First Grave on the Right - Paranormal Mystery Review

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Rating: Good

Source: Library (Audio)

Description: This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual.
Or a diagram of some kind.
A flow chart would have been nice.

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. 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 (like 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. But what does he want with Charley? And why can't she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

   Genre: Mystery - Paranormal

Why I Picked This Book:  I couldn't resist trying this when my library got it on audio.

My Impression:  I've been hearing raves about this series since I first started blogging so I figured now was about time to finally give it a try.  My primary issue with the book is that I have no idea what genre to put it in!  There's a whole lot of paranormal but then there's some romance and some mystery though I wouldn't call it romantic suspense.   Then there's the fact that neither the romance or the mystery fit the standard romance or mystery pattern and I'm left a little confused.  

Charley Davidson is a Grim Reaper and a PI who frequently consults with her uncle for the local police department and usually with a bit of help from the recently departed.  While there is a LOT to explain about Charley's skill set it never felt like the book dragged or like I was getting an info dump.  Most of the information came from Charley's actions or the few times she explained specific things to someone around her.   There are a lot of interesting side characters on the living side between Charley's family and the police department but my favorite was her neighbor, best friend and assistant, Cookie.  There are also a few characters from the other side that I have a feeling will make pretty regular appearances in future books and I'm hoping we learn a little bit more about Charley's "roommate" Mr. Wong.  The book was super fast paced but held together.  I  enjoyed watching everything unfold and learning more about Charley's abilities.  

While I did enjoy this I did have a few issues.  The first and the biggest was that I really struggled to buy into the "romance" plot.  The original meeting involved some serious consent issues and was hardly romantic.  As well at times I felt like the author was trying to hard to show me how funny Charley was which got a little tiring.

Lorelei King is the narrator for this and she is perfection!  She brings Charley to life beautifully.  I'm just sad my library doesn't have more on audio!

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  In theory yes but I listened to this almost a year ago and have yet to get the 2nd book.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you enjoy paranormal mysteries this is a fun concept that's well executed.