The Julius House

Hmm... where to start. I liked the mystery even though it was slow in developing. The solution was what I expected. And this was the first of this series that I have read. So i am coming in at the middle of these characters.
Some of the things in the book were very 90s, like peach and dark green! Other 90s things were some of Roe's ideas about being a good wife and marriage and being an adult. Those were a bit annoying.
So looking past the gender issues, it was enjoyable, but not a favorite.

The cover of the paperback I have gives ghost mystery... Add the missing family and I really expected paranormal.

Anyway... The Julius House investigation took like halfway into the book to get a bit serious... The first half was like Roe and secretive husband issues who could probably even be in illegal businesses.... I feel like this issue/conflict was left somewhat hanging... I'll just assume the husband's poor communication and Roe's confidence in pushing for answers will lead to future problems.

So far I've enjoyed the Aurora Teagarden mysteries as uncomplicated, but fun little stories, but this one was kind of slow.

More than half the book is taken up with Aurora's relationship with Martin and her discoveries about them which seem completely bizarre and out of place in this series. The mystery surrounding the Julius House however is put to the background and it's only in small snippets do we get to the msytery for which the book is named.

Everything, and I do mean everything, come to a head in about the last two chapters so really, this book could have been one of the 30 page short stories that Harris generally writes and compiles with other authors for her Southern Vampire Series.