TITLE: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery #1)
AUTHOR: Maxie Dara
PUBLISHER: Berkley
PUBLISHING DATE: October 1, 2024
PAGES: 352
SOURCE: Library
FROM GOODREADS: 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.
Kathy is a grim reaper for S.C.Y.T.H.E. When someone dies, she collects their souls and makes sure they move on to processing. It's usually fairly uncomplicated until she is dispatched to the death scene of 17-year-old Conner. Conner's death was described as a medical condition but when she arrives, his soul is nowhere to be found. Kathy needs to find him stat because after 45 days of limbo, Conner is destined to be a restless ghost for eternity. When she does finally find him, he tells her he was murdered, and he thinks someone from S.C.Y.T.H.E. did it.
Kathy is a really fun character. She believes everyone in her family is cursed and that being a grim is the only thing that she is good out. She cannot tell her husband anything about her job, so she has shut him out and filed for divorce, even though she "accidentally" ends up pregnant after they separated. She also has a great friend sidekick, Jo, who was a former S.Y.C.T.H.E. employee and who has lived a wild and eventful life.
The mystery in the book was a fun element but what I loved most was the relationship between Conner and Kathy. Throughout the book they work together to find Conner's murderer and learn a lot about each other, and themselves, along the way. I would consider it a "found family" trope but with a ghost.
If you love cozy mysteries with less emphasis on the cozy part, then this book is one you might want to consider. It's a solid opening to a new series and I can't wait to see what supernatural fun lies ahead!
MY RATING: 5 PAWS
This sounds so good! I've been wondering about this book and haven't seen many reviews, so I'm glad you reviewed it. I might have to read it before the next book comes out.
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