First Grave to the Right by Darynda Jones
Genre: Paranormal, Mystery
Length: 9 hours 4 minutes
Narrator: Lorelei King
Source: eLibrary (overdrive)
From Audible:
A smashing, award-winning debut novel that introduces Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light”. But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life... and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.
My Rating:
My Review: Many can't understand Charley Davidson's success as a private investigator, but those close to her know her secret. She can see and talk to dead people. In fact, she is the grim reaper. After four lawyers are murdered in suspicious circumstances, Charley must sift through clues and find the killer and bring justice for the lawyers and their families. Though she is fully committed, she can't help but be distracted by dreams of the BIG BAD who calls her "dutch." A nickname she has only heard a few times in her life and she doesn't know identity of the BIG BAD or his role in her life. With two mysteries to solve and so many people trying to kill her, this adventure takes the reader through quite a few twists and turns.
Charley Davidson is a sassy investigator who reminds me of Stephanie Plum, but she is actually good at what she does. Her sarcasm and wit made me smile at times and I was fully invested in discovering the motive and identity of the killer, though I found the random profanity to be distracting at times.
On the narrator...
I found Ms. King to be a perfect fit as a narrator. Her voice fit Charley Davidson's character perfectly and all the other characters were easily discernible.
On the story...
While I enjoyed the plot concerning the lawyers, the sub-plot concerning the entity was...weird. I just didn't get the idea of having a romance with a mysterious entity that showed up in dreams. The sexual scenes with this mysterious ghost-like entity was also just...weird. Because of this, I think this would be a book better read. For some reason, I don't think it would have been so weird and uncomfortable if I was reading it myself.
After reading a review by another book blogger, I had this on my list. My grandmother sent me a review and gave it one star rating I was kind of surprised and it made it even more intriguing. As for my grandmother, I think she enjoyed the book until the point where she found out the identity of the mystery entity and I can see how that could happen.
Read this if you like a Stephanie Plum like mystery full of dead ends, investigation, and fun side-kicks. There is some profanity but lots of fun. If you decide to give it a read, let me know what you think.
