Grave Secret (Harper Connelly, Book 4) by Charlaine Harris (4/5 stars)

This is the fourth (and surmised last) novel in the Harper Connelly mysteries series. This was a pretty good book and it tied up a lot of the mystery surrounding Harper and Tolliver's family.

In this book Harper and Tolliver are doing a job near the area they were raised in as children. During Harper's reading she unintentionally upsets her client by revealing some unknown information about death of one of the people in the cemetery. She thinks nothing of it until someone shoots Tolliver through the window of their motel. During a visit with Tolliver's brother, Mark, they find out that their dad (Tolliver's dad, Harper's step-dad) just got let out of jail. All of these things start piling on top of each other; someone's out to kill Harper, Tolliver's dad won't leave them alone, there is a spotting of Harper's sister who went missing twelve years earlier, and Harper's most recent client is out to get some answers. Could it all be coincidence? Or is everything that is happening related?

This was a great mystery. I was a bit concerned when the beginning of the book read more like a complex soap opera than anything else. But to Harris's credit there are a lot of entangling relationships to set up at the beginning of the book. Maybe a third way through the book things really start to pick up pace as the mystery grabs hold and Harper is constantly fearing for her life.

I have always liked Tolliver and Harper's characters. They are believable and vulnerable; and yet, they do their best to be good people. I loved how Harris dealt with their evolving relationship. Harris does a good job with all of the characters in this series.

The plot was twisted and somewhat complicated. I enjoyed it. The pace of the book is definitely relentless and griping once you get past the first third. Poor Harper goes through so much over and over again. It was a well put together book, with a good pace, and a good plot.

I also enjoyed how everything was wrapped up. You get answers to most of your questions, there are a couple small unknowns left, but the book sums up everything nicely and leaves the characters in good spots. This has been a fun series to read all around and this book was no exception to that.