Grave Expectations

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The book does seem to meander about a little bit to begin with but before you're halfway through the action picks up. Together they must race against incompetence to find the murderer – before the murderer finds them… in this funny, modern, media-literate mystery for the My Favourite Murder generation. Teaming up with the least unbearable members of the Wellington-Forge family – depressive ex-cop Basher and teenage radical Alex – Claire and Sophie determine to figure out not just whodunnit, but who they killed, why and when.

Started well ie haunted mansion, family secrets, seance but got dull and boring once the group left for Brighton.The book started well but soon slowed down and by the time I had sorted everyone out (living and ghosts), I began to lose interest, especially as many characters were thoroughly unpleasant. I love Claire and Sophie, Basher and Alex, and how their little Scooby gang develops as the story progresses from faceless mystery ghosts to a possible murder investigation within a rich and deeply dysfunctional family. Claire’s been booked as the entertainment at a family birthday party for one of her uni friends’ grandmothers. Thankfully Claire has Sophie to help otherwise, as Sophie quite rightly puts it, nothing would get detected because Claire is rubbish at it. On the other hand I can see that it is quite fun and quite well written - the basic premise of a woman who has been able to see ghosts since her murdered best friend turned up posthumously has a lot of potential, as does the idea that they (that's they in its correct sense, meaning more than one person) intend to solve a murder of a ghost haunting the house they're visiting.

I don't often trust books described as 'laugh out loud' as humour is subjective and a reliance on comedy can sometimes overshadow emotional moments, but I'm so glad I took a punt on Grave Expectations. Mild spoilers for the theme of the murder, but not the identity of the victim or perpetrator: I did like that it turned out that the death that sparks the plot was. I really enjoyed this (maybe) murder mystery that had Claire and Sophie trying to solve a crime that no one but they had any proof of occurring (and frankly even their evidence is a bit flimsy) Add to that the fact that Claire ropes in two members of the Wellington-Forge family who would prefer for their family not to me murderers, thanks – one of whom definitely doesn’t believe Claire can talk to ghosts and our protagonists definitely have their work cut out for them! Given her obsession with crime shows—not to mention Sophie’s ability to walk through walls—Claire decides they’re the best people to solve the case.

A delicious mashup of grisly murder, country house and semi-helpful ghosts - imagine a really cockeyed game of Cluedo heavily seasoned with whimsy . Sophie, Claire’s best friend, accompanies her though in actuality Sophie rarely leaves Claire’s side, as she’s a ghost. In fact, all the deaths in this book are, with the possible exception of Nana's since she helps get the investigation going. There are parts of the middle section of the book which I found a bit lumpy, and this is a book to read more for the characters than for the mystery, but they're the kinds of issues that are fairly common-or-garden first-novel issues that should be easy to iron out in future books.

Her figure was not suited to maxi-dresses, incense made her sneeze … She also wasn’t good at coming up with significant but vague things to say about the afterlife . When 30-something freelance medium Claire Hendricks is invited to an old university friend's country pile to provide entertainment for a family party, her best friend Sophie tags along. Almost-authentic medium Claire and her best friend, Sophie, agree to take on a seemingly simple job at a crumbling old manor in the English countryside: performing a seance for the family matriarch’s 80th birthday. Why are they hanging around the house and, far more importantly, which one of the Wellington-Forge's committed the murder? I couldn’t have loved this more and would urge any mystery reader to settle down for the weekend with this, as you won’t want to put it down!

But it's not for me, so I'm abandoning it at 15% and not rating it, since it was my mistake to choose it. Soon there's a death, and Claire finds herself determined to figure out what happened at the Cloisters, in the company of her dead best friend Sophie and toff family members Basher and Alex. Thank you the author Alice, Atlantic Books and NetGalley for the ARC, this review is my personal, unbiased opinion. Investigating with Claire and Sophie are Basher and his nephew Alex, they are directly related to Nana and are good side kicks for Claire and bring her out of her shell.

Claire meets loads of dead people, and if I'm remembering right all of them just died because that's what people do. In fact, Sophie rarely leaves Claire's side, because she's been haunting her ever since she was murdered at the age of 17. Alice Bell grew up in South West England, in the sort of middle-of-nowhere where teenagers spend their weekends drinking Smirnoff Ice in a field that also has at least one horse in it. I want more from Claire, Sophie, Basher, and Alex, and I want to know what occurred to turn Sophie into a ghost. Teaming up with the least unbearable members of the Wellington-Forge family - depressive ex-cop Basher and teenage radical Alex - Claire and Sophie determine to figure out not just whodunnit, but who they killed, why and when.

If, however, you have some familiarity with meme references and enjoy Midsomer Murders for its campness, I think this may be right up your alley. I might give the next one a go to see if the characters have developed,, but if it's more of the same I think I would conclude that it just isn't aimed at me. It has a very British millennial sense of humour but I think anyone could relate to the main character who is down on her luck, trying to fumble through adult life and not always succeeding.