Grave Surprise

By Charlaine Harris

The second in the new series by Harris, the first being Grave Secret.
Harper Connelly had the misfortune of being struck by lightning when she was fifteen. In addition to some debilitating physical side effects from the event such as headaches and weakness, Harper gained the ability to sense the presence of dead bodies and their cause of death. She now uses her ability to help the police and relatives of missing persons, assisted by her step-brother, Tolliver.
In this story, Harper is hired by a college professor to locate bodies in an old graveyard. The records for the graveyard had been long lost but were recently found. The professor, Clyde Nunley, wants to use the graveyard to prove that Harper is a fake. Too bad for the professor when she correctly locates and reveals the cause of death for each grave they look at. At the last grave, Harper senses the presence of two bodies, one of which is a little girl, a little girl who has been missing for almost two years, a little girl named Tabitha.
Harper already was familiar with this missing person. She was hired by the girl's family when Tabitha first went missing but Harper was unable to locate her at that time. Harper and her brother, Tolliver, get the creepy feeling that it is no coincidence that they were taken to the site of Tabitha's grave. What they have to try to figure out now is who gave their names to Nunley and how that person is connected to Tabitha's death. Things become even more dangerous when Harper finds a newly dead body in the same grave Tabitha had recently occupied.
Not only does Harper need to unravel the mystery surrounding Tabitha and her family but she also takes a closer look at her relationship with her stepbrother, Tolliver. And what about the new man in her life, the very pierced and telepathic Manfred, who seems like he would very much enjoy spending time with Harper.

This is only the second book by Harris that I have read and having started with the vampire series and not liking it that much, I didn't really expect much from this book. I am pleased to say that I enjoyed it very much and will look for others in the Harper Connelly series.

Review by Publishers Weekly:   https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-425-21203-5.