Review: Flowers For Her Grave by Judy Clemens.

I have to say the writing was fair but the story was enjoyable and fun. The story flowed right along and kept my attention to the end. The characters were cleverly developed and stood apart from each other. The setting was a resort of three different buildings of condo style living among a private community in Raceda, Florida. The main building is where all the activities, exercise rooms and the most active prominent wealthy women lived who were men crazy no matter what their age was. The other two buildings were for the retirees and the yuppies. This was the first Reaper book I have read and the third book of this series and I didn’t miss out by not reading the two earlier books.

Casey Maldonado character began in the first book grieving the lost of her husband and son. She fled Kansas to avoid a murder charge which, she didn’t commit and found herself jumping into a box car and realizing she was not alone; her company was a drunken hobo singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall as the train headed south. Without fail the grim-reaper who is called “Death” throughout the book was with her when she reached her destiny. Once off the train Casey calls the only person she trust, her brother, to get money and a few things she needed to make a new start in her life. Casey changes her identity to Daisy Gray, a fitness trainer and finds a job from an on-line site that would give her room and board at the Florida Resort. She knew it was going to be a lot of hard work and leave her little time for thinking about anything else and that’s what she needed. However, a change in name and place does not help Casey (Daisy) to stay out of trouble.

Filled with humor mostly due to the relationship Casey has with Death and how he consistently popped in and out, changing his comical ridiculous outfit each time to fit the atmosphere of consequence he entered into. Some people think Casey is a lunatic arguing with herself since they cannot see or hear the grim Reaper. When Casey did get the job she felt it was perfect for this time in her life, even though some of the staff and residents were a little on the eccentric side but it really didn’t matter because she had a grim Reaper towing behind her. Casey got through her first day exhausted and needing sleep but she couldn’t sleep and decided to go to the exercise room and loosen up her stressed body muscles. Casey’s first day, she was accepted completely by the residents until that first night when she discovered a dead body of a prominent lady in the locker room shower stall….Now comes the mystery of “whodunit “!! With a lot of adventure, gossiping, secret rendezvous uncovered, comical behaviors, and adjusting attitudes from the community to choose from, many decided on the one new staff person, Casey….

I enjoyed the way the story was told with human travesties through the eyes of the grim Reaper, Death. He enhanced the story just by being at the right place at the right time…..
( )

3rd in series. Character is fitness instructor in apt complex.
fun to listen to while working out. ( )

When the Grim Reaper is your only constant companion, life can be strange. That’s how it is for Casey Maldonado, heroine of Judy Clemens’ Grim Reaper series. Death and Casey have been constant companions since Casey’s husband and son were killed in a car accident that Casey managed to survive.

Flowers for Her Grave is the third book in the series. It finds Casey and Death in Florida, on the the run from police and the manufacturer of the car that killed Casey’s family. Explanations about how Death became Casey’s companion are absent, and readers new to the series may want to jump back to an earlier book for the background.

The background may not be all that necessary. All a reader needs to know is that Death hangs around Casey, serving as a combination of a Greek Chorus, Jewish mother and Cat-in-the-hat-esque observer. Death’s real purpose is to give Casey someone to talk to in order to provide exposition for the reader.

The plot centers around a mysterious death at an adult community where Casey, under an alias, finds work as a personal trainer. Casey plays Nancy Drew to solve the crime, all the while hoping the local police don’t discover her true identity and trying not to act on her growing attraction to one of the detectives. Readers can easily keep up with the twists and turns of the murder investigation, spotting red herrings as they appear and vanish.

Clemens tries to make the novel a mix of humor, pulp crime and the paranormal, with a dash of romance and female empowerment thrown in for good measure. As would be expected in the growing genre of supernatural chick lit, Casey doesn’t need a man to help her get things done. She’s a martial arts expert who’s inevitably smarter than those around her, except when the plot calls for her to forget something or overlook an obvious clue in order for the story to advance. The mishmash of genres works against developing affection for Casey. Her backstory is tragic, but the lighthearted tone of the books clashes with the few times Casey is reminded of her losses.

Death’s main character feature is sarcasm, and the other characters are virtually indistinguishable from each other apart from gender, occupation and name.

The end result is a harmless, lightweight novel, the sort you might buy in an airport, only to leave behind unfinished on the plane. Flowers for Her Grave has some entertainment value, but it doesn’t grab a reader’s attention and make you anxious to read the previous books or look forward to the next. ( )

I read, I smiled, I laughed, and I truly enjoyed this book. Although this is part of the Grim Reaper series by Judy Clemens, it is the first book in this series that I've read. It is also the first book from a series that I've read that didn't leave me feeling as if I had to read the previous books in order to understand what was happening (although I do feel that I will be reading them just becuse I enjoyed this one so much). It took a little bit of getting used to someone, namely Casey Maldonado, having "death" or a grim reaper as a companion, but L'Ankou is part of what makes this mystery so light-hearted and fun.

Casey is still dealing with the grief of losing her son and husband in a car accident, not to mention severe albeit superficial injuries from a recent fight. She is trained in hapkido, a form of martial arts, as well as being an athletic trainer. We meet her and L'Ankou as they are travelling on a boxcar running away from Kansas. It appears that she previously was running away from Ohio, the scene of her husband and son's death, and from being a murder suspect. Her travels take her to Raceda, Florida where she starts work at an apartment/condo complex as a fitness instructor/athletic trainer. Needless to say that trouble is not far behind. Casey, now known as Daisy, discovers a badly injured woman who subsequently dies. Of course she must investigate and quickly jumps to all the wrong conclusions. What is interesting is the often comedic and quirky changes that L'Ankou makes. When he is around a police officer, he dresses as one with a name tag to fit. He also dresses in a kimono upon learning that Casey/Daisy has been invited to a Japanese restaurant. Most people don't see Casey's companion but a few, those that don't fear death, are capable of seeing him. This makes for interesting exchanges as Casey apparently must speak aloud to respond to L'Ankou and others can't see him and presume she is speaking to them or that she's just crazy.

I think quirky is the correct word to use in describing this book. Ms. Clemens has created characters that are realistic and all-too humans with their faults. L'Ankou, although not human, seems to have just as much to offer as his human companion and it this relationship that makes this book work. Casey needs L'Ankou as much as he seems to need her. She needs the connection to her deceased husband and son and L'Ankou needs to live vicariously through someone that can see him, interact with him and accept him for what he is...death.

Look for this title to be released in early August.

An advanced reader copy of this book was made available through netGalley and Poisoned Pen Press, Inc. I thank them both for this opportunity. ( )