title: Shakespeare's Trollop (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 4)
author:  Charlaine Harris 
description: "There's nothing more revealing about people than the mess they leave for someone else," says Lily Bard, who has the perfect job for an amateur sleuthshe's a cleaning lady in the small, close-knit town of Shakespeare, Ark. A detached and wary observer of others, Lily reluctantly finds herself investigating the murder of one of her employers, Deedra Dean, in her latest engaging outing (after 1998's Shakespeare's Christmas). It's Lily's misfortune to discover Deedra's violated body in her car on a deserted road, the apparent victim of a tryst gone sour. For Lily, who already knows more than she wants about the promiscuous young woman's habits, the details don't add up. Since many of her other clients are related to Deedra, Lily endures their catty, sometimes malicious gossip, but when she helps Deedra's mother clean out the dead woman's apartment, she quietly disposes of Deedra's collection of compromising photos and videos. The nature of the crime forces Lily to deal with her own scars, legacies of the brutal abduction and rape in Memphis that sent her scrambling for the tranquil environs of Shakespeare. A wise, self-counseled soul, as well as a skilled karate student and fitness buff, Lily is just foolhardy enough to charge into a burning house to save a frail, mean old man. Indeed, Lily has such an engaging voice, full of pain and redemption, that the collecting of clues and the unfolding of the crime take a back seat to her personal story. (Aug.) <br />Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  ![Cover](images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Lily Bard 04 - Shakespeare's Trollop
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Charlaine Harris
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Charlaine Harris
  
  
  ## Lily Bard 04 - Shakespeare's Trollop
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This book is dedicated to my other family, the people of St. James Episcopal
  Church. They are at liberty to be horrified by its contents.
  
  
  
  
  
  Acknowledgments
  
  
  My thanks to the usual suspects: Drs. Aung and Tammy Than and former police
  chief Phil Gates. My further thanks to an American icon, John Walsh.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/img2)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Chapter One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  By the time I opened my eyes and yawned that morning, she had been sitting in
  the car in the woods for seven hours. Of course, I didn't know that, didn't
  even know Deedra was missing. No one did.
  
  
  If no one realizes a person is missing, is she gone?
  
  
  While I brushed my teeth and drove to the gym, dew must have been glistening
  on the hood of her car. Since Deedra had been left leaning toward the ope