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
Shakespeare’s Trollop
by
Charlaine Harris
suspense, cozy mystery, noir mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Minotaur Books on January 1, 2000 and has 222 pages.
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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, Poppy Done to Death, Shakespeare’s Christmas, Shakespeare's Counselor
Fourth in the Lily Bard cozy-ish, noir suspense series revolving around a cleaning woman/karate expert with PTSD in Shakespeare, Arkansas.
My Take
It is interesting how smoothly Harris uses first person protagonist point-of-view to tell us so much about the characters, including that possible reason for Deedra being so loose in her ways, and it was something that could have easily been fixed — except for her mother’s attitude.
Lily’s character is increasing her social circle, very slowly. Learning to accept others into her life. Exploring how she’s lived the past six years and if it’s any different from Deedra’s life. We do get that flashback to Lily’s trauma. That ordeal contributes to Lily’s need to walk in the dark — although the police do appreciate their “Night Walker”. Ohh, oh dear, Lily and Bobo soon have their own issues. Ya gotta like Bobo, at least for his upbeat attitude, lol. Gotta wonder where he got it from, since it wasn’t from his mother!
It’s a contrast between the positives in Lily’s growth even as her clients are dropping her right and left.
Hmm, people need to be aware of how much a cleaning person observes about their habits. It’s not a bad thing — especially if you happen to be murdered!
Calla is obsessed with her potential inheritance and feels overworked at her job and by her family. Then there are all those suspicious people. Oy. Such nasty minds!
After my initial “meeting” with the sheriff, I had to appreciate Marta’s consideration for Deedra’s mom. Becca was also really sweet to Marlon. Then there’s Mrs Jepperson who starts out nasty sounding, but Lily finds the right way to approach her. It’s gotta make you think. And consider how much older people know.
Shakespeare’s Trollop is primarily Lily reflecting on her growth and its negatives and positives as well as her speculations on the murder and on the story’s characters. Hoo boy. Don’t worry though, there’s action and drama as well in this noir tale. It’s also nothing that I expected.
The Story
It’s that glint of red that catches Lily Bard’s eye, and when she checks it out, she finds murder.
That sheriff is danged suspicious, and in self-defense, Lily starts to investigate the woman’s notoriously promiscuous lifestyle with its extensive list of suspects but very few clues,
The Characters
The prickly Lily Bard is a cleaning lady in Shakespeare who took up karate in self-defense. Jack Leeds, a disgraced detective from Memphis, now works as a private detective and is Lily’s boyfriend (Shakespeare’s Champion, 2). His PI friends include Roy Costimiglia and Elizabeth Fry.
Lily’s clients include Birdie Rossiter and her elcerly spaniel, Durwood (M.T. is her departed farmer husband; the tobacco-chewing Miss Audie had been M.T.’s mama); Deedra Dean; Camille Emerson (Cooper is her husband and they have two boys); Dr Carrie Thrush, a friend of Lily’s; the suspicious Mrs Jepperson (Laquanda Titchnor is her caregiver); the widowed Albert Tanner; and, Helen Drinkwater.
Lacey Dean Knopp is Deedra’s mother. Chaz Dean had been Lacey’s husband who left her a nice pot of money. Jerrell Knopp is Deedra’s stepfather.
Becca Whitley is the niece who inherited the Shakespeare Garden Apartments when her uncle Pardon Albee died. Tenants at the Shakespeare Gardens include Daisy and Dawn Bickle, who are twin sisters who work at Goodnight Mattress Manufacturing; Terry Plowright went to a monster truck rally; Tick Levinson is a pressman and an alcoholic; and, Do’mari Clayton, who works at Wal-Mart.
Marshall Sedaka is Lily’s sensei who owns Body Time and is a friend of Lily’s. Fellow students include Janet Shook, who has a thing for Marshall; Becca; Raphael Roundtree; Carlton (an accountant and Lily’s neighbor); Brian Gruber (an executive at a local mattress manufacturing plant); the oft-married Jerri Sizemore; Marlys Squire (a travel agent with four grandchildren); and, the too-interested Anna-Lise Puck (a civilian employee at the sheriff’s department). Thea is Marshall’s poisonous ex (and lousy child-care worker at SCC).
Marta Schuster is the county sheriff; her father, Marty had been the previous sheriff. Marlon Schuster is Marta’s younger brother. Clifton Emanuel is one of Marta’s deputies.
Claude Friedrich is the chief of police in Shakespeare and a friend of Lily’s. (Charles is Claude’s brother.) His deputies include Norman “Jump” Farraclough, Claude’s second-in-command; Dedford Jinks; Tiny Dalton; and, Gardner McClanahan. Choke Anson is the Hatsfield county clerk. Mary Elwood is Choke’s opponent. Judge Hitchcock can marry people. Frank Parrish is the fire chief.
Old Joe C Prader is mean as the devil with a gorgeous old house, who started up Prader Hardware. Joe C Jr died in World War II. Christopher is Joe C’s second son who had three children: Calla (unmarried and Joe C’s caretaker), Walker (has three teenager: Sarah, Hardy, and Christian), and Lacey (had Deedra). Jessie Lee was Joe C’s daughter who had married Albert Albee; they’d had two children: Alice (who married James Whitley and they had Becca and Anthony, who’s a prison counselor in Texas); and, Pardon.
Arnita is Joe C’s sister who had married Howell Winthrop (Shakespeare’s Champion); Howell Winthrop Jr is their son who married Beanie — they had Bobo, who’s friends with Lily and very attracted to her, Howell III, and Amber Jean. Toni Holbrook is Bobo’s new girlfriend. The Winthrops owns Winthrop Lumber and Supply where Danny Boyce used to work before going to prison (Shakespeare’s Champion).
China Belle Lipscott is Joe C’s best friend. Fannie Dooley had been the town bad girl of Joe C’s day. Teresa Black had been the bad girl of Lily’s high school.
Joel McCorkindale is the minister of the fundamentalist Shakespeare Combined Church (SCC). Doris Massey has come out of mourning. Shields Funeral Home. Lonny Todd is/was an undercover officer with Memphis PD. Tabitha is Carlton’s cousin in Montrose and an attorney. John Walsh is the host of America’s Most Wanted. Sherry Crumpler and David Messinger were vicious thieves who robbed and killed Harvey Jenkins.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a black frame that softly surrounds a grayed-out royal blue sky and a misty moon. On the skeletal branches sits a bobwhite with a string of pearls and a scarf caught in the tree branches. At the top is the title in yellow with the author’s name at the bottom in a gradated blue to white.
The title is too true, for the victim is Shakespeare’s Trollop .
