Book Review: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

"First Grave on the Right" by Darynda Jones
Charley Davidson #1
First published in 2011
310 pages
My rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Short Of It:
A light, easy read, though a bit short on substance. Good enough that I'll probably check out the second book in the series.

The Long Of It:
"First Grave on the Right" was like reading one of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books with a added paranormal element -- after all, our protagonist is the grim reaper. It was a light book that blended mystery, humor and a twinge of romance with a somewhat hapless, lovably flawed main character.

Charley Davidson sees dead people -- and helps them cross over to the "other side." And sometimes she helps the police figure out just what caused them to need her services in the first place. In this first book in the series, she's visited by three lawyers from the same firm who were all murdered on the same night, and with their assistance she and the police investigate their deaths and uncover a sinister crime.

The writing was adequate, I liked Charley for the most part, it made me laugh. It's definitely not going to win any Pultizer Prizes, but it was a fun, easy book and it was the perfect thing to cleanse my palate after reading the long and intense second Outlander book. I will say that the grim reaper jokes got a bit tiresome, and I was kinda confused about some of the supernatural elements, though perhaps those are fleshed out more as the books continue. It's one to pick up when you want something light -- the beach, the airport, when you've got kids tugging at your elbow -- and if you do like it there's a whole (ongoing) series to catch up with afterwards!