The premise of this book was super original and I don’t know why I was expecting mystery, it was something completely different and I was not disappointed! It was so much more, Kathy might have been at times a little too much of a pessimistic but ultimately the story worked out and I forgot I was reading about grim reapers for a minute!

Sometimes it takes working with the dead to start living. Kathy Valence is 42, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex-husband’s baby which is not exactly the typical protagonist you’d expect in a paranormal mystery. Oh, and she’s also a reaper, working for S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences). Her job? Escort souls to the afterlife. Easy enough, until one soul, that of 17-year-old Conner Ortiz, goes missing. With only 45 days to uncover the truth and help him cross over, Kathy is thrown into the most chaotic case of her afterlife career. With help from her mentor, her almost-ex-husband, and Conner’s own resourcefulness, she’ll have to balance soul retrieval, grief, and her own messy personal life to prevent a ghost from being doomed forever.

I mostly liked this. As a series starter, it shows real potential. Maxie Dara writes with humor and heart, and the found-family themes gave the book a surprisingly touching emotional core. Simon, Kathy’s gentle ex, was another interesting addition. However, I didn’t connect with any of our characters to start with. Kathy herself was a bit of a Debbie Downer. Her constant fixation on her past mistakes annoyed me, and though she became more sympathetic by the end, it took basically the whole book to warm up to her. Like get it together lady! Conner’s on the other hand foul-mouthed teen angst was a bit overdone. I got the point that he’s a teenager, but it just felt a little forced. Still, they both grew on me over time, and I appreciated their emotional arcs.

The other thing was pacing. The book was a bit of a slow burn. For a story involving death, secret organizations, and potential murder, I expected the pace to be snappier. There were too many narrative dead ends, which slowed the mystery’s momentum, and made it hard to stay with it a bit. Then once you got to the ending it felt rushed and underexplained.

Overall it’s a solid 3-star read. It didn’t blow me away, but I’d definitely consider picking up a sequel. It’s quirky, heartfelt, and has a unique premise. It falls more into the Cozy mystery realm in my opinion, and I’m interested to see what a second book looks like. Hopefully with a little more polish in pacing and character development, this series could really shine.

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer is out now. Huge thank you to Berkley for my copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.
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A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer was such a fun ride. Immediately hooked by the premise, I found this one hard to put down.

Kathy's a grim reaper, but not in a dark cloak, carrying a scythe kind of way. More like office cubicles and Excel spreadsheets because soul collecting has modernized and gone corporate! Kathy works for the natural causes division, so when she's dispatched to collect the essence of a teen who recently died of a seizure, she's shocked to hear that he believes he was murdered. Now Kathy's boring life is anything but as she works with Conner to discover his killer who seems to be another employee of S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences).

This was a cozy, fun read with clever characters and a satisfying mystery.

During October I love to read thrillers, paranormal romances, and anything with main characters you might want to dress up as for Halloween. We are past October now and many of you are into the mistletoe and sleigh bells of the holidays, but this is still a fun book to pick up!
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Is the Grim Reaper spooky enough for #spookyseason? This Grim Reaper isn’t spooky at all, in fact, she is a middle age pregnant woman going through a divorce when the soul she has been assigned to escort to processing won’t come along peacefully.
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A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara is a fun start to a new series, S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery #1. The title was cute so I expected fun. It bills as a mystery so I expected the mysterious element of discovering what happened. What I didn’t expect was found family and a wonderful quirky relationship between Grim and teenage ghost. I loved that. I don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out who-dunnit in this cozy mystery because I was so caught up in Kathy’s (the Grim Reaper) life.
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I really enjoyed this quick read.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

Oh my goodness, what a pleasant little surprise this book was! I genuinely gobbled it up and still want so much more! From the romance (even though I usually hate second chance romance), to the mystery, everything was so fun and full of intrigue. I did not want to put it down until I knew everything that was going to happen!

I've always loved books that are effortlessly funny while also having a depth behind them, and this was a book that did both parts spectacularly. From Kathy's own journey with love to her struggles with life itself, there was so much to make you stop and think, while still making you giggle every few pages.

I can't wait to see where this delightful series is going to go!

This cozy paranormal mystery introduces Kathy Valence, a 42-year-old grim reaper working for S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences). Kathy's routine life is disrupted when she's assigned to collect the soul of 17-year-old Conner Ortiz, only to find his soul missing. Upon locating him, Conner insists he was murdered by someone within S.C.Y.T.H.E. and refuses to move on until the truth is uncovered.

Kathy, dealing with her own personal challenges—mid-divorce and pregnant—teams up with Conner, her retired mentor, and her almost ex-husband to solve the mystery. The narrative balances humor and heart, with Kathy's self-deprecating wit and the evolving dynamics between characters adding depth to the story. While the mystery is engaging, it's the character development and found family theme that truly shine.

This book was written for you if:
- You enjoy cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist.
- You're interested in stories featuring unconventional protagonists facing relatable life challenges.
- You appreciate narratives that blend humor, heart, and a touch of the supernatural.

I had such a fantastic time reading this book! The idea that reapers went through a rebrand and went corporate, was such an interesting idea, and to have this lady who works for S.C.Y.T.H.E. have a soul collection go awry and she has to investigate? Yeah, I had to read this book!

First off, the tone of this book was so much fun to read! If I were to describe it, I would say it's a kind of dry, situational kind of humor, which I really enjoyed. Like the fact that she's divorcing her husband because she can't tell him about her job, but they still love one another. Which is good, because she's pregnant with their kid.

While that's going on in her personal life, in her professional one, the one place where she hasn't screwed anything up, things are going badly, with this soul that insists that he was murdered by one of her co-workers, and wants it solved before he'd move on. Which when the policy is to bring them in right away? Yeah, it was an upheaval for certain!

The investigation was a lot of fun to read, she really had to go outsider of her comfort zone, and I loved watching as the time was ticking down and the pressure was mounting! The little family that they created, I really adored it, because Simon isn't a typical romance hero, he's just a typical middle-aged man. And I hoped that it would end the way that it did, and that was so cute!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to see where the series will go from here!

This was actually really good. Witty and fun with some mystery! Kathy, grim reaper extraordinaire, is investigating Connor's death, a death that should not have happened. Big surprise as Kathy figures out what is really going on the death department! Loved!

Yes please to lighthearted books about grim reapers. This had Good Place vibes mixed with Christopher Moore and I really enjoyed the cross generational nature of the main characters working together as well as the background second chance romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara!

Discover: Maxie Dara's endearing debut novel follows a modern-day grim reaper faced with solving a murder and allowing herself to accept the love she deserves.

Review continues on Shelf Awareness...

If you like your mysteries complicated, messy, and funny, this is your book. It starts off slow, and you won't be sure that you actually like the characters. But about halfway through, the story gets good, you realize the characters grew on you, and the foul-mouthed Conner is making you laugh and sigh, remembering your own teenage days. The writing could be tighter, but the ending is great, and I never guessed whodunnit.

Ever wonder what would happen if the grim reaper had to solve a mystery? Well your questions will be answered in the pages of A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer. This one kept me turning pages because I just had to know the mystery was going to wrap up.

A cute take on the grim repear's dark job, humous and entertaining. A cozy-ish mystery taking a grim reaper from a dark entity to just your every day investigator job almost like a humorous take on an insurance claim only finding out true causes of death.

If the cover and title weren't enough to convince me to read this one, a grim reaper protagonist definitely did the trick. I took to Kathy right away. She's rather unassuming and ordinary in some respects. The kind of person that the wrong people might underestimate. Which, of course, they do in this mystery, which I found well plotted with the right amount of action and intrigue. I especially enjoyed seeing the bond between Conner and Kathy grow once Conner realized Kathy wasn't the enemy and that she really was going to help him find out who killed him. I enjoyed the banter between the two characters. Kathy becomes the mother that Conner wishes he'd had when he was alive.

Kathy isn't the kind of person who normally steps outside the rules, but she has a good heart and a strong sense of what is right. The reader sees Kathy come into her own in this novel, not just in her role as a grim reaper, but also in her personal life. She's been holding her soon to be ex-husband at arm's length their entire relationship, loving him, but keeping a big part of herself, including her career, from him. She's afraid if he knows the truth about her, if he sees the real Kathy, he will be disappointed. Simon was one of my favorite characters in the novel. He isn't perfect, but he only wants Kathy to be happy. As Kathy comes to terms with becoming a mother, trying to find out the mystery behind Conner's death, and save Conner's soul, I was completely taken in by this funny and heartwarming mystery. The paranormal elements only added to my enjoyment of it. I cannot wait to read what the author comes out with next.

A unique take on a murder mystery, I loved this supernatural tale. The voice was fun and fresh, and the world-building fun and exciting.

Started out OK, but then I just lost interest. This wasn't for me, but will purchase for the library. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Such a good blend of humor, mystery and intrigue! Wondering if this will continue as a series! Love the dynamic of Connor & Kathy. A well done story that I will be recommending to readers of many different genres.

Description
Murder is not her department.

It’s not like it used to be. Modern-day grim reapers wear business casual, not black cloaks, and they don’t carry scythes, they work for S. C. Y. T. H. E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), where the Department of Natural Causes is the least exciting gig. And that’s how Kathy Valence likes it: boring and predictable. She has enough stress in her personal life; she’s mid-divorce, pregnant, and terrified she doesn’t have what it takes to be a good mom.

Then, she goes to pick up a new client and finds his soul is missing. When she finally tracks down Conner Ortiz, he angrily insists he was murdered, and he refuses to move on until Kathy finds out why and by whom.

Kathy has only forty-five days to solve the mystery before the boy’s soul is doomed to roam the earth as a ghost forever. To do that she’ll have to call on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and, inconveniently, Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career . . . and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

Thank you for this ARC! this book was such a good read. When I sat down to enjoy it I found myself binging it and could not put it down. The whole grim reaper vibes was really interesting and fun to read.