Paperback review: Shakespeare’s Trollop, by Charlaine Harris

Another Lily Bard mystery from the prolific crime writer Charlaine Harris. In the southern town of Shakespeare, local good-time girl Deedra Dean is found murdered in her car, naked and desecrated.

Lily Bard, cleaning lady, karate expert, and mystery-solver, is immediately on the case. As a cleaner she picks up clues that the cops miss – like why has Deedra’s TV Guide disappeared from her apartment? More violence follows, as does a mysterious house fire and a case of imposture. Bard’s character seems to owe a little to Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander. It’s an efficient enough thriller, and Harris is good at painting the atmosphere of a small town where everyone knows everybody else’s business.