After reading The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, I was on the lookout for more books that had a paranormal element, but also a great and engaging storyline. This one seemed to fit the bill. It’s a thriller – a murder mystery, to be precise – but the protagonist, Kathy Valence, doesn’t have your typical job. She’s in the business of collecting the souls of recently deceased clients and helping them move on to…. wherever it is they go next. She doesn’t actually know that much about the details, but she takes her job seriously, and she takes pride in being good at it.
Until one day, when she goes to retrieve the soul of a young man who was listed as having died of natural causes, from a seizure. But when she gets to his house, not only is his soul nowhere to be found, but she just has this feeling that something is off. She’s never been in this situation before, and isn’t really sure what to do next. Usually her clients are waiting for her, and usually they clearly have passed away from something, well, natural. Her boss isn’t pleased when she returns to the office empty-handed, and he tells her in no uncertain terms that she has to find the missing client, and quickly.
When she goes back to his house to look for him, he still isn’t there. But someone else is, and she’s not about to find out who. She flees, after collecting some information from his computer that might give her a lead to follow while she’s looking for him. And it does – she eventually finds him in a park that he mentioned in a message she found on his computer. But he’s not a disoriented soul just waiting for a guide to help him take his next step. He’s angry, and insisting that he didn’t die of a seizure. He says he was murdered.
Grudgingly at first, but with increasing determination, Kathy promises to find out what really happened, putting her job – and life – on the line. But what began as an inconvenient and frustrating mystery soon becomes something more. This young ghost, who begins as just an angry teenager who’s refusing to cooperate with her and holding up her work in the process, somehow becomes someone whose fate she deeply cares about. As her suspicions turn to her work colleagues, she’s left without official assistance in her investigation. Her soon to be ex-husband and her retired and blind mentor are her only backup. Not exactly an ideal situation, but one she will have to make the best of.
Much to her surprise, however, this case not only brings all involved closer together, but makes her reconsider her own choices and really think about what she wants from her life. Making changes is always hard, but can have wonderful rewards, especially if it means having the courage to hope for something better than you imagined for your own life. I really enjoyed this book. There were parts that didn’t quite come together seamlessly, some odd things that weren’t really resolved, but they were all minor things that didn’t affect the plot. I liked the characters, and though Valence is often frustrating, I did care about what happened to her. It’s worth a read if you’re looking for something that has a paranormal twist, but also feels cosy and relaxing to read!
Sometimes it takes working with the dead to start living.
Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex’s baby. She’s also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), but frankly that’s the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until her latest client’s soul goes missing.
When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He insists that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. murdered him, and he demands Kathy find out who and why.
Kathy has only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on before the boy’s soul is doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever. She’s forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and some sneaky moves by Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career. . .and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life. – Goodreads
Book Title: A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer
Author: Maxie Dara
Series: Yes – S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery #1
Edition: Audiobook (Libby)
Published By: Berkley
Released: October 1, 2024
Genre: Fiction, Paranormal, Cosy Fantasy, Mystery, Cute!!!
Pages: 352
Date Read: February 4-5, 2025
Rating: 7.5/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.82/5 (5,004 ratings)