Book Review: Sweet and Deadly by Charlaine Harris

Visiting the library the other day I came across a lady I knew from Church. She was just returning a load of books and one of them was Sweet and Deadlyby Charlaine Harris. Being a big fan of the Sookie Stackhousenovels, I took the book out myself.

This is not a vampire novel, or any other kind of supernatural story, but a straight murder mystery. Catherine Linton returns to her hometown of Lowfield, Mississippi, and takes a job as a reporter on the local newspaper. It is only six months after the death of her parents in a car crash and Catherine is still coming to terms with her grief.

When she stumbles on the body of her father's old nurse she begins to wonder if the deaths are connected. Her father had been the town doctor in this cosy, close knit community and it is hard to imagine why anyone would want him dead. Nevertheless, it quickly becomes clear that beneath the veneer of Southern gentility there lies a hotbed of secrets and deceits.

Something of a loner, Catherine is viewed with a mixture of suspicion and concern by the other residents of Lowfield: is she the murderer, or the next victim? She, in turn, starts wondering which of her neighbours has a secret worth killing for. As the clues build up she is led to the one piece of evidence that reveals the killer and, as a result, finds her own life in danger.

Sweet and Deadly was Ms. Harris' first book originally published in 1981. There are a number of ideas and themes which the author develops in her later books and, in some ways, I would argue that the character of Catherine Linton is a sort of proto-Sookie. So, for example, both Catherine and Sookie tend to react to major traumas by completing chores. However, this contrast between the extraordinary and mundane does help build up the tension: there is a sense of people trying to hang on to their normal lives while the shadow of death hangs over them.

At first I wasn't sure about the book, but it quickly seduced me and I found myself getting involved in Catherine's world. Unfortunately, this sense of enjoyment lasted until I came to the final chapter. For me, the climax felt rushed, and I was left with a real sense of disappointment. While I think the author did a good job of the actual murder mystery part; explaining the motives and reasons for the murders; I could have done with an epilogue that tied up all the loose ends.