Melissa Marr's first adult novel. What an imagination she has--not your usual supernatural tale. Becka returns to the small town her grandmother lived in after getting a phone call that her grandmother has died. What she soon finds out is that her grandmother was murdered in her home, and by someone who was not "tended to" when she died. Daisha is now roaming the town, killing people and getting stronger. Becka and Byron, the local funeral director, find themselves taking on the roles of the Graveminder and the Undertaker, two people who keep the dead in their graves, and are bound together by a love that cannot be shaken. A contract signed between the town and "Mr. D" hundreds of years before keeps everyone from leaving town in return for safety and good health. It's up to Becka and Byron to keep the contract, or all hell breaks loose and the dead don't stay dead.
This is a great mix of supernatural, old fashioned rituals, and the choices people must make in order to keep others safe--sometimes sacrificing their own happiness for the greater good.
I hope there are more stories coming--I will certainly read them.
I liked the environs and basic set up for this novel. Honestly though, another heroine that buries her head in the sand ruined it for me. It could be just me, but I have lost all patience with reading about heroines that have no empathy for those they love, that deny their reality, and are just plain mule headed.
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