What do You think about The Julius House (1996)?
#4 in the Aurora Teagarden series. If ex-librarian Roe isn't tripping over corpses in this cozy series, she'll go looking for them. The home her new husband bought her had been vacant after the disappearance of the Julius family almost 7 years earlier. She is determined to search and measure every inch of the house to find the missing family. Meanwhile, she is unhappy with the extent of his activities her husband is keeping from her.Aurora Teagarden series - Aurora (Roe) Teagarden, the former librarian, marries Martin Bartell, the rich, secretive and charismatic businessman she met in Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (1994). For their home, Martin buys the house once occupied by T.C. Julius, his terminally ill wife Hope and their teenage daughter. Six years earlier, the Julius family had disappeared without a trace, leaving only Hope's mother in the garage apartment. Martin lets the apartment to an old Vietnam buddy, Shelby Youngblood, and his wife Angel, who seem suspiciously like bodyguards to Roe. As questions about Martin's past and present disturb her newfound happiness, Roe determines to solve the Julius family mystery, enlisting Angel's help. A vicious attack and a stunning discovery lead the two women to New Orleans and a dramatic set of answers to puzzles old and new.
—Ed
Review from Auggie-Talk Book Blog.The Julius House is the 4th book the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series by Charlaine Harris. This series predates the Sookie Stackhouse series... of which many of us loved and mourned. After the last Sookie Stackhouse book released I wanted more Harris so I figured I'd try out another of her series.I've reviewed the first in the series already but skipped over reviewing the next two because while they were interesting they were mainly the same as the first with less "newness" to make them exciting.Now we're on the 4th book and a lot has happened in Aurora's life. Not enough to make her any more interesting, though. The entire book is based around the things happening to Aurora. If it weren't for the weird murders or odd mysteries then Aurora wouldn't be interesting at all.Rather, Aurora is as Non-Interesting as a person might be. Her habits are common, her personality a little lack-luster, and honestly if I knew her in person I would probably think she was aloof, dry, and rather stuffy. The "Friends" she has seem to be kept only on the basis of "Southern Politeness" and not really out of any true interest for having actual relationships.Aside from Aurora's quirky obsession with True Crime mysteries and her apparent ability to pick the ABSOLUTE WRONG guy almost every time there's really not a lot going on there that I feel would really warrant a readers true dedication.Aurora actually comes off as quite a severe person with almost no warmth.SO! Aside from the fact that Aurora is not exactly the most spunky or interesting of leading ladies the stories can actually get quite curious and Charlaine Harris has a knack for keeping you in the dark until the very last so that there ARE some surprises after all.And I have to hand it to Aurora. Even though I'm not a fan of her somewhat dull personality she's brave (or just really nosy) and caring. Maybe it's just because she's REALLY awkward. I guess it would take getting to know her more and more to really see the true Aurora, to get the magic of the first meeting back. So I'll keep reading and hoping that by the end of the series I'll be as in love (or at least half as in-like) with her as I was Sookie.As far as #4 goes, the most interesting parts were the new and mysterious characters. The rest of it was a bit slow until the end. We'll see if #5 gets any better. Here's to hoping.Until Next Blog,Read On!
—Auggie
I enjoyed this series so far. I hoped that I would have continued to enjoy this series but nevertheless, this book wasn't even normal for me. Roe is having crazy emotions that aren't normal for her that weren't at least in any of the other books. She gets upset because of Martin's hidden secrets that he won't tell her or doesn't want to. She gets hysterical and crazy even. Martin's secret life seems far-fetched and unreal to me. With the premise of a missing family, I thought that there would be more story about that but halfway through the book and still nothing. The ax-man in the description on the back cover is just about all that really happens. The Youngbloods story seems interesting and will probably be another novel just about their story and Roe helping them out. Angel seems interesting and she likes to help out Roe or so it seems. At the end of the book I would have liked to know if the killer(s) went to jail or not. If you found out what Martin really does then you don't have to read this book or just skip this and read the next one because they will probably talk about it in the next book as well.
—Tiffany
