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Three Bedrooms, One Corpse
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 240 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, Dead Until Dark, The Julius House, Dead Over Heels, A Fool and His Honey, Shakespeare’s Landlord, Last Scene Alive, Shakespeare’s Champion
Third in the Aurora Teagarden cozy amateur sleuth mystery series and revolving around a rich librarian. This story takes place in Lawrenceton, Georgia, in November.
My Take
Poor Aurora. Recently rich but bored since quitting her librarian job. And she’s already bought new, more trendy clothing. Whatever is she to do now?
Harris uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Roe’s perspective, which opens up her thoughts, fears, and emotions about her life. A conservative woman who’s dating someone that creates a conflict for her when she’s attracted to another man. And still she’s suffering angst that she’ll be left again. She does seem precipitous about Scott dumping her.
Nor is Roe impressed by Donnie’s “grief”, which opens up sooo many questions.
Scott does provide her with his own conservative views, which do not include a woman of leisure who’s fascinated by murder — and an embarrassing unexpected inheritance.
Martin has self-esteem issues of his own — he always has to be top dog.
It’s a fascinating town with a full range of characters — I’d guess most small towns have such a variety of characters, along with the parents and their actions. Actions, yeah, Three Bedrooms, One Corpse seems to have an equal range of actions with Roe caught up in detecting. She simply can’t help it . . . and she does have emotional reasons for some of it.
The pace is steady in a cozy way with prose that keeps life simple.
I reckon I’m needing the cozy right now, and I do enjoy reading about Aurora Teagarden, an average sort of woman with good luck.
The Story
Oh, oh, Aurora has to substitute for her mother when some clients are late. It’s a two-way sword when Aurora discovers a dead body in the house she’s showing . . . and has an instant attraction to the potential buyer. A two-way attraction. Except Roe is dating the Reverend Aubrey Scott.
And she is a witness — along with Martin — to murder.
The Characters
Aurora “Roe” Teagarden, her mother’s representative for the townhouses, is studying to become a realtor. Madeleine is her newly spayed cat whom she inherited from Jane. Amina Day Price is Roe’s best friend although she’s moved to Houston and got married to Hugh Price, an up-and-coming lawyer, five weeks ago. And she’s pregnant.
Aida Brattle Teagarden Queensland is Aurora’s mother and a very successful real estate agent with her own business, Select Realty. John Queensland is her newlywed husband. Melinda Queensland is John’s daughter-in-law who’s been conscripted to help out at Select. Aida’s employees include agents Eileen Norris, who is also Aida’s second-in-command (and dating/living with Terry Sternholtz); the lone black man, Mackie Knight; Idella Yates (murdered); and, the bigoted Patty Cloud is the receptionist with Debbie Lincoln as her trainee.
The Thompsons, Aida’s clients, are always late. Martin Bartell, a Vietnam vet and new manager of Pan-Am Agra, and his sister, Barby Lampton, are new clients. The Anderton house listed with Aida and is owned by Mandy Anderton Morely. Ben and Leda, the Mays, and the Westleys are homeowners selling their places. Julius’ mother has been trying to sell the notorious Julius house.
The Reverend Aubrey Scott (confesses to Roe that he’s sterile) heads up the local Episcopalian church and is dating Aurora.
The protective Martin’s widowed mother remarried when he was ten to a horrible man. Martin has one son, the acting-hopeful, Barrett. Pan-Am Agra seems charitable with its combination of foods, farm machinery, and agricultural teachings. The angry Sam Ulrich was fired and gets an ultimatum. Jannie and Lisa are his children.
Lawrenceton, Georgia, is . . .
. . . the small town where Aurora lives. The married-with-children Lucinda Esther does catering to a select few. Sally Allison, a friend of Roe’s and a journalist with the town’s paper, just married Detective Paul Allison, her ex’s brother. Visitors to Tonia Lee’s wake include Mark Russell and his business partner, Jamie Dietrich. The public library is headed up by Sam Clerrick. Lillian Schmidt had been Roe’s contentious, gossipy co-worker. Dr Jamerson is a veterinarian. Charlie is one of his assistants, who’ll need gloves. Aida would prefer Roe take Madeleine to Dr Caitlin, since he had the gall to buy his home through Today’s Homes. Benita and Janie are hairstylists. Lizanne Buckley is still the receptionist at the Power and Light Company and still dating Bubba Sewell, the local representative and lawyer. The Golfwhite factory closed. Amina’s mom runs Great Day, a clothing store in Lawrenceton, although Roe now prefers Short ‘n Sweet in Atlanta. Jack Forrest wrote a business-page article about Martin. Jeffrey is a neighbor’s toddler.
The police department includes Detective Arthur Smith and his wife, Detective Lynn Liggett Smith; Detectives Henske and the unpopular Paul Allison; and Detective Sergeant Jack Burns who hates Aurora.
The very unfaithful Tonia Lee Greenhouse has a rival realty where Donnie’s cousin is secretary. Donnie Greenhouse is her much put-upon husband of seventeen years. Helen Purdy had been Tonia Lee’s mother. Franklin Farrell (the murderer) is another local realtor, Today’s Homes, with quite the reputation with the ladies. Terry Sternholtz works for Franklin.
Jane Engle had been a retired school librarian and a volunteer at the public library, who died. Smith, an old flame of Aurora’s, married Lynn Liggett (who’s the only detective in Homicide), and they and baby Lorna, moved in across the street from Jane’s house.
The House Hunter, a.k.a. Jimmy Hunter, who is the owner of the hardware store, loves looking at houses for sale. His wife is Susu Saxby Hunter who had been a friend of Roe’s and for whom Roe stood up as a bridesmaid. Susu had inherited her parents’ house. Jim and Bethany are their children.
Emily Kaye is a new kindergarten teacher; her daughter is Elizabeth (she’s thinking of buying Jane’s house). She’s a widow as her husband, Ken, died. Cile Verson is Emily’s aunt.
The Real Murders book club in Real Murders, included Roe. Gifford, a past member, has attracted the wrong attention. LeMaster Cane still has his dry-cleaning business. Gerald Wright, an insurance salesman, has remarried — after events in Real Murders, 1, with Mamie. Marietta had been Mamie’s cousin. Past cases they’ve explored include Patrick Mahon who killed his mistress, Emily Kaye.
Robin Crusoe, a mystery writer who had briefly dated Roe, is now in California. T.C. and Hope Julius along with their daughter, Charity (she and her boyfriend murdered her parents, hid them, and ran away) disappeared from their house.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a turquoise background with darker, squiggly vertical lines in a darker turquoise adding extra interest. The author’s name is at the top in a very dark turquoise with a row of shelved books outlined in a glowing white at the bottom, a pair of Roe’s glasses perched on top of the books on the right. Above the deep brown glasses on the right is the series info in the same brown as the glasses. In between is the slanting title in a white script, shaded with black, and framed in pale turquoise scrolls.
The title is a real estate reference, Three Bedrooms, One Corpse with an “exotic” addition.
