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 is the strangest book I have ever read, but I could not put it down.

The story started on Halloween when 9 year old Emily is allowed to go out with her school friends to get candy. it is the first time her mother lets her do it. There is an old old building in town that was the old mortuary where an old lady lives and everyone calls her a witch! The kids every Halloween try to break windows, this time they get Emily to do it and they all scatter.

A few years after Emily is walking home from school and hears the most beautiful music coming from the mansion. She stops for a while to see what happens. The music is so beautiful that Emily decides to go home everyday that way in order to hear the music.

She finally gets up enough nerve to go up to the house and knock on the door. That is when everything changes. She finds out that the lady, Ada is not a witch, but a very lovely lonely lady.

She teaches Emily how to play the organ and everyday they have a tea party before Emily leaves.

Everything is great until Emily's mother gets a divorce and they have to move away. Emily has a hard time saying Goodbye to Ada.

She does get one chance to see Ada after she gets older and drives her own car to see her father and she stops to see Ada. They are both so happy they do not want the time to end.

Emily's Dad suddenly dies from a heart attack and leaves Emily with everything he has. Including the house they all lived in. She has trained as a nurse and wants to look for a job in her old town.

As it turns out Ada needs someone to help her, Emily takes the job and Ada decides to tell her her life story! That's when the book gets scary. You will not want to put the book down.

This author tells the story like it was her story. She is so good, I cannot wait for the other books to come out.

Outstanding story told by an outstanding author!

As a young and psychically sensitive girl, Emily is befriended by Ada, a recluse and once a mortician’s wife. Ada lives in the apartments above the old mortuary. Ada begins teaching Emily how to play the organ and the two become great friends, though secret.
Emily’s life takes her away and she becomes a nurse, something she loves to do. When her father passes and she inherits, she comes back to town and picks up her friendship with Ada once again.
This time, Ada needs care and Emily is both her caregiver and companion. Ada has a story to tell about her life, marriage, and husband. The story is one of manipulation, abuse, and murder. The author brings us psychological terror and revenge along with the horrors of what made Ada what she has become, a lonely yet strong old woman determined to have her own way. Although Emily loves her friend dearly, she must make a life of her own.
I had hoped that the ending would relieve me of the sadness and bring some pleasure and happiness for Emily at least. While some of this seems to be forthcoming, the author leaves us with another issue for Emily to deal with in the next book in the series. The author’s talent in bringing a difficult story to us is not to be overshadowed by my personal opinion since I was not happy with this kind of story. You may like this and go on to the next in the series. I will not.

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.