The Mortician's Wife was a book that held my attention and made me want more. The mortuary is a mystery and draw for kids to vandalize on Halloween. Young Emily when she is 9 is witness to this for the first time. However, she does not run away with her friends but stays and sees the mortician's wife peek out from a window and also sees what she can only describe as evil come out of the house through the broken window and then go back in as if it had never happened. Emily's curiosity led her to return to the house at a later date and start up a friendship with the mortician's wife until she moved away. Years later, she returns when her father dies and starts to work for her old friend. The mortician's wife begins to tell the story of her life to Emily and this unfolding day after day is mesmerizing.

I only gave the book 4 stars because at the beginning there was mention that Emily had power to read other people's minds but this was never developed. Once Emily returned to her home town, it was never mentioned again. In addition, the book ended very abruptly. That was somewhat disappointing. However, there is a sequel to the book so maybe more will be revealed within those pages.

This advanced reader copy was provided to me by NetGalley for my honest review. This advanced copy had many typos and grammatical errors. Hopefully these will be cleaned up in future editions.

This story has all the elements of a goo, old-fashioned gothic novel. I wasn't sure about this story, but once into it, I found myself intrigued by Ada. Most towns have an eccentric person and we wonder why they are like that. The storytelling is very good and I enjoyed the relationship between the main characters. I'm looking forward to the next book to see how the story unfolds.

The story begins when Emily is a little girl and gets her first glimpse of Ada on a long ago Halloween night. Emily is out trick or treating away from parental supervision for the first time. Everyone knows to stay away from the creepy old mortuary and the crazy old witch lady Ada, but lonely Emily finds a kinship with her and for a brief time they become friends. Years later they reconnect when Emily is a grown woman and Ada is now in her 90s with deteriorating health and needs someone to help her with her daily needs. Gradually, Ada tells Emily her life story and how she came to be living above the mortuary and why she refuses to leave. It is a heartbreaking tale that ends a bit abruptly since it is the first in a series.

SPOILER ALERT*****
I received a review copy of this novel via NetGalley. I greatly enjoyed this novel. The novel was written primarily in first person, except for the sections where Ada tells her story. I found the first 70 pages or so a bit tedious, as they seemed to read like an essay instead of a novel. After that Ms. Lowder hit her stride, and the novel took off.
I don’t blame Ada for killing that evil b*****d of a “husband”. I put “husband” in quotes because Horace wasn’t one. He taunted, tortured, physically & mentally abused Ada all the years of their marriage. All of his friends, & all the townspeople thought he was such a wonderful man, but that face he put on to meet people was nothing but a sham. After Horace murdered his own son, that was the breaking point for Ada. She knew if she didn’t take care of Horace, he’d kill her next. He admitted that the murders of Jake & his son Joseph (he was just a baby!) weren’t his first murders. The reader is left wondering who & how many he’d murdered previously. As a reader, I was very happy when Ada killed the rotten psycho. She did society a great favor when she killed Horace. I’m glad she didn’t spend a minute of time in jail or was detained by authorities. She suffered enough already being married to that psycho freak!
I didn’t really get the full picture of Emily. She’s one of the main characters in the novel, but I don’t really have a sense of her. Hopefully, her character will emerge more fully in book 2.
Also, I had no idea of the time frame in the novel. I’m guessing the 60’s or 70’s. When Ada tells her story, she refers to her youth as being in the Victorian Era, which was circa the 1890’s. So if she was born in 1880 & she’s 91 years old in the novel, the time setting of the novel would be in the 1970’s. I just wish the author had made stronger references to the time setting.
At the end of my copy of this novel, Ms. Lowder inserted a short note stating she’d been told this novel ends too abruptly. Which it does, but books 2 & 3 are available. I’ll be buying both of these tonight!
All in all, this was a really good read.
Thanks, NetGalley!

Wow! I am familiar with Maralee Lowder’s writing as I have r as several other books such as The Mortician’s revenge. While I would say that this would not normally be a book I would read just by looking at the cover, I am so glad that I did. Mrs. Lowder has a great ability to tell stories. Her imagination comes through and allows the reader to join her. I would say that ther ar a few things that are too hard to believe but those are few and far between and should not affect your ability to understand the story. You do not need to read any others in the series to be able to understand this one as the writer gives enough detail throughout the book so that you will be able to follow along.

Thank you to netgalley and the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my honest review.

5 stars ⭐️ Out of 5

I really enjoyed this book, when I first started it I actually thought I had downloaded the wrong book, as it didn’t start as the back cover suggested it would. But a great read I couldn’t put it down, my eyes closing on their own last night was the only reason I stopped reading. Now to wait/ find the next book.