Cremains of the Day by Misty Simon is the first installment in A Tallie Graver Mystery series. Tallulah âTallieâ Graver has fallen hard after the dissolution of her marriage to Walden Phillips III. She is now cleaning homes and working part-time at Graver Funeral Home, the family business. Tallie left her vacuum at Darla Hackersham's home and returns to retrieve it. She discovers feet sticking out of a closet and finds Darla with a knife sticking out of her chest. This is just the beginning of strange events plaguing Tallie. Max Bennett, an old friend of Tallie's brother, has returned to town and seems to be following Tallie. He is handsome, but it unnerving. She finds Katie tied up in Gina's shop and her ex-husband down in the alley. What is going on? Tallie needs to unearth the truth before she ends up the next customer at her family's business.
Cremains of the Day is not what I expected. I was hoping for a mystery series that centers around the Graver Funeral Home (it would have been unique). Tallie dislikes the family business and is eager to avoid it (I was eager to avoid her). I thought the characters lacked development. The details readers are given on Tallie are mostly about her marriage and what has happened since it dissolved (along with the fact that she really dislikes the family business). I found her very cliché (another clumsy, down-on-her luck divorcee who does not get along with the local chief of police). She is newly divorced from a disdainful man whom she let take advantage of her in the divorce settlement (of course). There is little information given on the town and local businesses. The mystery is medium level with some nice misdirection. There is mild foul language in Cremains of the Day along with some crude references to Tallie's ex-husbands privates (they get zapped with a stun gun). The next book in A Tallie Graver Mystery series is Grounds for Remorse (I will not be reading it).
Cremains of the Day is not what I expected. I was hoping for a mystery series that centers around the Graver Funeral Home (it would have been unique). Tallie dislikes the family business and is eager to avoid it (I was eager to avoid her). I thought the characters lacked development. The details readers are given on Tallie are mostly about her marriage and what has happened since it dissolved (along with the fact that she really dislikes the family business). I found her very cliché (another clumsy, down-on-her luck divorcee who does not get along with the local chief of police). She is newly divorced from a disdainful man whom she let take advantage of her in the divorce settlement (of course). There is little information given on the town and local businesses. The mystery is medium level with some nice misdirection. There is mild foul language in Cremains of the Day along with some crude references to Tallie's ex-husbands privates (they get zapped with a stun gun). The next book in A Tallie Graver Mystery series is Grounds for Remorse (I will not be reading it).
Brenda H. (booksinvt) -
Cremains of the Day is the debut of the A Tallie Graver Mystery series featuring Tallulah Graver, ex wife of the wealthy Walden Phillips, now society housekeeper. Still smarting from her divorce from "Waldo" Tallie is making a go of cleaning houses for the people that she used to rub elbows with and trying hard to avoid working in her family's Graver Funeral Home.
When Tallie discovers Waldo lying in the alley behind her apartment, she is secretly disappointed that she hadn't been the one to tase him in his privates. The discovery of Katie Mitchner, her best friend Gina's cousin, tied up in the coffee shop followed by Tallie finding one of her clients stabbed and stuffed in the closet leads her to think that somehow all of these crimes are related. And, when the IRS shows up on her doorstep and accuses Tallie of tax fraud, she's more determined than ever to take Waldo down.
This was a really tough book to get into. The main character spends so much time obsessing about how much she despises her ex (which granted he is a major jackass) and determined to push away the IRS agent who is only trying to help that she comes across as rude, obnoxious and very unlikable. The cover and description lead the reader to believe that the story revolves around the family funeral business, but in fact other than the main character living in an upstairs apartment the funeral business and her family really play no role in the plot, other than the occasional mention of her mother baking cookies.
I will certainly give the second in the series a try, but will not be rushing out to make the purchase. There is much room for improvement and growth and I hope the author settles into the characters and we learn a little more about the Graver family and the townsfolk.
When Tallie discovers Waldo lying in the alley behind her apartment, she is secretly disappointed that she hadn't been the one to tase him in his privates. The discovery of Katie Mitchner, her best friend Gina's cousin, tied up in the coffee shop followed by Tallie finding one of her clients stabbed and stuffed in the closet leads her to think that somehow all of these crimes are related. And, when the IRS shows up on her doorstep and accuses Tallie of tax fraud, she's more determined than ever to take Waldo down.
This was a really tough book to get into. The main character spends so much time obsessing about how much she despises her ex (which granted he is a major jackass) and determined to push away the IRS agent who is only trying to help that she comes across as rude, obnoxious and very unlikable. The cover and description lead the reader to believe that the story revolves around the family funeral business, but in fact other than the main character living in an upstairs apartment the funeral business and her family really play no role in the plot, other than the occasional mention of her mother baking cookies.
I will certainly give the second in the series a try, but will not be rushing out to make the purchase. There is much room for improvement and growth and I hope the author settles into the characters and we learn a little more about the Graver family and the townsfolk.
