Reviewed by Cheryl K

TITLE: Dead Serious Case #2 Mrs Delores Abernathy

SERIES: Crawshanks Guide to the Recently Departed

AUTHOR: Vawn Cassidy

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 273 pages

RELEASE DATE: October 31, 2022

BLURB:

In the business of unfinished business…

It’s been over six months since a freak accident left pathologist Tristan Everett able to see ghosts, something he has yet to confess to his boyfriend. Instead, he now has a new calling, one he’s not entirely happy about… help the dead resolve their unfinished business so they can pass into the light, sounds simple right?

Wrong…

When the spirit of a sweet old lady suffering from Alzheimer’s follows him home he has no idea how to help her. When he finds out she’s been murdered by arsenic poisoning, a curiously outdated murder weapon, he once again finds himself tangled up in a murder investigation.

For Inspector Danny Hayes of New Scotland Yard, life couldn’t be better. After moving to London and meeting Tristan he’s ready to move their relationship to the next level, but something weird is going on with Tristan, he’s acting very strangely and with a killer on the loose he’s not taking any chances. He’s determined to discover whatever it is Tristan’s hiding from him.

Surrounded by a bunch of potentially murderous old ladies and aided by his sidekick, deceased drag queen and spirit guide in training, Dusty, Tristan must unravel the mystery of Mrs. Delores Abernathy’s unfinished business and find the courage to share his deepest secret with the man he loves.

From author Wendy Saunders writing as Vawn Cassidy, comes the second book in this funny and touching paranormal MM romance/dark comedy suspense series.

REVIEW:

I loved the first book in this series and was so excited to get my hands on book number 2.  This second book in the series doesn’t disappoint.  Danny and Tristan are progressing along nicely in their new relationship. Dusty is just her wonderful over the top self, as the fashionably attired drag queen ghost.  With that said, you need to read the first book in this series, as not a lot will make sense with out the background from the first book.  This book was even better than the first book.  Vawn’s worldbuilding and character development is stellar.  It would be easy to become formulaic when writing this type of series.  But I found all the plot and subplots to be new and fresh.  Her character building continues to add nuanced layers to not only her main characters, but to the side characters as well.  Incorporating all this in with another mystery for Danny, Tristan, and Dusty to solve was really well done.  The suspect list for this whodunit was quite a long list for me.  In the end the murderer was not who I had narrowed my list down too.  Which actually makes me happy because I don’t like knowing who did it from the get-go.  Of course, there also needs to be some angst in the relationship department for Danny and Tristan. This would not be a romance with out some hot sexy times.  I don’t know how Dusty isn’t a fly on the wall, when Danny and Tristan get together… or does she? As we find out in this series, Tristan’s father has Alzheimer’s.  This disease is treated and written so well and in a wonderfully sensitive way. One of my favorite scenes in the book, is between Danny and Martin, Tristan’s father.  It really brings it into perspective how hard this disease is on not only the person diagnosed with it, but the family as well.  The scene makes me love Danny even more than I did before and really gives us a fantastic view of Danny’s character.  Will Tristan reveal the secret he’s been keeping form Danny? Will Dusty and Bruce continue their ghostly romance? Will Chan be able to move on from the loss of Dusty?  To find out the answers to these burning questions, you need to read this extremely well written paranormal story.  I highly recommend this book and series and cannot wait for the next book to come out.

RATING:

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