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
Poppy Done to Death
by
Charlaine Harris
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by JABberwocky Literary Agency Inc. on July 31, 2016 and has 263 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, Last Scene Alive, Shakespeare’s Champion, Shakespeare’s Christmas, Shakespeare’s Trollop, Shakespeare's Counselor
Eighth in the Aurora Teagarden cozy amateur sleuth mystery series revolving around a mild-mannered librarian. A nosy one. The focus is on a murder in the family. It’s been a few months since Last Scene Alive, 7.
My Take
Wow. There is so much we learn in Poppy Done to Death. Some of it is downright contradictory, some makes me roll my eyes, and then . . . so much more makes me gag.
It’s a snarky start with Aurora ticked off at Poppy putting off her induction into the club. It also makes a great intro into the requirements of the Uppity Women’s club, good ones for the most part.
It’s too bad Arthur knows Roe so well:
”Anytime you pull that fluff-headed southern eccentric routine, you’re putting out a smoke screen.”
Clues are scattered throughout with Roe and Melinda doing their best to both hide and search. Finding out the truth behind Poppy and John David’s lives is one of those clues Roe wishes she didn’t discover.
I don’t get it. If you love someone, you stay faithful to them. Of course, some let the pretty outside supersede the reality of their intellect. Duh. I do have to laugh though when Roe says:
”People stubbornly lived their lives as they wanted, without regard to me, to an amazing degree.”
Sadly, this also applies to teens who “forget” to tidy up after themselves, lol. I kept on laughing when Roe said she didn’t know what people who weren’t readers did with their time. I am so with her!
Harris uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Roe’s perspective, and we do learn quite a bit. Roe’s character arc has been full of ups and downs: the truth about Arthur Smith, Robin Crusoe’s leaving, the drama of marriage to Martin Bartell, Bryan’s overtures, and more. This latest trauma has Roe questioning her self and her reactions in her past relationships. I did have to laugh when Roe, without thinking, explained how Madeleine got her name. Oopsies. Then there’s that totally off-the-wall approbation from Betty Jo! Who’d’ve EVER thought!?!
What’s truly sad is John David’s reflections afterwards. Nope, I don’t get it.
It’s a minor event in Poppy Done to Death, but Perry’s character arc has been tremendous, and I’m so happy that he’s becoming more comfortable with himself. I suspect Roe’s on the right track as to why Perry had such a difficult time with drugs and emotional issues when he didn’t realize his true sexual orientation.
It is an interesting exploration of a person. Those with a bad reputation but who have a lot of good in them, then there are those with a good rep with so little that is good in them. And then again . . . Lizanne does make an excellent point that Melinda is not arguing about. Roe isn’t very happy about one person’s actions when she blows up about Robin flirting with Janie! Fortunately, Aida has a few things to say about that.
I wish I could say the same thing about chocolate as Robin says about those condoms Phillip was carrying . . . sigh . . .
”He likes to do the right thing, as long as it’s not too much trouble.”
There’s a lot of investigating going on, from different angles, revealing some hard and awful truths. Yeah. There is no lack of characters in Poppy Done to Death, for there’s quite the range from evil to decent, and it’s an interesting example of nature and nurture, of people brought up in the same family who are so different.
The perks of small town living include knowing most everyone. Aww, there’s another perk in this story when Bryan mentions that his father got married to someone in his nursing home. There’s hope for us old folks yet, lol.
Hoowhee! Wow. That Aurora has got guts, especially when she stands up to confront the burglars in John David and Poppy’s home! You will never guess who!
Murder is horrible and such a tragedy. Then there’s Alzheimer’s.
The Story
It’s murder with an abandoned baby and a missing father. Then up turns another “missing” son, and Phillip has had a traumatic trip from California.
Murder is bad enough, but the investigation turns up so many awful hidden truths.
The Characters
Aurora “Roe” Teagarden works at the Lawrenceton Library. She still has her “basketball”, Madeleine, whom Roe inherited from Jane Engle (A Bone to Pick, 2). Martin Bartell had been Roe’s beloved husband (Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, 3). Phillip is Roe’s half-brother who had been living in California with his parents, their father, and Betty Jo (his mother; Real Murders, 1).
Robin Crusoe, a mystery writer, is back and dating Aurora again (Real Murders). Corinne Cruse is Robin’s newly widowed mother with two dogs. One of the stops on his book tour is Murder by the Book in Houston. Margaret Maron is a fellow author at the bookstore.
Aida Brattle Teagarden, a successful realtor owning Select Realty, had married John Queensland four years ago. (John had been a member of the Real Murders Book Club back in Real Murders.) The marriage brought two stepsons: Avery and John David. Melinda, who is becoming a true friend to Roe, is married to Roe’s least favorite step-brother, Avery. The outrageous “Hurricane” Poppy Queensland, an elementary school teacher, is married to John David, who works for a pharmaceutical company. Chase is their baby son. Moosie is Poppy’s cat. Marvin and Sandy Wynn had been Poppy’s parents — he’d been the local Lutheran minister until he retired and they moved out of town.
Josh and Jocelyn “Joss” Finstermeyer are twins who become friends with Phillip. Beth is their mom.
Lawrenceton, Georgia, is . . .
. . . a small town outside Atlanta. Sally Allison, Perry’s mother, is a friend of Roe’s and a reporter for the local paper owned by Macon Turner. (Sally had been married to two Allison brothers: Steve and Paul.) Cartland “Bubba” and Lizanne Sewell (A Bone to Pick, 2) have two sons, Brandon and Davis. Bubba is Roe’s lawyer and their possible next state representative! Arnie had been Lizanne’s dad (Real Murders). Bryan Pascoe is the toughest, meanest criminal lawyer in the county. Terry McCloud is Aida’s attorney.
Roe’s coworkers at the library include the newly gay Perry Allison, Lillian Schmidt, and the easily shocked, anxious, morally ambiguous Janie Spellman. Sam Clerrick is their boss, brilliant with the budget and administration but horrible with people and still mourning the loss of his secretary in Last Scene Alive. Marva is Sam’s wife and a junior high algebra teacher; they have two grown daughters. Some of the library patrons include Porter Ziegler and the homeless-seeming Horton Aldrich.
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. Detective Arthur Smith cannot keep it in his pants. Detective Cathy Trumble is a stainless steel pro. Jeb Green is the current chief of detectives.
Scene Clean is a crime clean-up business owned by Zachary Lee, a former lab tech for the Atlanta PD. Mindy and Coll Smith are Arthur’s parents.
The Uppity Women’s Reading and Lunch Club is a women’s club with a limited membership interested in politics, literature, and society. Teresa Stanton (Bryan’s ex-wife who’s now married to Shorty Stanton, the president of Southern Security) is the president. Other members include Mrs Cole Stewart. Roe took Etheline Plummer’s place when she died. Linda Burdine Buckle’s is the latest death.
Cara Embler, a champion swimmer who’s in training, and her cardiologist husband, Stuart Embler, are Poppy and John David’s neighbors. Henry is the Emblers’ adopted son. The Reverend Aubrey Scott is married to the cool Emily (The Julius House, 4). Jeff Mayo is a golfing buddy of Aubrey’s.
Important but minor characters include Patty Cloud who is Aida’s second-in-command; Romney Burns, who works in the financial aid office at Sparling Junior College; Linda Pocock Erhardt, a nurse for Dr Pincus Zelman.
Britta and Margery and Mr Hammond are some of the people who helped Phillip. Emma McKibbon works at the Grabbit Kwik; she’d been a Pocket in high school, but married Dante after graduation and they have two girls. Jane Pocket is Emma’s sister.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a cheery bluish purple background with a pair of pale purple flourishes on an angle framing the title in its white script . . . with a black outline in the center of the cover. The author’s name is at the very top in a darker purple. At the very bottom is Aurora’s signature row of colorful book spines with a thick white outline. On the right are a pair of Aurora’s eyeglasses cocked on top of some books with the series information in a reddish-brown above and to the right.
The title refers to what Aurora remembers seeing, Poppy Done to Death.
