This series always surprises me. I like it without loving it, and yet when I start reading each volume, I find it very difficult to set down. Aurora (Roe) is a very proper Southern woman, determined to be polite, even to people who don't really deserve it. She is modern enough to date as she pleases, until she met her late husband. Now that he is gone, she's rejoining life, including a writer boyfriend. So she knows a bit about living in a way that she might not want broadcast to the whole community. She makes a determined effort to not be judgmental, not always successfully.
I think it's a pretty sure thing that everyone has at least one secret, something that they're embarrassed about or don't want generally known. I sure do and I'm sure that would surprise a lot of people (who forget that I haven't always been an older woman). But this book is all about secrets. When Roe's step-sister-in-law is murdered, Roe finds her body and then just keeps finding unsettling facts about a great many of the people around her. You know how we sometimes avoid knowing things about our extended family to grease the social wheels of regular life? Yeah, Roe has to give up some of those planned gaps in her knowledge.
All the infidelities make Roe suddenly feel very insecure. It's a natural side effect of discovering this kind of secret. Add to that Roe's 15 year old half-brother showing up because of similar ructions in her father's marriage, and it's no wonder her worldview is a bit shaky. Despite her uncertainties, Roe faces facts and gets on with things in a way that makes me really admire the character. I've had to do similar things and I get the impression that Charlaine Harris is intimately acquainted with that necessity as well. I've only got two books left in the series, but I am looking forward to seeing how Aurora's life turns out.
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