Dead Over Heels - Charlaine Harris

Dead Over Heels
An Aurora Teagarden Mystery
Charlaine Harris
Berkley Prime Crime

Mystery

“My bodyguard was mowing the yard wearing her pink bikini when the man fell from the sky.” That’s maybe one of the best opening lines I’ve read in a mystery. Unfortunately, once the man face-plants into the ground, the story slows down considerably. Those who know Aurora (Roe) Teagarden know that she’s no stranger to finding dead bodies. But having one hurled into her backyard from a small plane is a new twist. The body is almost immediately identified as Detective Sergeant Jack Burns, a cop who delighted in making Roe’s life as difficult as possible.

This time around, Roe isn’t a suspect, since she was on the receiving end of the flying body. But when she pays a visit to the widow and finds feds in the living room, she’s pretty sure there’s something big happening. Her suspicions are confirmed when the body count begins to climb. It’s been two years since the last novel ended, and Roe is only beginning to realize that she doesn’t know a lot about the married bodyguards who live over her garage. She has the uneasy feeling that they’re not telling her everything they know.

This installment (REAL MURDERS, A BONE TO PICK, THE JULIUS HOUSE) seems a bit thin on the ground, plot-wise. The action hardly seems to get started before the solution is presented, making it a bit difficult to really get involved. If you’re a fan of the series, or of Roe, each book is a like a visit with an old friend.

Rating: 6 ½
August 2008 (reprint)

ISBN# 978-0-425-22303-1 (paperback)