Book 50, 2015
Aug. 8th, 2015 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeLast night, I stayed up late to finish reading Don of the Dead by Casey Daniels. It is the first book in the "Pepper Martin" mystery series.
Penelope "Pepper" Martin was once an entitled society girl with a perfect home life and the perfect fiance. That is, until her father was convicted of Medicare fraud and sent to prison. Pepper's perfect life crashed around her, and she was forced to seek employment. The only job Pepper can find is as a tour guide at Garden View cemetery. After a misstep causes her to fall and strike her head on a mausoleum, Pepper is now seeing the ghost of dead mobster Augustino "Gus" Scarpetti. He was killed in a mob hit thirty years before, but he can't move on until he finds out who killed him. Gus strong arms Pepper into helping.
Pepper agrees to look into the matter, but she never anticipated that doing so would put her own life in jeopardy. Now, Pepper is dodging mob hitmen and the FBI, while juggling a mutual attraction to police officer Quinn, and a not-so-mutual attraction to doctor Dan.
The story was peopled with many colorful characters, and even gruff Gus came across as charming and sympathetic. Pepper was a bit scatter-brained, which could be blamed on her head injury, but it didn't detract from her likability. I enjoyed the story, and I even put some puzzle pieces together before Pepper did. However, the ultimate "who dunnit" surprised me and was fitting.
Giving this one four out of five:
♦♦♦♦
Penelope "Pepper" Martin was once an entitled society girl with a perfect home life and the perfect fiance. That is, until her father was convicted of Medicare fraud and sent to prison. Pepper's perfect life crashed around her, and she was forced to seek employment. The only job Pepper can find is as a tour guide at Garden View cemetery. After a misstep causes her to fall and strike her head on a mausoleum, Pepper is now seeing the ghost of dead mobster Augustino "Gus" Scarpetti. He was killed in a mob hit thirty years before, but he can't move on until he finds out who killed him. Gus strong arms Pepper into helping.
Pepper agrees to look into the matter, but she never anticipated that doing so would put her own life in jeopardy. Now, Pepper is dodging mob hitmen and the FBI, while juggling a mutual attraction to police officer Quinn, and a not-so-mutual attraction to doctor Dan.
The story was peopled with many colorful characters, and even gruff Gus came across as charming and sympathetic. Pepper was a bit scatter-brained, which could be blamed on her head injury, but it didn't detract from her likability. I enjoyed the story, and I even put some puzzle pieces together before Pepper did. However, the ultimate "who dunnit" surprised me and was fitting.
Giving this one four out of five:
♦♦♦♦
