Genre: Dark Fantasy
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2016
Reviewer Rating: 
Book Review by SJ Higbee
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Pepper Martin, now Community Relations Director of Garden View Cemetery, is contacted by the ghost of Eliot Ness, one of Cleveland’s most famous dearly departed. According to Ness, the ashes scattered at the ceremony twenty years earlier weren’t his. His were stolen prior to the ceremony by a Ness groupie, and he can’t rest until those ashes are found. Luckily, Pepper has an idea where they may be–but of course it isn’t nearly that straightforward…
Well this is fun! And the fact that I’d crashed into a series with nine previous books wasn’t an issue, as Pepper is very much into dealing with the current situation. While she occasionally alludes to previous incidents, none were confusing or difficult to assimilate in relation to her more recent problems–which start stacking up very fast.
I really like Pepper–she is rather lazy, a bit scatty and not above bending the truth to breaking point if it gets her out of a jam. In short, she is very much like a lot of us. So when the initially light-hearted tone suddenly got a lot darker and Pepper’s very existence is on the line, I really cared.
That said, while this murder-mystery gathered momentum with the stakes suddenly becoming a lot higher, this is no grim gore fest. The action moved along at a reasonable clip, while still giving us a ringside seat to Pepper’s feelings and motivation as she becomes increasingly entangled in this mystery, all in first person viewpoint. There is also a strong cast of supporting characters, including her slightly demented mother who seems hellbent on marrying Pepper off, her work colleagues, and Quinn, her policeman boyfriend.
Daniels weaves a satisfying whodunit with a really unpleasant villain, a sense of threat, and a denouement I didn’t see coming.
Despite this being a long-running series, the main adventure is satisfactorily tied up and I found myself coming to the end of this pleasing tale wanting to read more about Pepper and her previous adventures. So I shall be revisiting this series at some stage during 2017 and this enjoyable, well-crafted mystery comes highly recommended.
Receiving a copy of Graveyard Shift from the publisher via NetGalley has in no way affected my honest opinion of this book.
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