Cremains of the Day is a good start to a brand new cozy mystery series. Misty Simon is a talented author and this is clearly shown through her writing style and storytelling abilities. I enjoyed her characters- especially our sleuth, Tallulah Graver. She's a fun piece of work and her ability to overcome such adversary in her life post divorce is commendable. The mystery was also very good- I couldn't figure out "who-dun-it" until the very end. However, I wish Tallulah's family funeral parlor was used more in the story. From looking at the cover and the title, one would think the story would revolve around or at least be a bit more tuned into her families business but it wasn't. The main conflict of the story had almost nothing to do with it making me feel a bit let down. In all honestly, having a funeral home as a setting would be really unique in terms of the books that are out there in the genre. So this part bummed me out. Other than that, I will certainly be looking for the next one in the series because I did like this one.

Tallulah Graver intended to get as far away from the family business as possible – hence the marriage to Waldo Phillips. Not surprisingly, the marriage doesn’t last and Tallie turns to cleaning houses to pay the bills. It’s not glamorous work, but anything is better than returning to the family’s funeral home. But Allie soon finds herself surrounded by death and destruction when her bffs shop is broken into, her ex gets tasered on the family jewels and Tallie finds one of her clients murdered. It looks like our heroine is fated to spend her days surrounded by the grim reaper, whether she wants to or not. Hands down, the best title for a book this year!