I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Last Scene Alive
by
Charlaine Harris
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Minotaur Books on August 3, 2002 and has 252 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Night's Edge, Death's Excellent Vacation, Must Love Hellhounds, Dead Reckoning, Bite, A Secret Rage, Home Improvement: Undead Edition, Deadlocked, An Apple for the Creature, Dead Ever After, The Sookie Stackhouse Companion, Games Creatures Play, After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse, Indigo, Night Shift, Sleep Like a Baby, The Pretenders, A Longer Fall, An Easy Death, The Russian Cage, Small Kingdoms and Other Stories, Real Murders, A Bone to Pick, Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Dead Until Dark, The Julius House, Dead Over Heels, A Fool and His Honey, Shakespeare’s Landlord, Shakespeare’s Champion, Poppy Done to Death, Shakespeare’s Christmas, Shakespeare’s Trollop, Shakespeare's Counselor
Seventh in the Aurora Teagarden amateur sleuth cozy mystery series and revolving around a small town librarian in Lawrenceton, Georgia. The focus is on the movie being filmed in Laurenceton.
My Take
It’s exciting and sad at the same time, as actors and movie hands converge on Lawrenceton and Roe considers both the awful trauma of that first set of murders and the weight of her grief over Martin’s death.
It’s not the only revelation Aurora has, as she considers how she’s avoided examining her life, if she resents being the Top Dog in town, her beloved house, Sam’s faith in her, Roe’s, ahem, revelation about Sam and Patricia, and all from first person protagonist point-of-view.
Robin has his own revelations about himself, L.A., and Roe. Poor Robin. He so wants Roe to approve, to watch the movie being filmed, and yet he’s treated so poorly on the set. He also relates all his book-movie issues in getting the book made into a movie. Oy.
There’s character-driven action with a lot of thinking going on, secrets coming out, and a contrast in compassions.
The town is split between those who welcome the movie people, those who don’t want it, and then there are those who are finding the benefits of it. Father Scott is rather embarrassed about his benefits!
Looks like Roe was right to be annoyed, especially after that dinner with Celia and her entourage. Talk about an ambush! She’s so put off by the movie people, although later on she’s got some fantasy going on about starring in the movie.
It’s a good question. Why does the movie need a stuntwoman?
That Barrett. I wish Martin were still alive to pound him.
Ooh, you know that old saw about not having a significant other teach you how to drive? It seems to apply to house hunting as well.
The Story
Robin Crusoe’s story about the murders in Real Murders, 1, Whimsical Murders, is being made into a film — in Lawrenceton, Georgia, and everyone is all a’flutter.
Then there’s murder on the set. Three different ways to death.
The Characters
Aurora “Roe” Teagarden is a widowed librarian who still lives in the Julius house (The Julius House, 4). Her current maid is Catherine Quick. Fat Madeleine still hates going to the vet, who hate her visits in return (A Bone to Pick, 2). Martin Bartell, Aurora’s deceased husband, had been the head of the Pan-Am Agra plant. Phillip is Roe’s half-brother. Roe’s father, had been a real jerk.
Barrett Bartell is Martin’s jerk of a son whose acting career has/had been subsidized by his father. Cindy, Martin’s ex-wife and Barrett’s mother, owns a florist shop and has a partner, Dennis. Barby is Martin’s sister; Regina is her idiot daughter (A Fool and His Honey, 6).
Aida Queensland, Aurora’s mother, owns Select Realty and is thinking of retirement. John Queensland is Aida’s husband, who has recently had a heart attack. The traditional Avery, an accountant, and the wilder John David are John’s sons. Melinda is Avery’s wife, and they have two children, Charles and Marcy. Poppy is John David’s wife and had also been (and still is) a wild child. Brandon Chase is their baby son. Eileen Norris had been an agent at Select Realty along with Patty Cloud, who is now a partner. Russell & Dietrich is a rival realty company.
Robin Crusoe is a well-known mystery writer we first met in Real Murders. His father died a little while ago, and his mother is struggling.
Lawrenceton, Georgia, is . . .
. . . where Aurora lives and works at the Lawrenceton Library. Co-workers include Perry Allison, who seems to finally be on an even keel; Lindsey Russell, the new children’s librarian; and, Lillian Schmidt, a self-centered fundamentalist Christian. Sam Clerrick is their boss, brilliant with the budget and administration but horrible with people. His part-time secretary, the chilly, off-putting Patricia Bledsoe, is incredibly efficient. Jerome is her teen-age son whom she keeps on a short leash. Janie Finstermeyer’s son, Josh, has way too many overdue books. Mr Harmon comes in to read the paper every morning.
The direct Angel and Shelby Youngblood (he’s a former Vietnam vet) have had a baby; Joan is nearly a year old now. Shelby, Martin’s close friend, still works at Pan-Agra. Clement Farmer is one of Roe’s neighbors and has barking dog, Robert. Father Aubrey Scott is the Episcopal minister; he’s married to Emily and has adopted her daughter, Elizabeth. Sally Allison (Perry’s mom) is a journalist who works for the local paper, the Sentinel, and is a friend of Roe’s. Nadine Gortner. Amina Day is Aurora’s best friend now married to Hugh with a two-year-old Megan and living in Dallas. Great Day, a clothing store in town, is owned by Miss Joe Nell, Amina’s mother. Mignon Derby is Joe Nell’s new partner — and the reason clothing choices have improved. I think Teal owns the Crafts Consortium. Beef ’N More is a popular restaurant. Trixie’s is a pizza place. David and Laurie Martinez own a house Roe remembers from her childhood, when Debbie had lived there, the girl whose brother had made Roe’s heart throb. Their neighbors are the retired Cohens on one side and the widowed Herman sisters on the other. Cartland “Bubba” Sewell, the state representative for the county, is married to Lizanne, Roe’s friend. They have two boys: Brandon and Davis.
The movie . . !
. . . Whimsical Death will be a two-part made-for-TV movie. Celia Shaw will play the Teagarden character; she’s been dating Robin. Linda Shaw, a minor actress, had been Celia’s irresponsible mother. Chip Brodnax will play Robin. Barrett will be playing Bankston Waites. Meredith Askew is Starlet Two.
Joel Park Brooks, the director, is renting Dr Pincus “Pinky” Zelman’s house. Mark Chesney is Brooks’ assistant. Will Weir is the head cameraman. Jessie Bruckner is the producer. Sarah Feathers seems to be a sub-assistant director. Super-fan Tracy works for Molly’s Moveable Feasts, who is the caterer for the set. Caroline Venice is one of the makeup artists and a friend of Angel’s.
Spalding County Law Enforcement Complex,
. . . a.k.a. “Spacolec”, is control central for the police station, small claims court, the county sheriff’s office, and the jail. The jerky Detective Arthur Smith still carries a torch for Roe. He is divorced from Detective Lynn Liggett who has custody of their six-year-old girl, Lorna. A new young patrolwoman, Susan Crawford, would love to meet Roe. Davis Coffey is the new sheriff, replacing Padgett Lanier. His officers include Jimmy Henske and Levon Suit, who tsk-tsk along with the sheriff and wink at Roe when he can’t see them.
Marjory Bolton is a writer for an entertainment magazine. Heavenly Barbecue is a restaurant in Atlanta where Smoky is the obsequious manager. Carl Sonnheim is another mystery writer. The bomb makers were Joanne Cheney, Ralph “Coco” Defarge, Anita Defarge, Maxwell Brand, and Barbara “Africa” Paley.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a view out the screen door with its beautiful scrollwork at the top of the door frame, looking out over fields. In the center is an overly large camera lens staring right at us with the series info in white, tiny at the top of the lens. The title is a faded red outlined in white following the upper curve of the camera lens. The author’s name, in white, is at the bottom under the lens. Below that is a testimonial, also in white.
The title is a play on that last scene, in which the victim is Last Scene Alive.
