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Series · paranormal mystery

Harper Connelly

by Charlaine Harris

The Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Grave Sight (2005).

Books
4 known books (4 novels)
Published
4
First published
2005
Status
completed
Shelved under
Mystery & Crime, Fantasy
Last checked

Start here: Grave Sight (2005) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of Grave Sight

Grave Sight (2005)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. Grave Sight

    Novel

    Grave Sight opens the series in 2005, introducing Harper Connelly, who can locate the dead and sense how they died ever since being struck by lightning as a teenager, and her stepbrother Tolliver, who travels with her as she takes the gift on the road as paid work.

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  2. Grave Surprise

    Novel

    The shortest book in the quartet at 256 pages, Grave Surprise (2006) follows a year after the opener and keeps Harper and Tolliver's complicated closeness at the center of the case.

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  3. An Ice Cold Grave

    Novel

    An Ice Cold Grave (2007) is the longest entry at 358 pages, the third of four novels Charlaine Harris wrote about Harper and Tolliver's road-trip mysteries.

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  4. Grave Secret

    Novel

    Grave Secret (2009) closes out the four-book series, the final stop in Harper and Tolliver's four years of travelling from town to town finding bodies for hire.

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About the Harper Connelly series

Harper Connelly can find dead bodies and sense exactly how they died — a supernatural ability she picked up after being struck by lightning as a teenager, which she now uses professionally, travelling from town to town with her stepbrother Tolliver to work as a paid corpse-finder for grieving families and stumped police departments. It's a bleaker premise than most of Charlaine Harris's other series suggests: Harper and Tolliver grew up in genuine poverty with addict parents, and the series takes their damaged, co-dependent closeness as seriously as it takes the mystery-of-the-week plotting, letting an uncomfortable romantic tension between step-siblings simmer across all four books.

Harris wrote the series across four novels between 2005 and 2009, overlapping with the early Sookie Stackhouse books, and it shares that series' matter-of-fact treatment of a supernatural gift as simply a job skill rather than a source of wonder. Unlike Sookie Stackhouse or Midnight, Texas, it has never been adapted for film or television, remaining one of Harris's lower-profile series despite consistently strong reviews. This is the series for readers who want Harris's plain-spoken supernatural voice applied to something darker and more melancholy than her cozier work — road-trip mysteries anchored by two genuinely damaged people who only have each other.

Frequently asked questions

How many Harper Connelly books are there?

Four novels, published between 2005 and 2009: Grave Sight, Grave Surprise, An Ice Cold Grave, and Grave Secret.

What order should I read the Harper Connelly books in?

Publication order, starting with Grave Sight. Harper's relationship with her stepbrother Tolliver develops significantly across the series.

What is Harper Connelly's supernatural ability?

After being struck by lightning as a teenager, Harper can locate dead bodies and sense how they died — an ability she uses professionally, travelling from town to town to work cold cases and missing-persons cases for hire.

Is Harper Connelly connected to Sookie Stackhouse?

No direct crossover, though the two series were written in overlapping years and share Charlaine Harris's matter-of-fact approach to supernatural ability as simply a job skill.

Is there a new Harper Connelly book coming?

No. The series concluded with Grave Secret in 2009 and has not been continued.

Reading order last verified .