Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Dirty Little Secrets: A J.J. Graves Mystery, Book 1

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Amazon Customer

great read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 17, 2023

This book kept me hooked till the end. Great characters. Can’t wait to read the next one in the series

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D. Webb

4 star romance novel, 2 star mystery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2023

The character herself is very interesting. But the mystery is not realistic and solution comes from nowhere. Mostly it reads like a romance novel (I have never read one so am guessing). The heroine swoons over a new arrival in town but she has deep feelings for the police chief who she has known since childhood. This takes up most of the dialog or at least it seemed that way.
3 stars is a gift.

21,473 total ratings, 2,975 with reviews

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From the United States

Amazon Customer

great read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 17, 2023

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This book kept me hooked till the end. Great characters. Can’t wait to read the next one in the series

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Dar

Great small town who done it!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 16, 2023

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Good characters. Kept my interest. This is the first Liliana Hart Mystery that I've read but will keep reading more!

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banjo

Great Story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 15, 2023

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The humor was the glue that kept your interest along with a solid story line. I plan on continuing to follow this author.

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Kindle Customer

Loved it!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 9, 2023

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Laughed, wondered, didn't guess the killer... Rooted for the main characters. Everything wrapped up nicely. New author for me. Glad to have found her through bookbub.

One person found this helpful

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D. Webb

4 star romance novel, 2 star mystery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2023

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Likeable characters...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 21, 2022

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J.J. was a likeable character, and I enjoyed the interaction between her and her "friend," Jack, who also happens to be the sheriff. Also, there's a small love triangle, since as the reader, you keep thinking there might be something with Jack until she meets the new guy in town, Brody, who happens to be a murder mystery writer, and who also happens to be a bit too close to the murders.

A typical set up, but definitely some interesting characters.

Here's my only beef: the whodunnit. I won't give away "who" did it, as I LOATH spoilers, but... I'm not buying the culprit.

Let me say this, there was some decent detective work on J.J.'s part, and she did manage to uncover a lot of wrongdoings in the small town.

But the motive for the real murderer... Sorry, not buying it. Not enough clues to make me think who did it actually did it.

Still, I finished the story, and considering the fact that I have thousands of books to read, that's always a plus.

All that said, if you like a well-written book with some interesting characters, I do recommend it. Just don't go into the story looking for a great whodunnit.

2 people found this helpful

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Review of DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 27, 2022

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DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS
A J.J. Graves Mystery
LILIANNA HART

Review by Author Roy Murry

There are few books I read as quickly as Secrets. Hart brings the reader into the story and keeps you there.

Jaye, Doctor Graves, has a double career going nowhere in a small town except into a string of murders. A co-lead character Jack is the Sheriff and Jaye's best friend.

They combined their intellect to find the killer. Jaye and Jack's relationship is interrupted by Jaye's lover and finding the murderer.

This novel ends in an unpredictable one where Jaye finds herself in a deadly compromising position. It leads to a new beginning - book 2 in the series.

Hart's writing is exciting.

4 people found this helpful

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Krista

Fun and suspenseful - a fantastic combination

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 25, 2015

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After a string of new adult and adult audiobooks, I wanted something different. I had heard good things about Liliana Hart's J. J. Graves Mystery series, and when I saw it was on sale, I decided that a good mystery was just what the doctor ordered. Not to mention the fact that it's Liliana Hart - I love her MacKenzie Family series.

The thing is, Dirty Little Secrets is completely different from Liliana Hart's other series. J. J. Graves is a completely different heroine. It was a fun departure from what I've been listening to as of late. The characters in this book would be enough for me. They're all interesting and quirky and so full of color and life. But, in addition to the awesome characters, there's a twisty mystery that kept me guessing through the entire story. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, I was shocked to find out I didn't.

J. J. Graves is the medical examiner/coroner/funeral director in the small town of Bloody Mary, VA. In such a small town, her life isn't all that interesting, even with all the hats she has to wear. That is, until people start getting murdered. Then she and her best friend, the town sheriff Jack, have entirely too much to do.

Dirty Little Secrets really had it all. First, there's a fantastic mystery. One person dies, and you think you know who did it. But, as J. J. and Jack start their investigation, things don't exactly fall into place that neatly. Because, then another person dies. And, once again, you think you have it all figured out. And by the time the third murder occurs, you just throw your hands up and abandon all theories, because every one you come up with is thwarted.

I love mysteries like this. The ones where the who-dun-it sneaks up on you. They're thrilling and they give my brain a work out.

There's also the characters. J. J. is hysterical and cynical and snarky. I love her relationship with her bestie Jack. They've been friends since they were kids and they've been there for each other through all the bad things. Their relationship is unique and special. They go through some more tough times in this book, but you just know that they'll come together again.

Despite the heat we see in Liliana Hart's other books, it's not in Dirty Little Secrets. J. J. has a bit of a romance, but any sexy times are all non-descript and fade-to-black. The focus of the story is truly on the mystery at hand, as well as the mystery surrounding what really happened to J. J.'s parents.

Laura Faye Smith did a fantastic job narrating Dirty Little Secrets. Her intonation and inflection were perfect for all the characters in the story. This was a fantastic audiobook, and a pretty short one too. At less than six hours long, it can be finished quickly. I'm really looking forward to listening to the other books in this series, especially given the events at the very end of this book. I have a feeling some really good things are in store for J. J.

5 people found this helpful

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Kathleen McClain

Couldn't believe the author had written so many books--it was so amateurish

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 1, 2013

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This book has a fair amount of appeal. The protagonist is a little quirky (after all she works as a mortician) and the author keeps up the suspense (romantic and mystery) pretty well. The heroine also sometimes says quite funny things and there is a good back and forth between JJ and Jack. And the opening pulls you in.

But the writing really was amateurish. It is hard to describe all of the factors that make this so. There were the grammatical problems, like misplaced dependent clauses which required you to reread sentences to understand them. Then there were a number of either incorrect or strange word choices ("I was sure we'd be late and then Jack would have the right to make fun of me for an indiscriminate amount of time"--does she mean indeterminate?)

There is the fact that she primarily uses simple sentence structures and many short sentences. After a while the clunky feel of it can get to you--like an old car without good shocks. Take for example a paragraph early on: "But like I always did, I immediately dismissed the thought. It took more courage than I had to start over and leave everything familiar behind. I needed something in my life besides a half-assed career and a mountain of debt. A man would be nice. A man who'd be willing to have sex would be even better. But the chances of that were between negative four and zero. [Good one] Not because Bloody Mary didn't have its fair share of men, but because I was just picky." I'm sorry, but I like books in which the prose flows more naturally and smoothly not this awkward amateurish stuff.

A lot of dialogue comes across as formal, stilted. JJ asks Jack about a murder victim's family and he says, "Her sister's the only family she's got left. Phyllis is her name. She was several grades ahead of us in school, so I don't really remember her. She and her husband will be in this afternoon to help make arrangements for the body." Why not something more along the line of the way people really talk: "She's only got a sister. Name's Phyllis. Don't remember her, really. She was ahead of us in school. Her and her husband will be coming by the office later. They need to see about the body."

Another problem I had with the book is that the heroine and the novelist, Brody, fall into bed within 24 hours of meeting and then they are immediately so captivated that a couple of days later she thinks she's in love with him. And, during that time all they did was have brief chats (primarily about murder issues) and have sex. She, however, supposedly had already fallen pretty hard for him in these couple of days while she was mostly running around with Jack investigating a murder. And, Brody says he loves her too. There are a lot of romances in which love occurs pretty quickly but not THIS quickly and not without more interaction. I just couldn't buy it.

Another issue. Hart appears to contradict herself a lot---what she says about the facts and feelings of JJ keep shifting in these novels, like she's making it up as she goes along. (I've read the samples of books 2 and 3). In the current book, the first book, for example, on the first page it says "I thought I'd be proud to carry on the family legacy..." (of being a mortician) followed a couple of paragraphs later about how she hates dead bodies and "I never wanted to take over the family funeral parlor." Sometimes she talks about what bad parents hers were and how they treated her badly; other times she talks longingly about her loving parents and about how much she misses them.

So, bottom line, I guess it is a matter of taste. I found the negatives outweighed the positives so I'm not buying the next two books in the series. From others' reviews here, they obviously weight these factors differently.

7 people found this helpful

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JigsawGirl

3.5 ..Didn't Expect the Humor

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 24, 2021

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This is the first book in this series that I have read. A good, fast paced, murder mystery, romantic suspense book. I listened to the audio book. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there was both a male and female narrator.

Jack and Jaye had this really easy banter that was witty and often humorous. I think it lightened up what would have been some slightly grisly murders.

There were a couple of things I thought I missed, but wasn't sure because I was listening to the audio book and my mind wandered a bit. I don't think it was the story, but this narrator reading some of the male parts didn't do it for me.

I did wonder about how fast Jaye fell for Brody. I couldn't imagine a coroner letting anyone, especially someone she didn't know have that much freedom in her home or place of business. It didn't sit well with me.

This book did have some twists. The person who I was sure committed the murders, wasn't the murderer at all. The end of the book came as a complete surprise. I am looking forward to reading the next book..

4 people found this helpful

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‹ See all details for Dirty Little Secrets: A J.J. Graves Mystery, Book 1

5 star		52%
4 star		31%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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