When Harper Connelly was fifteen, she was struck by lightning and began to “feel” dead people. If she walks over a grave, she gets a psychic glimpse of the body during the last moments of life. Pretty creepy, but the book doesn’t get bogged down with the creepy nature of Harper’s talent. Rather, Harper is the kid of woman who takes life’s lemons and makes lemonade. So…your talent is finding dead people? Why not market it?

Now nearly thirty, she and her manager/agent, stepbrother Tolliver are contracted by bereaved families to find the body of a missing loved one. In Grave Surprise, Harper is call to Memphis, Tennessee by Dr. Clyde Nunly to demonstrate her unique talent to his college class. When she steps on a particular grave in the ancient cemetery, she finds not only the old body supposed to be in the grave, but also a recently deceased young girl.  The dead girl is Tabitha Morgenstern an eleven-year-old abductee Harper recently tried and failed to find in Nashville. Once again, Harper and Tolliver find themselves embroiled in Tabitha’s family and swept into her murder investigation. This time, however, the bodies are stacking up. There isn’t much time until a third body is found in that particular cemetery plot. Will Harper and Tolliver discover the murderer before they become the next victims?

I enjoyed Charlaine Harris’s Grave Surprise. Harris took an interesting idea, Harper’s talent for finding bodies, and made it the basis for a well-written mystery series. I liked Harper, her matter-of-fact attitude toward the strange ability, and her quirky relationship with Tolliver. I was surprised to discover that Grave Surprise is the second book in the series that starts with Grave Sight. Though clearly a part of a series, Grave Surprise can stand alone without leaving the reading with the feeling she is missing something.