Sweet and Deadly

Written by Charlaine Harris

Narrated by Suzy Jackson

Before she soared to massive popularity with her New York Times best-selling Sookie Stackhouse novels, Charlaine Harris launched her career with this critically acclaimed mystery. Suspicious of the "accident" that killed her parents, Catherine Linton returns to her Mississippi home for answers. When her father's longtime nurse is found murdered, Catherine realizes she's in grave danger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9781440789687

Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. She has written four series, and two stand-alone novels, in addition to numerous short stories, novellas, and graphic novels (cowritten with Christopher Golden). Her Sookie Stackhouse books have appeared in twenty-five different languages and on many bestseller lists. They’re also the basis of the HBO series True Blood. Harris now lives in Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.

Reviews for Sweet and Deadly

[jshillingford_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is Harris' first published novel and it shows. The mystery and character development are weak - lacking the the experience and clever plotting found in her later mystery series. And in those series, readers become invested in the spunky heroines like Sookie and Lily Bard. It's harder to connect with Catherine in this stor, especially since this is a stand alone novel. However, even here Harris' potential shows. This is a fast and easy cozy mystery. Serious mystery fans will be unimpressed, but the author's fans will probably enjoy this.I'd give it 3.5 stars for the story, but I deducted half for this edition.This new hardcover edition from Severn House is very nice, but also seriously overpriced at a retail of $28.95. The font is larger than standard, more like what you find in YA hardcover editions, and it has pictorial boards covered by a dust jacket with the same image. Collectors of Harris' work (like me) will want this hard to find novel, but casual readers would be better of buying the reissued mass market edition.

[katdjz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book I've read from Charlaine Harris that wasn't part of the Southern Vampire Mysteries series and I was just a little disappointed. I just love that series so much, I guess I was bound to be let down by something else. Sweet and Deadly was an ok book, but nothing that really stands out from all other mysteries. Bodies start showing up and in small town and it's up to the main character to figure out what's going on. Same basic story I've read a million times before, but if that's all you're looking for, it was fine. I enjoyed it and was looking forward to finding out the killer and motive at the end, so that's something. Worth a read if you see it somewhere, but not worth searching for, basically.

[kegsoccer · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Left me unsatisfied:Charlaine Harris is my favorite author, so when I found out they were rereleasing the hard to find "Sweet and Deadly" I ordered it immediately. Having been spoiled by fantastic characters such as Lily Bard, Aurora Teagarden, and Sookie Stackhouse, it was hard to really like Catherine Linton. Perhaps if this had been any other author, I would have been satisfied, but I expected more from Charlaine Harris. I do keep in mind that this was one of her first books, and her writing has grown in leaps and bounds since this was published. I think my biggest problem was that the ending seemed rushed to me, as if Catherine realized she only had a few more pages left to solve the mystery! If you're new to Charlaine Harris, I'd skip this one. If you'd like to read some great novels by Charlaine Harris, (and I recommend you do!) try the Aurora Teagarden mysteries. (Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 1, A Bone To Pick: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Book 2, Three Bedrooms, One Corpse: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, The Julius House: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 4, Dead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 5, Fool And His Honey: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 6, Last Scene Alive (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries), and Poppy Done To Death: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Bk. 8.) Or if you'd like to try a different series by Charlaine Harris, check out the Lily Bard mysteries.(Shakespeare's Landlord (The First Lily Bard Mystery), "Shakespeare's Champion", Shakespeare's Christmas", "Shakespeare's Trollop", and Shakespeare's Counselor") Or her new supernatural Southern Vampire Mysteries featuring telepath Sookie Stackhouse (Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 1), "Living Dead in Dallas", "Club Dead", "Dead to the World", "Dead as a Doornail", "Definitely Dead", and "All Together Dead")

[dduning_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Quick read. Not as developed as some of her other books.

[dcoward_6 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A little bland, nothing like later Harris novels, but a quick read.

[klarsenmd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Simple and unimaginative in comparison to Harris's current work.

[amf0001 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Before Sookie Stackhouse and even the Shakespeare series, Charlaine Harris was writing mysteries. This is a very early book (first published 1981) and it feels that way - there is promise here, that is later realized but not the hand of an experienced writer. Catherine Linton, of the Lintons of Lowfield, had her parents die in a mysterious car accident six months ago. And now she's found a body. She is quite young, and quite naive and she smokes in a genteel sort of way, which no heroine written today would (if she smoked, it would have a sort of conscious irony to it, or symbolize a death wish or contempt of life, but in this book, a nervous young woman simply smokes from time to time.) The love interest is a bit abrupt and the deaths come thick and fast. The laying out of a newspaper in 1981, just before computers hit, seems to make it even more quaint and old fashioned. This could have been set in the 50's and lost nothing of it's plot or appeal. A gentle, easy to read mystery, with a nice ending. A writer to look out for :)