by Charlaine Harris
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| List Price: | $6.99 |
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Product Description
When Lily stumbles upon the well-built corpse of a local body builder-his neck broken by a barbell-the town's underlying racial tension begins to boil over. The white victim was somehow connected to two unsolved murders of black residents of Shakespeare-and a dogged policeman is determined to stop the killing. But it is Lily herself who may have to decide whether to stay and fight for justice, or run away one more time.
Amazon.com Review
No steel magnolia, Lily Bart is one blunt, tough Southern woman--a tiny, karate-chopping, bodybuilding dynamo who's come to Shakespeare, Arkansas, to restart her life after a series of traumatic events just hinted at in this second novel in Charlaine Harris's series (after Shakespeare's Landlord). When she slips into her gym for an early morning workout and finds Del Packard with a barbell across his throat, she doesn't think for more than a second that it's an accident. Not when it's the third death in a couple of months in a town hardly big enough for its own WalMart. Then the blue broadsheets with thinly veiled hints of white supremacist activity start turning up under the windshield wipers of every car on Main Street. Lily's a relative newcomer to Shakespeare, but as a cleaning woman for the local landed gentry, she's privy to many secrets that most outsiders never learn. When a handsome stranger keeps turning up at the scene of an increasingly bizarre series of events, including a burglary at one of her regular clients and a bombing in a black church, she suspects he may be more than an innocent bystander. Which is too bad, because he stirs up desires that Lily hasn't felt for any man for a very long time. Lily Bard is a complex woman who embodies many of the contradictions of the modern South--its dark side as well as its charm--and this suspenseful, deftly written novel will send new fans scrambling to read its predecessor. --Jane Adams
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Dark mystery...., 2008-07-09
This book was better than the first "Shakespeare's Landlord". I really like the character of Lily and the mystery wasn't bad. I enjoy most of the characters and Lily's community for the most part. This series is far too dark to be considered a cozy although a lot of people seem to classify it as one. There wasn't any great suprises here; nor was it boring. I'd like to see Lily get some of her happiness back; she just seems like a fairly unhappy person...I understand her background and the reason for it is logical but it'd be nice to see some good things happen to her. I wish I could say more about this story but in my opinion it was good, not great. There is nothing specifically bad about it, nor anything amazingly positive either.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Love Charline Harris!, 2008-05-18
If you haven't picked up the Lily Bard series - check it out!
If you like these, you will love the Harper Connelly series, Sookie Stackhouse series, and Aurora Teagarden series - I read all of those, then started these, and am enjoying them very much.
I can't believe I just "found" Charlaine Harris last year! :)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Enjoyed it, 2008-02-17
I throughly enjoyed this book. I read the 1st, 3rd, and 4th book and waited for this book to be re-released so I could get the story in the middle I missed. More than a couple of answers were answered and I had a hard time putting it down.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
 Let every eye negotiate for itself, and trust no agent... - Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, 2008-01-23
This is the second book in the Lily Bard Mystery series.
The small town of Shakespeare Arkansas is experiencing some severe race related issues. Flyers of a white supremacy theme are being placed on the windshields of the citizens and three unsolved murders seem to be connected.
Lily Bard, the town maid, happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and is gaining quiet admiration from one racial group, while at the same time getting some hostility from the other. When things get more dangerous and Lily and some of her friends are hurt, she begins to try to piece together the bizarre happenings in Shakespeare.
There were a few issues I had with this story. From the very beginning Ms. Harris introduces comments and references to a fight Lily had been in. Well, I busted out book one thinking I had missed something, I had no clue what she was talking about. Then finally at about page 62 or so she describes what went down.
Then she hints to a certain familiarity between Lily and a newcomer to the town. Little remarks here and there making me wonder what the heck I was missing, then finally on page 149 she clears that up. It really drove me nuts being on the outside of these little secrets and I think it was unnecessary. I don't understand why we had to be in the dark so long waiting to be let in on the important background facts of the story.
Also, there is an unresolved story regarding a piece of jewelry, I really didn't get what that was about. Maybe I am dense, but I read and reread that part of the story and I still don't get it. If anyone can enlighten me I would be most grateful!
Despite the few flaws, which are probably due to my lack of patience more than anything else, I really enjoyed this book. Charlaine Harris wrote another gripping mystery that is filled to the brim with entertainment. She created a complex tale involving racial tensions and hate crimes, small town secrets and plenty of twists and turns. With the introduction of some new characters, the personal life of Lily was enhanced. Enjoy!
Shakespeare's Landlord (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 1)
Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 3)
Cherise Everhard, January 2008
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Starting fresh is sometimes harder than it seems, 2007-10-27
Lily Bard chose Shakespeare, Arkansas as a place to start fresh and create a place for herself. Afterall, her last name is Bard. But Shakespeare is having problems: there's a flu running through the town's citizens, Darnell Glass was beaten to death and the case is still unsolved, Len Elgin was shot and that case is still open, and now there's another murder. This time it's a member of the health club that Lily goes for her daily workouts -- and she found the body. But things get tougher for Lily when Claude wants more of a relationship than she can give him, Marshall want to move on their relationship, and now there's a new man in town.
Harris does small town communities with love and wit. Shakespeare is filled with characters but they aren't stereotypes -- every character is someone just like someone you know from your town, village, city, or community. Lily Bard is a strong independent woman who has a past she wants to forget but she doesn't know how to move forward without dragging her past along with her. Lily likes to stay out of things, but she's forever being drawn into the action because she cares about people. Someone is distributing white supremacy letters and stirring up trouble. Lily's not an activist, she just wants her friends to feel like part of the community.
Things move along and you find yourself hoping that it all turns out well but time after time the plot twists and you're left wondering what happened. This is the best kind of book, one where you know what will happen but you're wrong, and then right, again and again as the plot twists and the threads weave about to the conclusion.
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