3.5 stars for First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson book 1) by Darynda Jones.
Apparently there is a mood for every occasion; either that or my perception on story content evolves over time. Lately, I find myself revisiting books chucked under my keep-in-view stash, mainly books I read more than a year ago but due to one reason or another, unable to proceed further than 2 or 4 chapters. Come to think of it, I am still very much the same person, but what I used to deem as giving me reading block turns out to be enjoyable stories now. And book 1 of Charley Davidson series falls fittingly into this category.
First Grave on the Right is a delightfully pleasant and lighthearted read. Though the story centers on things that go bump in the night, reading First Grave does not give me the creeps nor chills due to the relaxed and upbeat style of writing by the author.
The story as told through the eyes of lead character, Emily, flows adequately well with reasonably developed background history. As the story progresses, I find myself liking Emily more and more, what with her good sense of humor and fluid ability to view things brightly and turn dire situations into something cheerful and hilarious. Some cleverly thought out scenes that amuse me to no end are those involving Emily and her cell phone tricks.
Besides solving mysteries for the dead or rather undead, Emily has some secrets of her own to unravel, questions that no one is able to give her answers to, except perhaps herself. It is interesting to read on how Emily takes things into her own hands and tries solving the puzzles by her own reasoning and investigation. Equally noteworthy is the entertaining way the author presents some of the other characters that keep me guessing which of which may possibly rub off the right way with Emily and lead to development of something further.
Notwithstanding the above, I do have a grievance or two about what I feel as shortcomings which hopefully can be improved upon in later books in the series. The first being parts of the narration tending on the side of long-windedness and bored me out. The second being introduction of a tad too many minor characters. While I understand that Emily has got the third eye to see things that normal people do not, it does get confusing with the breezing of names that come and go; names that I am not sure if the characters they portray are of importance and will stay for good or are just a passing cloud. Third and lastly, certain segments of the story do not gel quite so well. Read on its own, the individual section is probably fine, but when combined to make out the whole story, some parts just do not go well enough to attest the natural flow. In any case, it is still a fun experience reading First Grave on the Right.
All in all, a jolly interesting story with likable characters, both lead and side. I will be looking forward to more, hopefully improved account, in the subsequent instalments.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 29 Nov 2011
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Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.
*Blurb from author's website*
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