Review: SHAKESPEARE'S LANDLORD

Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris
Book 1 of the Lily Bard mysteries
Narrated by Julia Gibson
Genre: murder mystery
Format: paperback, audiobook

About Shakespeare's Landlord:

Disguising herself with short hair and baggy clothes, Lily Bard has started a new life; she's becoming a cleaning lady in the sleepy town of Shakespeare, where whe can sweep away the secrets of her dark and violent past.

However her plan to live a quiet, unobserved life begins to crumble when she discovers the dead body of her nosy landlord. Lily doesn't care who did it, but when the suspicion od the police and local community falls on her she realises if she doesn't unmask the murderer, her life might not just crumble: it might also end.

Source: Info in the About Shakespeare's Landlord was taken from the back copy of the paperback edition with ISBN 9780575105256 on 14/04/2012.

Review:

I bought the audiobook from ebay and borrowed the paperback from the library. I kinda gotten used to having a paperback back-up whenever I am listening to an audiobook, see...

This is not my usual genre but I am an old Charlaine Harris fan and Miss Harris brought into this series/book the same wonderful compelling story telling quality that I admire so in her! But here is the real bonus, unlike her Sookie Stackhouse series where Sookie is annoyingly too stupid to live (TSTL), Lily, the main protagonist, is actually sensible! The girl uses the brains she was born with. Definitely adds goodness to the reading experinece! However, maybe because this is not my genre, I didn't find it as interesting as the Sookie Stackhouse books. But I honestly think this is more due to reader's preference rather than an actual lack in the story telling quality. Another thing which I did not like in this book is the darkness in the crime element. It sat just about at the borderline of my comfort zone. That was probably one of the reasons that I stopped-started reading this book. I do not like rape and torture and such. I'm an escapist reader. I do not want to know about the state of the world or anything about the human nature. I read for fun. Anyway, this book just about reached my tolerance for darkness. Having said that, I still think that this book is a wonderful start to a promising series!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 3
Pace (paperback) = 2
Pace (audiobook) = N/A
Narrator = 4

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries

Thank you to the RCT Library for letting me borrow this book!!

FTC Disclosure:
This audiobook was borrowed from the library. No money received for this review.