Thursday, March 04, 2010

Dead and Kicking by Wendy Roberts


Title: Dead and Kicking
Author: Wendy Roberts
ISBN: 9780451228628, Obsidian Mystery, 2009
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #3 Ghost Dusters mystery
Rating: B+

First Line: The cemetery smelled of freshly mowed grass.

Sadie Novack's brother committed suicide. It was several days before his body was found. The grieving Sadie had to clean his apartment. Vowing that no other family would have to do that while she had anything to say about it, Sadie quit her job and went into business for herself cleaning crime scenes. Along the way she discovered that she has another talent: she can see the dead and help them come to terms with what's happened.

Right now Sadie is going through a rough patch. Her father has died and doesn't show any signs of wanting to move on. Her boyfriend, Zack, is spending a lot of time with a former girlfriend, and Sadie is trying to take care of jobs for a second cleaning company while its owner is out of town on business. In the midst of all this, she finds herself shoveling out the house of a hoarder, and there's a very angry ghost trying to keep Sadie off the second floor. There seems to be something buried under all the trash that's worth killing for.

I enjoy this series, and this was another good entry. Although the crime scene clean-up can be a bit stomach turning from time to time, I still find those scenes interesting, but it's Sadie that makes me come back for each new installment. She's a very real character, and while I'm reading about her, I can run through so many different emotions: sadness, compassion, irritation, confusion, rage, and laugh-out-loud humor. I don't like a lot of "woo woo" in my reading, but the paranormal scenes where Sadie deals with ghosts are very well done and don't overload any of the circuits in my fuse box.

If you enjoy reading Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly series, you should enjoy this series as well. I do.

[Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.]

6 comments:

  1. This is another series that's on my radar. Maybe at some point. There are just so many out there and they almost all sound good to me! :-)

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  2. Kay-- I've always found that to be a particularly nice problem. Just think how miserable it would be to have catalog after catalog of books and series... and none of them sound good!

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  3. I've ordered this book. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  4. I LOVED the first book in the series and have book 2 sitting here in my TBR mountain. I just love the characters! Yes, the crime scenes can be a bit stomach turning, but they don't bother me too much! Great review!!

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  5. Glad to see you enjoyed #3. I enjoyed #1 and plan to read the rest.

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  6. Joe-- You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it.

    Jennifer-- Thanks!

    Kris-- For some reason, this is one of the few series that I'm keeping up with. I usually lag far behind.

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Thank you for taking the time to make a comment. I really appreciate it!