I gobbled this book up. Mystery, female friendship, a little bit of paranormal and a pinch of romance....

I really wasn't sure what to expect from Grave Reservations. I've been a loyal Cherie Priest reader and especially enjoyed her Clockwork Century series. Grave Reservations is in a much lighter note than her previous works, a cozy mystery. Happily, it really worked for me! Newbie travel agent Leda Foley is psychic, but her "visions" are less than reliable. She rebooks a client on a later flight, saving him from an airplane accident. Her client is a police officer, who contacts her as a last ditch effort to solve a case. This was a very quick read, and great fun. Hoping for a sequel!

Grave Reservations is a fun and easy mystery that will have you laughing. I can't wait to see where the characters go from here. I really enjoyed this one!

When Leda Foley, travel agent and self-described inconsequential psychic, rebooks her client’s flight because of a bad feeling, he’s shocked – right up until the plane he should have been aboard catches fire. When he shows up at her agency with a cold case he just can’t solve, Leda sees a chance to find the answers she’s been searching for too.



Grave Reservations was possibly one of my favourite books of the year. Cherie Priest’s work has previously tended much more towards the serious; the comedic notes she hits here are all the more delightful for being a surprise. Leda and her best friend, Niki, play beautifully off straight-man Detective Grady Merritt as they investigate, and they do so against a beautifully woven background of characters and places.



There’s more than just a murder mystery at play here, and around the central thread of the story flourishes a much larger overall cast of Leda’s friends and colleagues. Her side-hustle as the psychic psongstress (name still subject to debate) is a stroke of genius, and the team at the Castaways bar make up a support network that functions more as an extended family. Even those we don’t spend much time with are endearing and refreshingly individual, without ever feeling quirky for the sake of quirk. Seattle itself makes for a fantastic setting, her coffee shops and eleven-story glass libraries providing the kind of backdrop that such a diverse range of characters deserves.



Levity and karaoke might sound like odd matches for a murder investigation, but it works – the more sombre moments are kept buoyant by the levity, even as they lend depth and dimension to both the story and the characters. The stakes feel real; but it doesn’t keep the book from being a very real antidote to dealing with the real world. Grave Reservations is still an escape for the reader, but one that doesn’t attempt to gloss over the realities of life; one that will call them out and offer you something better for a while.



Grave Reservations is full of the little touches that take a book from good to great. Readers are in for an absolute treat, whether they’re existing fans or new, in this mystery as endearing as it is intriguing.

Grave Reservations is a solid book that I hope continues as a series. Leda Foley is a travel agent and psychic with a strong group of friends to help and support her after her fiancee is killed and no one has been charged with the crime. The book follows her story with plenty of twists and turns and a surprising whodunnit! It is a quirky, fun cozy with lots to recommend it.

This is supper fun and the characters are cute. Reminds me of the Aurora Teagarden Mystery’s. This is a great fast paced read.

A light and funny read that features an unlikely duo: a budding psychic and Settle cop. I would have loved to see some more character development with Leda and Niki. I cannot picture either of them (aside from the boot), and plunging readers right into the story can backfire when it comes to those details.

As the first in this series, although not the first by this author, I hope for a second book with more character and story development. Overall, a good read!

This book was such a fun, light mystery in the best way! Sure it was all about murder but it was fantastical too — protagonist Leda Foley has some bizarre psychic abilities, and unintentionally uses them to save a client of her travel company from being in a plane accident. That client? Detective Grady, who decides to leverage leader and her *powers* to help him solve an open murder case.

The book is a super quick read; the dialogue between Leda and anyone else is quippy and sharp, and all the characters are just a little eccentric. It was a bit predictable, especially the last few chapters, but that didn’t spoil it at all for me. And I get the vibe this may be the first in a series....

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A fun and entertaining weekend read. The characters were original and really funny. An entertaining thriller that was a nice change of pace from so many of the darker novels presented lately.

Fun, cute book that's begging to be made into a series. While it's not exactly breaking any boundaries, Grave Reservations introduces us to lovable, ragtag team that's sure to be a hit among fans of lighthearted, female detective fiction, a la Janet Evanovich. Leda and her sidekick Niki are entertaining enough to sustain many books, though I do hope Priest's plotting advances with each subsequent novel. There's a lot of freedom a writer gets when working with a psychic protagonist, in that necessary information can be 'found' anywhere (plot hole? Voila, the character has a premonition. Fixed.), but even so, I think this could've been a bit more intricately woven. I was also missing the travel agent element, which was such a clever story point that only really serves to get into the story here, so it feels like a bit of a cop out (no pun intended). The button on the end made me think there's a good chance the next novel will feature more of the travel agency and the dynamic of an agent with psychic abilities (wouldn't that be nice!), which feels more unique than your typical detective fare.

This was a delight! A highly-recommended first purchase for fiction collections where crime is popular.

This was a FUN read that made me laugh more than once. A slightly twisty mystery with memorable characters and plenty of heart. Leda is a travel agent with a special talent--unreliable psychic abilities. When she saves the life of a man, he recruits her to help him solve a cold case, but along the way she stumbles upon a new mystery drawing her in deeper than she could have anticipated. I'll read the sequel!

I adore this book! Leda and her friends are the light-hearted fare that I need right now given the world we are living in. Priest is an excellent writer and it shows through in every page of this book. Light, fluffy, fun-recommended!

As far as paranormal cozy mysteries go this is a really good one. I loved the characters and the plot line was interesting. I would definitely read more by this author. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

This was fun! I am hoping that it will become a series. Leda is a psychic and she saves Grady’s life. He needs help solving a case and brings her on. This was funny and kept me hooked! Thank you to Netgalley for the arc ebook!

I’m welcoming a brand new Cherie Priest series with open hands which introduces us her new quirky, talented, struggling travel agent, badass klairvoyant karaoke-r, inconsistent psych: ladies and gentlemen, please make some noise for Leda Foley! She deserves a few more claps because she’s unique, original, sad but resilient , powerful heroine you easily resonate with!

Leda starts her travel agency with a few clients which barely covers her expanses, struggling with grief of her fiancé’s murder, hanging out with confidante, all times bestie Niki at local bar where Niki’s boyfriend works, sharpening her clairvoyance skills at the stage by picking up meaningful songs for people to determine their faiths or help to find a meaningful answer about their lives as she procrastinating everything about her unresolved issues!

When she accidentally uses her power to save detective Grady Merritt’s life by changing his flight details without asking him( because she felt something ominous would happen at his flight which really happened!) she finds herself help the detective to work on a unsolved cold case. After she meets with him at the hotel where the crime occurred by touching the objects she gives important clues to Grady but when they finish their job and shake their hands, Leda sees the image of her dead fiancée Tod by touching Grady’s hand!

There would be three explanations: Grady might be involved in her fiancée’s death! He can also be one of the officers who were present at the crime scene or the cold case they start to investigate might be tied with her fiancée’s death.

With Niki’s insistence, Leda decides to confront Grady to learn the truth which means she has to dig deeper and get herself in more dangerous situation by involving in dangerous criminals’ world!

This was fast, entertaining, smart beginning of the series! It was easy to finish in one sit. Both of the characters were lovely! Grady is also suffering from losing his wife, living with his noisy, clever 17 years old daughter and their cat. Niki was lovely, straightforward, entertaining character. It was fun to be introduced with them.

Overall: it’s easy, riveting page turner and I’m looking forward to read more Leda Foley adventures sooner!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Cherie Priest has written the perfect book for 365 days of pandemic. A fun, flirty, paranormal mystery with well rounded characters who work hard and play hard. I highly recommend this title. Folks who have loved Charlene Harris' silly side but also appreciate a tightly woven plot will love this.

This was pure, unadulterated fun. I’m not sure if it’s actually a super quick read or if it just hooked me that hard but I INHALED this book.

I shouldn’t be surprised by Priest’s versatility anymore, but I feel like I am with each new book. Longtime readers will enjoy for the rich, witty cast of characters we’ve come to expect and new readers (this would be an especially good comp-recommendation for fans of Darynda Jones) will be delighted with how seemingly effortlessly Priest hit all the amateur investigator romp sweet spots while avoiding the typical pitfalls (a protagonist with a decent sense of self preservation and the smarts NOT damsel herself? Inconceivable!)

I don’t know if I’d call this a cozy, but that’s close to the vibe I was getting from it - cozy adjacent, maybe? Definitely lived up to expectations and more and was a refreshing, zany but still emotional ride that was just delightful.

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5 Characters: 4/5
This was a real palate cleanser for me. A light and funny murder mystery written by a woman who typically writes award-winning Steampunk and Horror novels. Leda Foley is an “inconsequential psychic” who is struggling to get over the murder of her fiancée (Tod) a few years before. Her life consists largely of “Klairvoyant Karaoke” at a local bar and getting her travel agency (Foley’s Far-Fetched Flights of Fancy) going. Until one day she manages to save the life of a Seattle cop who is investigating a murder that just might be tied to Tod’s murder … Lots of fun references to the Seattle goth scene (I think? Some scene anyway!) and favorite places (to me) such as Elliot Bay Books and the Seattle Central Library. Irreverant, tongue-in-cheek tone.

Some good quotes: Quotes:
“But this was the granddaddy of them all — eleven geometrically styled stories of pure, weapons-grade knowledge.” (About the Seattle Central library)

“Dude pronoun for the sake of statistical likelihood, though I wouldn’t count out his wife. If anyone hated that guy as much as I did, it’s probably her.”

“Steve folds like a paper crane any time someone mentions about the cops.”

“… and a waistcoat with a pocket watch that said he visited the nineteenth century in his downtime , for funsies.”

“An army of ankle-high canines spilled out of the house, swarmed Grady’s feet like furry piranhas, and followed both men back inside — where they thoroughly sniffed the newcomer, deemed him harmless, and immediately began fighting over whose belly he’d pet first.”

I am a huge fan of Cherie Priest and I had no idea she was putting out a cozy mystery! The pandemic has caused me to find a love for the genre that I never knew I had, so when one of your favorite authors pens one, it is an automatic must-read! It was so fun and quirky with a great cast of characters. I loved that the book explores Leda learning her powers and Grady and Niki and basically everyone honestly, just being on board with everything and supporting her instead of having to deal with skeptics. It is annoying most of the time. I loved the tone of the book leaning towards upbeat, but the thread of trauma sits right under it, especially with Leda. I cannot wait to read more about Leda and Grady and their psychic detective team up!