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.

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley for this title. (3.8 ⭐)

A cozy mystery wouldn’t have been my first choice for this title, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The main character (our protagonist) is Kathy, who works for S.Y.T.H.E. Kathy is responsible for ushering the newly dead into the afterlife. She collects the souls, moves them to processing, and does her job that way, never getting involved with the mental state of that soul (essence).

Kathy considers herself unremarkable. She's going through a divorce with her husband, whom she loves, which is confusing, but she is doing this because she has to keep secrets about the type of work she does for the privacy and safety of the soul she's ushering and S.Y.T.H.E.

However, when a 17-year-old client, Conner, must be processed, Kathy can't find him. She goes to where he was found but can’t locate him, so she searches. When she finally catches up with Connor, she gets more than she bargained for. Connor tells her that one of your people (S.Y.T.H.E.) murdered me. Kathy can't seem to understand why someone at S.Y.T.H.E. would be responsible for killing a client and to what ends.

The powers that be at S.Y.T.H.E. want this client processed as it takes 45 days from the time a person is deceased for them to turn into a ghost where they are doomed to haunt the place that they died forever. The clock is ticking as Kathy tries to solve Connors's murder without getting her friends and family tied up in this drama or hurt even further.

Kathy is also thrown for a loop by a significant life change, and she would also have to let the people who love her back into her life to help her figure out what happened to Connor.

The one thing I will say about this story is that I found it way too easy to figure out who the killer was before the book told me. It was too obvious. So, while I did enjoy it and thought it was interesting, I wish they had made it harder for me to figure out who the killer was.

This is a great gateway mystery—light on the violence and cursing with a positive outcome.

I did not finish this one: I just despised the protagonist and could not get past the first two chapters. The premise sounded fun, and I'm a sucker for an angsty female reaper story, but sadly this one wasn't for me.

I think this book would appeal to readers who enjoy their mysteries with more focus on the characters and less on the crime solving. Kathy, the main character, is in her forties, burnt out on desk work, pregnant, and recently separated from her ex. Rather than being mainly plot/mystery driven, much of the writing centers on Kathy examining her insecurities about herself and about becoming a mother through the lens of the book's events.

This book was so good. And so freaking sad.
It’s so funny in spite of it being about a grim reaper. The mystery was fun and definitely kept me engaged.
I’m excited that this is the start of a series, can’t wait for the next one.

Kathy is a modern day grim reaper working for S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences). She works in natural causes, but runs into a problem when she goes to collect her latest soul. He claims he was murdered, and refuses to go with her until she finds who killed him.

Kathy is in her forties, in the middle of a divorce, and pregnant. She does not want to help solve a murder, but feels she must. For one, if she doesn’t collect her client’s soul in time, he is doomed to stay a ghost forever.

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer has a cast of quirky characters. The story is witty and lighthearted. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

This is a paranormal novel that has the feelings of the shows The Ghost Whisper and Dead Like Me. The seriousness of Ghost Whisper; the humor and realness of Dead Like Me. This particular Grim Reaper works in natural deaths whose job it is to help the soul get to processing. However, this soul insists on the death being murder and refuses to go with her until they solve the mystery. She is then set on the case with a countdown to solve the murder and get his soul to processing before it’s too late. Oh, on top of this the Grim is a pregnant 42yr old dealing with issues of her own.

This was probably a case of wrong person, wrong time. I was not a fan of how the main character acted towards Connor. I know he’s an annoying teenager, but he’s also dead. Cut him some slack. DNF at ~50%