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katiegilley's review against another edition
4.0
This was the first of the Lily Bard mysteries. Lily is a tough, strong woman with a traumatic past that lives in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. One night she takes a walk and witnesses someone stealing a cart that belongs to her. This person walks into the park across from her house, dumps whatever is in the cart, and then returns the cart to Lily's house. Lily investigates and finds the body of a local man who owns properties in town. The mystery is, of course, who killed this man? And can Lily, who has kept her past a secret until now, continue to live in town without everyone knowing her history?returnreturnThese are perfect books for the summer: quick, but intense where they need to be!
kathydavie's review against another edition
4.0
First in the Lily Bard cozy amateur sleuth mystery series and revolving around an independent-minded cleaning lady in Shakespeare, Arkansas. It was originally published in 1996.
My Take
It’s that first chapter that introduces us to Lily. There was Memphis Lily. Now there’s hardbodied Lily, determined to survive. It’s through Harris’ use of first person protagonist point-of-view that we learn about her trauma and how she copes, the distance she tries to keep between herself and everyone else.
A insular as Lily’s life is, she does meet a wide range of characters. Between her karate lessons at the local gym and the cleaning clients we meet, wow. From high society to those struggling to get by, we meet ‘em all.
She’s privy to a lot of secrets, primarily in her role as their cleaning lady. Remote, Lily still has compassion.
You know, I hate those people who claim to be Christians and are the nastiest people in real life. Talk about lip service. That goes for the minister too and his petty attempt at blackmail. Jerk.
Then things get worse for Lily. All due to a bit of carelessness. Although, her learning karate does get validated.
There’s plenty of action and that’s due to those characters, the good, the average, and the bad. It’s all at a medium pace, as Harris introduces us to everyone. Yet it is an easy read.
Lily is a real-life character with a major real-life problem. I'm going to look forward to watching Lily's life evolve.
The Story
It was the garbage bag on Lily’s late-night walkabout. She can’t just let it go, then the police and local community start pointing fingers in her direction.
Lily realizes that proving her innocence will depend on finding the real killer in quiet, secretive Shakespeare.
The Characters
Lily Bard fled Memphis for Shakespeare where she’s lived for the past four years. She runs and staffs what she secretly refers to as Shakespeare’s Sanitary Service. Varena is her sister.
Marshall Sedaka, the owner of Body Time, is Lily’s karate instructor with an interest in Lily. Marshall is separated from his wife, Thea Armstrong, who, ahem, is a bed-hopper with an interest in BDSM and who teaches at the SCC Day Care. Derrick works at the gym in the evenings. Raphael Roundtree, a high school math teacher; Janet Shook; and, Brian Gruber, who is an executive at the mattress-manufacturing plant, also take karate lessons. They'll be joined by the handsome Carlton Cockroft, an accountant interested in Lily and who is one of her neighbors.
Pardon Albee, a real estate developer, owns the Shakespeare Garden Apartments. The alcoholic and obstreperous Norvel Whitbread is supposed to do janitorial work for Pardon. Tenants include the bed-hopping Deedra Dean; the handsome Marcus Jefferson and his son, Kenya; T.L. and Alvah York (another client); Sarah is the Yorks’ granddaughter; and, the sweet, elderly Marie Hofstettler — Chuck is Marie’s son.
Some of Lily’s cleaning clients include the O’Hagens; Mel and Helen Drinkwater; Carol and Jay Althaus; and, Howell Three and Beatrice "Beanie” Bobo Winthrop — Bobo is their son (Earline Poffard is the Winthrops’ family cook). Dr John Sizemore is a dentist who’s getting a divorce from Jerri. Mary Helen Hargreaves is his receptionist. Linda Gentry is his nurse. Dr Carrie Thrush, at the Shakespeare Clinic, is new in town. Nita Tyree is her receptionist while Gennette Jinks is her nurse. The garrulous Mrs Rossiter has and old cocker spaniel, Durwood, who needs a biweekly bath.
Claude Friedrich is the chief of police with an unexpected interest. Dolph Stafford is a detective. Officers include Tom Davie Meiklejohn, who thinks of women as interchangeable body parts. Lottie is the dispatcher.
The Reverend Joel McCorkindale serves the Shakespeare Combined Church (SCC). Lacey Dean Knopp, Deedra’s widowed and remarried mother (Jerrell Knopp is Deedra’s racist stepfather), and Jenny and Tom O’Hagen, who manage Bippy’s, a franchise of a national restaurant, are all on the preschool board at the church.
Celie Schiller is Deedra’s ticky co-worker. Harley Don Murrell was convicted of rape.
Memphis
The Queen of Clean was the company for which Lily had worked. Louis “Nap” Ferrier and Harry were the kidnappers.
The Cover and Title
The cover is that opening inciting incident, a nighttime close-up of Pardon Albee’s apartment building, a single light on in a window with a “for rent” sign in it. Between the first- and second-floor windows is the title in white. An info blurb is at the bottom, just above the author’s name; both are in white.
The title is about the first murder, Shakespeare’s Landlord.
My Take
It’s that first chapter that introduces us to Lily. There was Memphis Lily. Now there’s hardbodied Lily, determined to survive. It’s through Harris’ use of first person protagonist point-of-view that we learn about her trauma and how she copes, the distance she tries to keep between herself and everyone else.
A insular as Lily’s life is, she does meet a wide range of characters. Between her karate lessons at the local gym and the cleaning clients we meet, wow. From high society to those struggling to get by, we meet ‘em all.
She’s privy to a lot of secrets, primarily in her role as their cleaning lady. Remote, Lily still has compassion.
You know, I hate those people who claim to be Christians and are the nastiest people in real life. Talk about lip service. That goes for the minister too and his petty attempt at blackmail. Jerk.
Then things get worse for Lily. All due to a bit of carelessness. Although, her learning karate does get validated.
There’s plenty of action and that’s due to those characters, the good, the average, and the bad. It’s all at a medium pace, as Harris introduces us to everyone. Yet it is an easy read.
Lily is a real-life character with a major real-life problem. I'm going to look forward to watching Lily's life evolve.
The Story
It was the garbage bag on Lily’s late-night walkabout. She can’t just let it go, then the police and local community start pointing fingers in her direction.
Lily realizes that proving her innocence will depend on finding the real killer in quiet, secretive Shakespeare.
The Characters
Lily Bard fled Memphis for Shakespeare where she’s lived for the past four years. She runs and staffs what she secretly refers to as Shakespeare’s Sanitary Service. Varena is her sister.
Marshall Sedaka, the owner of Body Time, is Lily’s karate instructor with an interest in Lily. Marshall is separated from his wife, Thea Armstrong, who, ahem, is a bed-hopper with an interest in BDSM and who teaches at the SCC Day Care. Derrick works at the gym in the evenings. Raphael Roundtree, a high school math teacher; Janet Shook; and, Brian Gruber, who is an executive at the mattress-manufacturing plant, also take karate lessons. They'll be joined by the handsome Carlton Cockroft, an accountant interested in Lily and who is one of her neighbors.
Pardon Albee, a real estate developer, owns the Shakespeare Garden Apartments. The alcoholic and obstreperous Norvel Whitbread is supposed to do janitorial work for Pardon. Tenants include the bed-hopping Deedra Dean; the handsome Marcus Jefferson and his son, Kenya; T.L. and Alvah York (another client); Sarah is the Yorks’ granddaughter; and, the sweet, elderly Marie Hofstettler — Chuck is Marie’s son.
Some of Lily’s cleaning clients include the O’Hagens; Mel and Helen Drinkwater; Carol and Jay Althaus; and, Howell Three and Beatrice "Beanie” Bobo Winthrop — Bobo is their son (Earline Poffard is the Winthrops’ family cook). Dr John Sizemore is a dentist who’s getting a divorce from Jerri. Mary Helen Hargreaves is his receptionist. Linda Gentry is his nurse. Dr Carrie Thrush, at the Shakespeare Clinic, is new in town. Nita Tyree is her receptionist while Gennette Jinks is her nurse. The garrulous Mrs Rossiter has and old cocker spaniel, Durwood, who needs a biweekly bath.
Claude Friedrich is the chief of police with an unexpected interest. Dolph Stafford is a detective. Officers include Tom Davie Meiklejohn, who thinks of women as interchangeable body parts. Lottie is the dispatcher.
The Reverend Joel McCorkindale serves the Shakespeare Combined Church (SCC). Lacey Dean Knopp, Deedra’s widowed and remarried mother (Jerrell Knopp is Deedra’s racist stepfather), and Jenny and Tom O’Hagen, who manage Bippy’s, a franchise of a national restaurant, are all on the preschool board at the church.
Celie Schiller is Deedra’s ticky co-worker. Harley Don Murrell was convicted of rape.
Memphis
The Queen of Clean was the company for which Lily had worked. Louis “Nap” Ferrier and Harry were the kidnappers.
The Cover and Title
The cover is that opening inciting incident, a nighttime close-up of Pardon Albee’s apartment building, a single light on in a window with a “for rent” sign in it. Between the first- and second-floor windows is the title in white. An info blurb is at the bottom, just above the author’s name; both are in white.
The title is about the first murder, Shakespeare’s Landlord.
jobustitch's review against another edition
3.0
A solid and fun mystery. Usually you read about flawed male characters in mysteries. It is nice to see the tables turned and see a flawed female character and how she is getting on with the business of life. I also think Ms. Harris is great at depicting slightly off, but very realistic, southern characters. I am really looking forward to the other Lily Bard books.
geezenstack444's review against another edition
1.0
I love Charaline Harris's writing, but when I picked this up I could only get 29 pages in. This story is not for me.
soniagracelm's review against another edition
3.0
Second in my hostel-reads series! Not bad, but not really my style. I'll probably check out the Sookie Stackhouse books at some point, because she's decent writer and it's about vampires, but this one was just a little... eh. Bland. Dry toast. Not bad, but not my cup of tea.
katieinca's review against another edition
3.0
Lily Bard appears to be both tougher and more fragile than Harris's other heroines, but the set up (female loner type with quiet life solves murder, suddenly has two viable love interests) is familiar from a couple of her other series. And like those, this went by in a few quick hours, so I think I'm going to scoop up the rest next time I'm at the library.
teresaalice's review against another edition
3.0
Pure, unadulterated crap. As this was written in the 90's, I've definitely seen a positive progression in Harris's writing.
colleen_mc's review against another edition
3.0
Entertaining. A good mystery - nothing really special, but worth reading all the same.
am4man's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Trafficking, and Murder
Minor: Racial slurs