
The book opens with the murder: a young man goes into the gym to lift weights, and ends up dead. The reader knows it is murder, but Lily does not...yet...when she comes into the gym early the next morning and discovers the body. As disturbing as it is to find the victim, he is the third in series of unexplained, apparently unrelated deaths, one of which, at least, appears to be racially motivated. Lily grows increasingly upset as she witnesses increasing evidence of racial unrest in her small town and wonders if it can somehow be connected with this most recent death.
In her job as a cleaning woman, she tends to become aware of personal information about residents, and she keeps it to herself. However, as the unrest in her town grows, certain facts - such as guns under beds and mysterious bags - give her unsettling suspicions. To complicate matters, a handsome stranger in town seems to be popping up in all kinds of places. Before Lily realizes what's happening, she's experiencing feelings for him that she'd thought she'd safely locked away...
I always enjoy Charlaine Harris's books, and this one is no exception. The first in the series does an excellent job of introducing Lily, and in this one her character is further developed and explored. There is a nice mix of her personal life with the twists and turns of the murder mystery, and the darkness and horror of racial hate crimes is portrayed in a powerful way. Lily is a strong woman who has been overcome adversity without becoming bitter, an admirable heroine I look forward to spending more time with.
Books in the Lily Bard series:
1. Shakespeare's Landlord
2. Shakespeare's Champion
3. Shakespeare's Christmas
4. Shakespeare's Trollop
5. Shakespeare's Counselor
Shakespeare's Champion (#2 in the Lily Bard mystery series) by Charlaine Harris (St. Martin's Press, 1997)
Also reviewed at:
An Adventure in Reading: "This little series has piqued my interest again and has me reading a book not on any challenge list. Crazy times."
Enough to Read: "This was a good mystery with lots of twists - leaving both me and Lily guessing until the end."
This is the only series by her that I haven't read yet lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll enjoy it when you get to it. I've read the first Aurora one, and I am hoping to get back to that series, too. Plus I fell behind on the Sookie ones, and I'm thinking of going back and reading them from the beginning. 'Cause, you know, I need more books to read! :-p
ReplyDeleteI actually picked up this entire series at a used bookstore here in town. I haven't read them yet, but I had heard such good things about her other series, that I thought they were too good to pass up.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I haven't read any of the Sookie books either, but I LOVE True Blood on HBO!
Stephanie - I hope you'll have time to read them soon. We don't get HBO, but I just nipped over to Netflix and put Season One in my queue (saved it for when it comes out, anyway). Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI think I first heard of these at Musings of a Bookish Kitty and am ashamed I still haven't read a single Charlaine Harris book. It is definitely something I hope to change this year.
ReplyDeleteI have a whole list of authors like that - sometimes it seems I'll never get to them!
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