wise, I didn't catch on with the Yorks. I thought they were just feeling out of sorts due to their granddaughter. And you're right, this is definitely more character driven than plot driven.