Harper Connelly
Encyclopedia
Harper Connelly is the main character in The Harper Connelly Mysteries, a series of books written by author Charlaine Harris
that were first published in 2006. The series is a first-person account of Harper's life as a woman who can find the dead and see first hand how they died.
, the first novel in the Harper Connelly Mysteries, Harper's ability to hear the dead manifested when she was struck by lightning while curling her hair when she was 15. This incident left her not only with the ability to find dead people, but also "very bad headaches, shaky hands, and a strange spiderweb pattern on [her] right leg, which was weaker than [her] left".
Harper had a difficult childhood. Her mother, once a brilliant attorney, dragged Harper and Harper’s older sister, Cameron, from their "four-bedroom suburban home in east Memphis to a rental house with a hole in the bathroom floor in Texarkana, Arkansas" so her mother could remarry, thus bringing Tolliver and his brother, Mark, into their lives. Harper and Tolliver became close to one another as their parents descended into their drug and alcohol addictions. Their parents had two children together, Mariella and Gracie, whom Harper and Tolliver raised to the best of their ability. According to Harper in Grave Sight, her biological father "had gone to jail for a long string of white-collar crimes, and Tolliver's mother had died of cancer "leaving our at-large parents to complete their own downward passage, dragging us and their own children behind them",” so they had no outside help. Tolliver took care of Harper and Cameron while Harper cared for Mariella and Gracie. Every two weeks, Tolliver’s older brother, Mark, stopped by to bring them groceries as all incoming money fed their parent’s addictions. Mark also continued to look out for Mariella and Grace after Tolliver and Harper took to travelling frequently for work.
In high school, Harper’s older sister, Cameron, had been abducted while on her way home from decorating her school’s gym for a dance. Up until that point, Harper’s poor home life stayed under the radar of Social Services, but Cameron’s disappearance attracted a lot of media attention leading Social Services and Child Protective Services to became aware of their living situation. As a result, Mariella and Gracie removed from the home and placed with their paternal aunt and uncle (though in Grave Surprise, Harper says the aunt is her mother's sister, conflicting with the information in the first book), while Harper was sent to a foster home for the remainder of her senior year. Cameron was never found, but Harper hopes to one day locate her body. Harper indicates in Grave Sight that disappearances where no ransom is demanded either end with the person being returned after several days, or a body being found some time later.
Harper and Tolliver remained very close and now conduct a business around Harper's bizarre talent. They are billed as consultants and spend their time driving from job to job in order to find dead bodies or figure out the cause of death for mourning family members or law enforcement agencies. While Tolliver jokes about being Harper’s sidekick, he provides crucial support for her and acts as her bodyguard as her lightning injuries have affected her physical strength and endurance. Harper and Tolliver speak to their half sisters, Mariella and Gracie, every two weeks or so, but Harper's aunt and uncle (whom Mariella and Gracie continue to live with) look down upon what the pair do because of their heavy religious beliefs. The girls' aunt and uncle have raised them to subtly blame Tolliver and Harper for what happened to them as children, or to associate the two with their troubled childhood. Harper says in Grave Sight that she anticipates Mariella will one day go down the same path of self destruction that Harper's mother did, Mariella not knowing any better.
In 'An Ice Cold Grave' Harper and Tolliver profess their love for each other after years of secretly wishing to be with each other, but thinking the other would be appalled by the situation. Their relationship is passionate but cautious as they try to find out where it will lead. Their relationship continues in the final book of the series, 'Grave Secret'. In this book it is also revealed that Mark is the one who killed Cameron, after she realized that Matthew, Tolliver's father, had replaced Gracie with another child. Finally, Harper and Tolliver get married.
Harper describes her ability as a buzzing she hears in her mind and feels in her body. She states that the older a corpse is, the weaker the buzz she gets. Along with the buzzing, which allows her to locate bodies, Harper experiences the death of the person as if she is one with them and experiencing it first hand. Harper's ability allows her not to see what happened, but to feel and think as if she were in the mind of the person in the moments leading up to her death. This tells her how they died, but in the case of a murder, not who the killer is, but rather whether the person recognizes him/her, or not.
For Harper, physical contact makes her readings easier and clearer. While she can read the cause of death of someone who is already buried, the longer he/she has been dead makes it more difficult for her to connect with the deceased. While trying to connect with someone in a graveyard, Harper might stand barefooted on his/her grave in order to get a better connection.
Charlaine Harris
Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for over twenty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States. She now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and three children...
that were first published in 2006. The series is a first-person account of Harper's life as a woman who can find the dead and see first hand how they died.
Family life
According to Grave SightGrave Sight
Grave Sight is the first of four novels in the The Harper Connelly Mysteries by American mystery author Charlaine Harris. Harper Connelly, the central character of the novel, has the ability, a result of being struck by lightning as a teenager, to sense the location and last memories of dead people...
, the first novel in the Harper Connelly Mysteries, Harper's ability to hear the dead manifested when she was struck by lightning while curling her hair when she was 15. This incident left her not only with the ability to find dead people, but also "very bad headaches, shaky hands, and a strange spiderweb pattern on [her] right leg, which was weaker than [her] left".
Harper had a difficult childhood. Her mother, once a brilliant attorney, dragged Harper and Harper’s older sister, Cameron, from their "four-bedroom suburban home in east Memphis to a rental house with a hole in the bathroom floor in Texarkana, Arkansas" so her mother could remarry, thus bringing Tolliver and his brother, Mark, into their lives. Harper and Tolliver became close to one another as their parents descended into their drug and alcohol addictions. Their parents had two children together, Mariella and Gracie, whom Harper and Tolliver raised to the best of their ability. According to Harper in Grave Sight, her biological father "had gone to jail for a long string of white-collar crimes, and Tolliver's mother had died of cancer "leaving our at-large parents to complete their own downward passage, dragging us and their own children behind them",” so they had no outside help. Tolliver took care of Harper and Cameron while Harper cared for Mariella and Gracie. Every two weeks, Tolliver’s older brother, Mark, stopped by to bring them groceries as all incoming money fed their parent’s addictions. Mark also continued to look out for Mariella and Grace after Tolliver and Harper took to travelling frequently for work.
In high school, Harper’s older sister, Cameron, had been abducted while on her way home from decorating her school’s gym for a dance. Up until that point, Harper’s poor home life stayed under the radar of Social Services, but Cameron’s disappearance attracted a lot of media attention leading Social Services and Child Protective Services to became aware of their living situation. As a result, Mariella and Gracie removed from the home and placed with their paternal aunt and uncle (though in Grave Surprise, Harper says the aunt is her mother's sister, conflicting with the information in the first book), while Harper was sent to a foster home for the remainder of her senior year. Cameron was never found, but Harper hopes to one day locate her body. Harper indicates in Grave Sight that disappearances where no ransom is demanded either end with the person being returned after several days, or a body being found some time later.
Harper and Tolliver remained very close and now conduct a business around Harper's bizarre talent. They are billed as consultants and spend their time driving from job to job in order to find dead bodies or figure out the cause of death for mourning family members or law enforcement agencies. While Tolliver jokes about being Harper’s sidekick, he provides crucial support for her and acts as her bodyguard as her lightning injuries have affected her physical strength and endurance. Harper and Tolliver speak to their half sisters, Mariella and Gracie, every two weeks or so, but Harper's aunt and uncle (whom Mariella and Gracie continue to live with) look down upon what the pair do because of their heavy religious beliefs. The girls' aunt and uncle have raised them to subtly blame Tolliver and Harper for what happened to them as children, or to associate the two with their troubled childhood. Harper says in Grave Sight that she anticipates Mariella will one day go down the same path of self destruction that Harper's mother did, Mariella not knowing any better.
In 'An Ice Cold Grave' Harper and Tolliver profess their love for each other after years of secretly wishing to be with each other, but thinking the other would be appalled by the situation. Their relationship is passionate but cautious as they try to find out where it will lead. Their relationship continues in the final book of the series, 'Grave Secret'. In this book it is also revealed that Mark is the one who killed Cameron, after she realized that Matthew, Tolliver's father, had replaced Gracie with another child. Finally, Harper and Tolliver get married.
Ability
Harper’s ability to hear the dead manifests itself after Harper is struck by lightning at the age of fifteen. She often experiences difficulty or conflict with those she helps, as many disbelieve her ability, even though they have sought her help. At one point in "Grave Sight", Harper recalls several incidences where people she has helped turn against her; including one where the citizens of a small town try to stone her and her brother, resulting in Tolliver being charged after hospitalising someone for throwing a stone at Harper.Harper describes her ability as a buzzing she hears in her mind and feels in her body. She states that the older a corpse is, the weaker the buzz she gets. Along with the buzzing, which allows her to locate bodies, Harper experiences the death of the person as if she is one with them and experiencing it first hand. Harper's ability allows her not to see what happened, but to feel and think as if she were in the mind of the person in the moments leading up to her death. This tells her how they died, but in the case of a murder, not who the killer is, but rather whether the person recognizes him/her, or not.
For Harper, physical contact makes her readings easier and clearer. While she can read the cause of death of someone who is already buried, the longer he/she has been dead makes it more difficult for her to connect with the deceased. While trying to connect with someone in a graveyard, Harper might stand barefooted on his/her grave in order to get a better connection.