Homicide detectives Elsie and David had left the Savannah GA PD and were starting to set up their own PI business after successfully solving a serial killer case in Chicago. Then they get a call from the ME Dr John Curry who is also a friend and he asks them to come back to Savannah and consult unofficially at a  tragic case involving murdered children. Children’s bodies had been stuffed in the wall of a house and one was put there recently and found by a demolition team as they were tearing down the house. Frank Remy had once lived in that house but the bodies were thirty six years old and put in the house before remy was arrested  all but one. But remy who was a brutal horrible serial killer had been put in jail and died there. Elsie’s father jackson had actually put Remy in prison. The recent body in the wall looked eerily similar like some homicides in Florida. Elsie was still severely messed up with PTSD from her kidnapping brutal rape and torture she had endured for three days with psycho killer Treman. Elsie refuses to be intimate with anyone because her body had been disfigured during the torture.  Weird things are happening around Elsie and sometimes it is hard for her to tell what is real and what isn’t and is erratic herself. David is in love with Elsie but knows she is nowhere near being ready for a relationship. So he is thinking about other options and getting on with his life. Elsie’s friend and Jackson’s lover was Strata Luna. Elsie and her father Jackson’s relationship was shaky but he warns her to back off from this case and to leave town but Elsie won’t. Elsie thinks Jackson know more than he is saying. The PD exhumes Remy’s body and things go wrong and Elsie and David get their jobs back at least for now.

I enjoyed this book but felt it was more about Elsie and her issues and relationship with David then the actual case. This is a dark read so be prepared. But this had a lot of twists and turns that I really liked. You keep reading as you want to see what is going to happen next you don’t want to put the book down. I did feel a little confused at times. This was depressing in a lot of ways bit a big one for me besides the children’s murders was Elsie did not have one happy moment in this entire book not one. If David was in love with Elsie why was she with someone else and then hid her in the shower when Elsie wanted to come in and talk about the case. Why didn’t he bring the woman out and let Elsie know he had been with someone if he was really trying to get on with his life? The ending was also a kind of let down I thought this would end with a bang but I was wrong oh well it happens. I did like there was a lot of action. I advise you to read the series in order. I liked the fast pace and plot. I also felt this was well written. Although realistically I don’t believe Elsie would be able to function as a detective. But I did enjoy this and I recommend this book

The Hochstetler farm was abandoned after the deaths in 1979, no-one ever was held to account for it, only now, there are deaths happening and it all appears to be linked to that old tragedy.

I had an idea what was going on from fairly early on, but this pulled me through and kept me guessing who dunnit for quite a while. Twisty, complex and interesting.

If you want to start this series, you will want to read the first two book before this one, First Grave on the Right and Second Grave on the Left.

In the Third book in her Grim Reaper series, Darynda Jones takes the reader on a ride from Reyes to a missing person case:

Charley Davidson, aka Grim Reaper (though not the cloaked skull looking one) did not know what the consequences would be by binding Reyes to his physical body. She certainly did not see it leading to her not sleeping for 14 days straight. It's hard for her to function or do work in her private investigators business but she trudges ahead. When a strange missing person case comes to Charley she has to drink as much caffeine as possible in order to stay on her game as it sounds to her that this missing person case is about to become a homicide.

It was about 2013 the last time I read a book in this series, it was one that I remembered enjoying but for some reason stopped reading it. So I decided to pick it up again, and I will say that it is funny how taste can change over a few years. You basically get hit with a sex scene right from the beginning (not my favourite thing in books) and this set the main tone for the majority of this book. I will say that it was easy to pick back up in this series even after three years as Jones does a good job of rehashing the major points from the previous two books in the series

I'm a sucker for a Grim Reaper. I personally have not read too many books that feature a Grim Reaper so I am always interested in seeing different authors interpretation of that character. I find that Charlie is the portal to heaven interesting and I wonder if that aspect can be developed further later in the series. I also find it interesting that Charley does not know the extent of her powers, other than talking to the departed, and that she has not taken the time to really learn what she can do. I also hope that her additional powers are developed later in the series.

I can say that I am not fan of Charley for the most part of the book, I just found her pretty whiny and maybe a little too much of a smart ass. Maybe all her snarky comments was just Jones playing up her lack of sleep in the book. I cannot remember her in the previous books and what she was like, but I do remember liking her, so it is possible that Jones is really trying to make Charley as real as possible. I know I would be barely (and I really mean not) hanging on without sleeping for 14 days. However, Charley does have her redeeming characteristics of putting herself in the line of danger so that others can survive or do not get hurt. Can you enjoy a book and not really like the main character? I would say in this instance yes, as I did find myself enjoying the book, just with more eye rolls that usual as I read it when Charley would have a very immature, stupid or extremely bad timed comment.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, minus the main character, so I'll see how things goes in the fourth book to really help me decide if I will go on from there (I checked and there are eight books so far in this series, that is serious commitment if I do not like the main character).

Enjoy!!