Growing
up in a family who runs a funeral parlor puts death in perspective
for Desiree Turner. Although she’d left home and the
business behind to embark on what would be a successful career
in journalism, one bad move involving a hot microphone made
her turn around and go back to her roots. She’s found
her hometown of Verbena, California isn’t as quiet and
dull as she remembered, and there are secrets under every
rock.
Desiree is now
a funeral director, but she’s also been involved in
a recent murder case in which she was pivotal to solving the
crime. Now she looks at death with an eye for any unusual
or suspicious circumstances and lo and behold she finds some.
Things take a quick downturn when questioning a client, and
the rumor mill starts to churn with the talk around town that
Desiree is accusing clients of murder.
This spurs Desiree
to prove that Violet Daugherty was killed, that her fatal
car crash was not an accident. She’s got to set things
right before the family business goes six feet under!
Author Lillian
Bell has another hit with this book! The plot is paced perfectly,
the characters’ interactions can be grave on one page,
and humorous on another. There are layers of sub-plots to
keep things interesting and just the right amount of detailed
scene-setting to bring readers fully into the atmosphere.
There is a new
dog in this book and animal lovers will fall for Orion right
away. A nice touch and a sweet character!
I am so pleased
that Crooked Lane Books published the first two books in this
series in the same year. Often times if there is a year or
more between books enthusiasm can wane.
Kudos
to Lillian Bell for her great writing skills and to Crooked
Lane Books for having the insight to fully engage readers!
Reviews of other titles in this series
A
Grave Issue #1
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