This was a good mystery. Not what I was expecting after reading the Sookie Stackhouse books. It was a fast read, kept you turning the page. ( )

I enjoyed this book, but the title makes no sense. ( )

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") ( )

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 :) ( )