“Deceased and Desist” by Misty Simon is an enthralling 4-star read that perfectly balances humor, mystery, and the supernatural. Simon's writing style is witty and engaging, making it impossible to put the book down. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the plot is filled with unexpected twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end. With the touch of the paranormal and a dash of romance, this cozy mystery is a delightful escape into a world of quirky charming intrigue.

I really loved this thord book in a new to my series and author. I can't wait to read the next one. The characters and location really add to the plot. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

I have come to enjoy this series more and more as I read the books. Tallie has very interesting job choices and her funeral background make her suspicions about the man in bed being dead very real.

A quick and easy cozy mystery. Enjoyed Tallie and her cat and dog interactions. Felt a bit out of it though, as I feel this is a part of a series, but the first one I read. Easy enough to stand alone, but a little confused on references at times. Would be interested in reading more by this author. Would recommend.

Lots of extra shenanigans in this one. Bodies turning up left and right! Such a fun series.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

This was a fun, cute cozy mystery! I love the theme throughout, and I will definitely be continuing with the series.

I am a new fan of Misty Simon's after reading this book! Her book was very riveting and kept me on my toes throughout. I loved the characters, even the ones you love to hate, and their development. The story kept me awake at night not wanting to put it down. I can't wait to read more books by this author!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review. I haven’t read a book by Misty Simon before and Deceased and Desist certainly won’t be my last.

Tallie Graver enjoys cleaning windows and does so for her towns local B&B, whilst she is doing this Tallie sees a dead body from the B&B window. Police say it was caused by a heart attack, but Tallie has other ideas. During Tallie’s investigations we unravel her history, her family and the police investigation.

If you like a book with mystery and lots of twists and turns this is the book for you.

The characters in this story are likeable, especially Tallie. From the very start you find yourself routing for her.

I look forward to reading more from this series.

Deceased and Desist is the third book in the Tallie Graver Mystery series by Misty Simon. I have not read the previous books, and I found that I could still follow and enjoy the story. However, I will admit that there were moments that I wished I had more context for character and relationship dynamics.

Most housecleaners don’t do windows, but Tallie Graver loves leaving a pane of glass streak-free and sparkling. After a dirty divorce from a filthy-rich jerk, she's started her own cleaning business to make ends meet. On her latest job, prepping a renovated bed and breakfast for a grand re-opening, she's standing outside on a ladder, wiping off a grimy pane, when she spies a man on a bed through the glass. But the B&B isn't open for business yet—and the man's not sleeping. Her family owns the Graver Funeral Home, so Tallie knows a corpse when she sees one. The victim is a shady building inspector with a reputation for handing out passing grades for a greased palm. With the local police resistant, Tallie launches her own investigation, before she gets a rep as a town crank. But it's going to take more than a squirt bottle and a squeegee to clean up this mess. With the help of her gal pal Gina, Tallie searches for a killer's motive. But she'd better be careful, or it'll be curtains for this window cleaner.

Deceased and Desist is a well paced mystery with plenty of twists and turn. I liked Tallie's character and her willingness to admit her mistakes but still standing up for herself and working toward her own happiness. I thought the investigation that Tallie and Gina undergo was well done and I liked the family and community connections that they used, even if I was not always aware of all the players. There was so many important facts and shady dealings that I admit to being surprised to some of the revelations- and liked that there were several layers of mystery and character development going on. I enjoyed that fact that Tallie and her family seem to be evolving in realistic ways, and that while the mystery was fully solved and all the loose threads tied up, there were enough relationship and character questions pending that I felt like the story was resolved, but I want to keep on reading about their lives. It is a good balance that does not always happen in small town based series.

Deceased and Desist is a solid mystery with a good plot and quirky characters. I am going to try to find the time to read the previous books, and then keep going with this series.

This is the first of the series I have read, though I didn’t find this a detriment. I chose this ARC from NetGalley because the plot sounded interesting and it definitely lived up to it.

In this book, Tallie Graver is thinking about how much she likes cleaning windows as she cleans the windows of a B&B in her town. She looks in the window and sees a dead body, promptly falling off the ladder. When the police get there, they say it’s a heart attack but considering how much Tallie had seen, she doubts this and goes on to investigate. Along the way, we see Tallie dealing with her family, her reputation in the town, her past marriage and incredibly irritating police officers.

I liked the twists and turns of this plot as there weren’t any incredibly obvious clues Tallie was missing and she wasn’t sticking with one suspect against all evidence, both of which I find irritating in cosy mysteries. Tallie’s investigation felt very realistic because part of the clues came from her being lucky or tracking down the right people but others were found by research, especially useful when the victim had such a complicated line of work. And she was needed to work out the mystery due to what was going on with the police.

What I really liked about this was Tallie herself and the other side characters. We saw her family and her best friend, Gina, as well as their opinion on the work she was doing and it was well integrated with the rest of the plot. Tallie had a full life outside of her investigation and the mentions of her past made me really want to read the first two novels in this series.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #KensingtonBooks for the opportunity to read this one. Opinions are my own. I read the first book in this series some time back and while the mystery was pretty good, I found Tallie somewhat off-putting. The same holds true with this one. Tallie was married to a wealthy man, but the marriage goes south and she's left with pretty much nothing. Now she cleans the homes and businesses of the society women she used to hobnob with. In this one she discovers the body of a dead man while cleaning the windows of a new B&B that isn't even open yet. Decent mystery, but heroine I'm not that crazy about. If you've read the others, you'll want to be in for this one and if you haven't, you could do far worse for something to read!

Deceased and Desist
By: Misty Simon
Published By: Kensington Books
Publication Date: November 27, 2018
3 Stars

Tallie Graver, a self-employed housekeeper, was cleaning the windows of a local inn when she spied a dead body in one of the rooms. Tallie was sure the man had been murdered because it was obvious to her (her family operates the local funeral home) that his neck had been broken. Tallie called the police station to report the crime. When the acting police chief, Hammond, arrived he was quick to rule that the man had died from a heart attack. Tallie tried to explain why she disagreed, but Hammond stood firm by his assessment. He not only refused to listen to her, but he also threatened to throw her in jail if she interfered. Tallie decided though that she couldn’t let a murder go unsolved, and she stepped in to investigate herself.

Right from the get-go, I felt like Tallie seemed ready for a fight before the fight even found her. I was a little put off by this. However, after Hammond’s gruff conversation with her, those feelings seemed justified. He neither wanted the police to investigate the death nor did he want Tallie to become involved. Tallie is multifaceted and is not only an amateur sleuth, she is also a best friend, girlfriend, daughter, and housekeeper. All of these roles round out her character. For me, the pressure Tallie received from her dad to join the family business made her very relatable. How many of us haven’t been pressured by a love one to do something, and all we want to say is no, but we don’t want to hurt them?

The author did a good job building this story. In the beginning, Tallie didn’t have much to go on and so her investigation was slow. This seemed realistic to me, as you have to find pieces of the puzzle before you can begin to put it together. Then as she gets more pieces, the momentum begins to build, and the suspense escalates. Even once Tallie (and the reader) thinks she has gotten things figured out, there are pieces that just don’t fit.

Anyone who enjoys strong female leads and amateur sleuths will enjoy this story.

Thanks to Net Galley and Kensington Books for an ARC of this book. #NetGalley #DeceasedAndDesist

This is book 3 in the Tallie Graver series and Tallie is making a go of her house cleaning business. She is cleaning the windows of the local inn getting ready for their grand reopening. After a 6 month close for repairs, she spots a dead body from her ladder and falls trying to call the police. I like Tallie and her friends but the police seems a little off putting and rude in this particular book. Since Tallie also works part time for her family's funeral home she has some major questions about the dead body that police said was a heart attack. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Deceased and Desist by Misty Simon is the third book in the Tallie Graver Mystery series. Tallie is happy to be working for herself as a housecleaner even if her lifestyle is less glamorous than when she was married. She is torn with working part-time at her family's funeral home though. While cleaning windows at a local bed and breakfast, she sees a body in one of the upstairs rooms. When the interim detective appears to be sweeping the suspicious death under the rug, Tallie wonders why and begins her own investigation. I found this book to be just as good or better than the previous two. It can easily stand on its own. My favorite scene was the woman who does a dress rehearsal of her funeral. I could read it again just for that!

The third book in this series felt a bit shorter than the other two, and we got to the action a bit more quickly but this series continues to be one of my favourites. Tallie is clever, funny and smart and has a wonderful cast of supporting characters around her who, even if seeming discouraging of her continual murder investigations, love her and do what they can to help her.

I am already looking forward to book 4!

My first book by this author and I really liked it, it was a bit different read to me as in I have never read a cleaning lady sleuth before so it was quite enjoyable. I liked Tallie she didn’t let anyone stop her from doing what she does best snooping and finding the murder. The author kept me guessing all the way so kudos to her on creating a great mystery.
The only downside is a few of the characters in the story really seems to pick on Tillie and her getting involved with this being the third book this leaves me to wonder if they don’t do it all the time and if they do, this would get my goat.

This being my first book from the series I never found I was missing anything important enough to have to go back and read the first of the series.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Kensington Books in return for an honest review. Tallie Graver can't catch a break. After divorcing her husband, she's returned home to live above the family funeral parlor and avoid working there for the rest of her life. She's taken on a cleaning service and finds it interesting to be on the other side of the mop from her married life. Unfortunately for her and her best friend, Gina, Tallie keeps finding dead bodies! This time, through the window that she just cleaned, she sees the body of a dead man on a bed in a B&B that isn't open for business yet. When the sheriff refuses to open an investigation, Tallie goes all in to figure out who killed the crooked building inspector. Ms. Simon does her usual great job of character building and description. A fun cosy. While not the first in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Tallie Graver knows change. Going from the heights of Society to cleaning their houses, she’s been able to rebuild her life and find great satisfaction in jobs well done. She has also been a thorn in the side of the local police chief as she “helped” him find murderers. So one can understand her suspicions when said cop asks her to investigate a death that she says was murder but the fellow filling in for the chief, who is on leave, insists was natural causes.
Her job is to find out why the corrupt civil servant was killed but also why the acting head cop is so eager to sweep it under the rug. She must do this without the acting cop knowing she is working at her usual nemesis’ behest and without getting herself thrown into jail or worse.
Oh yes, and she also has to do this while “babysitting” a Saint Bernard puppy whose owner ended up in the hospital. Luckily, Mr. Fleefers, her cat, adopts the pooch. The interactions between the species, human, feline, and canine adds to the charm of the story. The fact is Tallie is a great heroine. She has learned and grown from her comeuppance into a heroine with depth and character. Like most cozy heroines, she can be stubborn but she is never dumb. In fact, she is a smart cookie.
I have enjoyed this series and this book is no exception. I give it five purrs and two paws up.

This is a good series. Another good installment and I look forward to the next. It was a quick read and I would recommend it to others.

You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

Tallie Graver has settled back into her life of being the help, and she's enjoying it to no end. She especially loves doing windows. So while she's out at the local inn cleaning the windows in preparation for the grand re-opening this coming weekend, she spots a man in one of the upstairs rooms, even though there's not meant to be anyone there yet. At first she thinks nothing of it, until the window gets a bit cleaner and she realises that 1. he hasn't blinked the whole time, and 2. his neck is at an extremely odd angle. Just as she notices this, she sees the bedroom door close as someone walks out. Once again she's landed herself a dead body, one that she really didn't want. This throws her into a mystery of epic proportions, along with a stand in police chief who really does not like her one bit. With no one believing her that it was murder, instead preferring to buy into the dodgy coroner's report about it being death by heart attack, she is determined to prove to everyone that she was right, as well as find the killer and make her little town safe once more.

This was a really fast paced cosy mystery, and I absolutely loved it. Tallie is a really likeable character, even though she comes across as incredibly naive at times, like with Burton's hand signals. I especially rolled my eyes at her daftness when Burton mentions that Tallie took sign language when she was in primary school. But other than that, I really enjoyed her character. And I wish I enjoyed washing windows as much as she does!

This is actually the third book in the Tallie Graver Mystery series, and I haven't read the previous two, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to be looking for them now! I really enjoyed the fast paced mystery, it was such an easy and engrossing read that I had no problems sitting down and plowing through this book in a day.

The mystery was well thought out, and I actually had no sure idea on whodunit, I had a couple of inklings, but I didn't have it worked out until right before the big reveal. Anyone who has read any of my previous reviews knows that I love a mystery that I don't have worked out within the first third of the book, it's never as fun as when you're finding out things when the characters are.

The writing was lovely and had a great flow to it. Simon's ability at writing distinctly different characters is fantastic and there's not one character I can pick fault with. I loved and hated them all as they were, and wouldn't have changed a thing.

I'm eager to see whether Tallie takes up her father's offer on joining the mortuary full time and as a partner. And I cannot wait to see how her cat and new dog's relationship blossoms. I found it saw adorable that her cat, who hates nearly everyone but Gina, really connected with Peanut. It had definite "aww" factor and made me smile.

If you want a quick and easy read with a satisfying story line and likeable characters, then I definitely suggest you check out this book.

Unfortunately there's honestly not much more for me to say about it, other than it was an enjoyable cosy mystery :)