I stumbled upon THE REMAINS OF THE DEAD in the ARC section of my favorite mystery bookstore, High Crimes, during the closing its doors sale. All of the ARCs were free, of course, and I loaded up on as many titles as I could haul out. Along with the other books I loaded up on....
The book stayed in the dresser drawer in the spare room section of Mt Git'r'Read for long while. I started seeing reviews for the book in different places and I remembered that I had a copy....somewhere....
I found it just before New Year's Eve to ready for first books of the year pile. It was a good choice for a bedside book. Fairly mellow for a paranormal cozy.
Sadie Novak owns her own business, Scene to Clean. She and her partner Zack work crime scene clean ups. Those can be grim, but Sadie knows it helps the families of the victims by not having to do the job themselves. She feels that no one should have to clean after a loved one's demise, especially when they die violently.
Sadie also sees ghosts of the victims. At the team's newest cleanup site, Sadie is visited by the ghost of Trudy. Sadie knows that the ghosts show when they have some unfinished business or a message to pass on before they can cross over. Trudy is oddly quiet, though, and it takes Sadie a while to figure out that Trudy wants Sadie to help solve the mystery of her death. The police think they have it figured for a murder-suicide of the husband and wife, but Sadie is getting the message that is definitely more than that. Causing her life to become endangered as she gets closer to the truth.
The book was enjoyable and I will look for the second in the series DEVIL MAY RIDE, but I had a hard time with some of the discussions between characters. There was an awful lot of 'shouted', 'spat', 'smirked', 'scathingly' and it seemed a wee bit overboard on the hostility. This was an ARC and the dialogue might have been fixed in the released book, so giving benefit of the doubt. I did like the premise with the crime scene clean up lady wanting to clear her name, so she becomes involved in the mystery. Sometimes cozies make a big leap on the normally non-crime solving person coming up with a reason to be involved. This one worked for me.
Three ghostly crime scene beans........and the bookmark...
4 comments:
Your review remind me that I need to find out where that movie is playing. The one about the two women who go into the crime scene clean up business. I need to remember the title first.
The book sounds like it has an interesting premise. I will have to check it out. Thanks for your review, Vickie!
P.S. I'm sorry to hear about High Crimes closing. :-(
Ahhh, you started out the year as I did - 3/5. I'm thankful though, because it could have been worse! Hope your next book earns a bean or two more. :)
Wendy: Thankfully, Cynthia is still online as http://www.highcrimesbooks.com/. She has a message forum along with the books available. I am a loyal fan. I do miss the wandering in her wonderful shop, though.
The movie sounds good. I hope you remember it and let me know.
Joy: I am pretty sure the next book will be a higher bean count. = )
This one would have had more, just the verbage bugged me. I do like the premise and it won't keep me from getting the next one in the series.
Vickie, I got a meme and am nominating you for a butterfly.
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