I've liked this cozy mystery series since the first one, Secondhand Spirits, in which witch Lily Ivory -- whose special talent is a spiritual connection with textiles -- set up her vintage clothing store in modern day San Francisco. Through the series, Lily has solved mysteries while also traveling her own story arc, such as learning to trust friends, brewing up potions with the help of her familiar (oft seen as a pot-belly pig, since she's allergic to cats), creating a fashion-inspired business, and slowly finding out several "what really happened" bits of her own background.

Tarnished and Torn puts Lily in a situation wherein her own skills are stretched. After a chance meeting at a Gem Show, another witch is killed. Lily feels at least somewhat responsible ("Was she trying to tell me something? Could I have prevented the murder?") and decides to learn what happened. Too bad that her textile sensitivities do absolutely no good with gems and minerals. The whole matter is complicated by awkward interpersonal relationships with several people, including the enigmatic Aidan Rhodes (sort of the San Francisco witchy godfather) and Lily's own father stepping onto the scene. (I'm deliberately being coy as it'd be easy to spoil things.)

As with the previous novels, this isn't an "OMG YOU MUST READ" story, but it is absolutely entertaining for an evening when you want to put your feet up and escape into another world for a while. I like it a lot. But you do need to start with the earlier books in the series.

Bloodstone, the second book in the Stacy Justice Mystery Series, begins right where the first book left off. I highly recommend reading the first book in the series in order to understand the previous sequence of events and understand the family dynamics. However, it does start off with the last scene from the first book, which is a great refresher, not that I needed it. Even though it has been a while since I read the first book, the surprise ending really stuck with me! The pace is fast, mysteries and secrets abound, and it is both suspenseful and hilarious at the same time! The situations Stacy manages to get herself into are so funny and she is quite resourceful and quick thinking. I loved the excerpts from Ivy's journal! I am very glad about who Stacy eventually chose to be with and I can't wait for the third book! Love this series!

Lee Driver's Chase Dagger/Sara Morningsky series is one of the few truly dependable mystery series being published today. You always know what to expect with Driver: the Unexpected. In the third entry in the series, The Unseen, a series of recurring robberies have all been caught on tape. The strange bit is that the perpetrator cannot be seen. The prime suspect is Mitch Arnosky, who has just been released from prison for similar crimes, and who installed the security systems of the businesses to begin with. How Arnold Schwarzenegger figures into the solution of the crime is up to you to find out.

As far as action goes, The Unseen isn't as exciting as Driver's previous entry, Full Moon Bloody Moon, and I wasn't as driven to the finish with this one as I was the other -- that is, until the denouement, when things really start moving. But in character development, this one beats its predecessors hands down. Throughout the series, the author has been giving us little clues that Dagger is not who he seems (why is he so secretive about his past?) and we learn a few more secrets this time around.

In addition, Sara's two-month absence (which began at the end of Full Moon Bloody Moon) seems to have changed her in many surprising and unexpected ways, and the author shows these through her different, much bolder, actions -- such as the way she really throws herself into the front lines of the investigation this time around. Her shapeshifting abilities are not used as often as the other books, but Driver makes their appearances all the more special in how they are used.

All the usual supporting characters are on hand: Skizzy, who was used to such great effect in the previous book, is allowed to remain at the fore for this one, while Padre is relegated to supporting status due to his difficulties as described in the plot. Sheila is actually becoming less annoying as she slowly realizes that she is perhaps not the one for Dagger, and begins to help out the team -- but only as long as she gets something for her efforts. All in all, The Unseen is still a terrific entry in the Dagger/Morningsky series. It's fascinating to watch these two character grow along with each other -- and to watch Driver's writing become tighter and crisper with each new offering. I, for one, can't wait until the next entry in the series.

If this book isn't the end of the Harper Connelly series, it certainly feels like it.

"Grave Secret" is a pretty solid conclusion to Charlaine Harris' short but sweet series about a woman able to sense the dearly departed. Mysteries are solved, plot threads are wrapped up, relatives are dealt with, and dirty little secrets are unveiled -- and while one pivotal secret is rather far-fetched, it handles all the loose threads deftly while keeping the door open for more possible stories about Harper and Tolliver.

After doing a job for the wealthy Joyce family, Harper and Tolliver face their toughest challenge yet: telling super-rigid Aunt Iona, Uncle Hank and their younger half-sisters that they're a couple. It doesn't help that this town is also where they lived as the abused blended family of neglectful junkies, and where Harper's beloved sister Cameron mysteriously vanished. As if their family relations weren't strained enough, Tolliver's creepy dad Matthew appears in town, claiming he wants to mend fences.

At the same time, Harper has been hired by the Joyces to find a missing baby that may be their grandfather's secret love child -- but someone is determined to keep her from finding it. People around her are getting injured, kidnapped and murdered -- even Tolliver has been shot. And as Harper tries to unravel the mysteries from years ago, she realizes that the Joyce family has a long-ago link to her own...

It's fairly obvious in "Grave Secret" that Charlaine Harris is ending the Harper Connelly series, although she leaves the door open for future adventures (if and when she ever wants to continue). She wraps up overhanging mysteries (Cameron's murder), deals with the rifts within the Lang/Connelly family, and puts the finishing polish on Harper and Tolliver's romantic subplot. It's a satisfying finale, if a somewhat bittersweet one.

And as in the previous books, Harris' down-to-earth prose remains warm and slightly humorous, but there's a darker, gruesome edge -- long-ago deaths, gory killings (some of them Harper's friends), and the overhanging, spooky presence of the dead. The biggest flaw is that a few of the plot twists is a bit on the far-fetched side (seriously, NOBODY noticed that except one lone person?), but otherwise it's a clever tangle of interconnected clues and lies.

Harper and Tolliver are already lovers, but Harris goes out of her way to smooth out whatever wrinkles are still left between them -- including the grossed-out reaction that almost everybody has when they hear that the stepsiblings are dating. Well, it is a little weird. They also get some nice emotional closure relating to their scummy parents and more "normal" siblings (both living and dead), and Harris reveals a lot more about their hellish childhood.

And Harris does a good job sketching out seemingly cliched characters like Aunt Iona and Uncle Hank, who initially act like sour hyper-religious party-poopers, but who eventually are shown to have good hearts. The flipside is the creepy Matthew, who spouts a lot of "rehab therapy" jargon but still obviously has a lot of hatred.

"Grave Secret" is a solid ending to Charlaine Harris's supernatural mystery series, and it ties together the various plot threads pretty neatly. Enjoyable if a bit far-fetched at times.