Cozy Time: Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris

Author:  Charlaine Harris
Publisher Format: Berkley Prime Crime, Mass Market Paperback, 214 pages
Year of publication: 2005
Subject:  murder
Setting: fictional town of Shakespeare, Arkansas
Series: Lily Bard mysteries
Genre: cozy mystery, amateur sleuth
Source:  public library

The summer cozy-thon is getting back into gear.  This is the first in the Lily Bard series by Charlaine Harris.  Ms. Harris has several different cozy mystery series in print.  While I'm not a big fan of Sookie Stackhouse (I just don't do vampires), I really like her other series including Aurora Teagarden, and Harper Connelly in addition to this one.  I'd read another of these Lily Bards, but wanted to read the first one to get all the scoop on Lily Bard's motivations.  Explaining them here---how she came to live in Shakespeare after moving from Tennessee, how she chose her profession of housecleaning, and how she came to meet the two men in her life Claude Friedrich and Marshall Sedaka, would spoil the story, so you'll have to discover the details yourself.

In this beginning story, Lily finds her landlord dumped in her garbage and sets out to find out whodunit because her fingerprints are on the garbage bag and she doesn't want to be accused.  Because of her past, she is reluctant to become officially involved.  I'm avoiding spoilers here, you'll have to read it yourself to see how "the past" influences her actions.  It's a good, not great, story that moves right along, with a likable protagonist.

I just hope that we're not going to be treated to an entire series, à la Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson, or Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum in which the lead female character can't make up her mind between two equally acceptable males. I get tired of that really fast and tend to give up a series rather than reading about more game playing.

I'm going to be listening to two more of these this summer, so I'll keep you posted.