Winter Snow a Living Legacy and Obituary writer working for the local funeral home and freelance since the paper she worked for went out. She also has this huge Great Pyrenees puppy who is the best comic relief. The cast of characters in a little convoluted and the storyline is fairly steady with intriguing twists and nutsy red herrings.

This is the second book in the series but I don’t feel like I missed anything by not reading book 1 first. I liked this story, but it felt a bit all over the place, and there were some parts I had a difficult time reading. This is a struggle for an ADHD reader!!

Gerri Lewis has written an exceptional story full of suspense and plot twists questioning every characters' genuity throughout, making this a very inquisitve read. Once the reader has grasped the characters' roles, it becomes one that you cant put down because youre intrigued to get to the next plot twist! Winter Snow, ex journalist and now professional obituary writer lives in her uncle, Richard's lake side cottage in a small town. She is dating local police officer Kip. When it becomes apparent that there's someone on an arson spree, Winter starts digging and makes her start doubting those close to her - including her best friends Carla who works in the local funeral home and Scoop, the local journalist. Then there are two deaths that happen in close proximity of each other and assumptions are made that they are connected with the fire. Threats start to fly around and Scoop is rattled as he has a source that is divulging details that the police have not released but hes not ready to reveal his source which then makes him look extremely guilty. Kip tells Winter to stop digging for her own safety. Of course she does the opposite putting her own and Carla's lives in danger. This book definitely highlights people are not as they always seem. Coming June 2025. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #arcreading #gerrilewisauthor #crookedlanebooks #crookedlanebookspublishing

I so love the main character and her job as an obituary writer! It is very unique among the "cozy careers" mystery writers use. The secondary characters are also a blast. I hope we see more from author Gerri Lewis.

Book two in the series. Wnen Winter, an obituary writer, starts to look into what happened with her latest subject it gets interesting. From the cover I expected a bit more of a cozy mystery, but still though, I enjoyed this one and would recommend.

Grave Words by Gerri Lewis #NetGalley

I chose this book because of the colourful autumn leaves, orange pumpkins, and smiling dog on the front cover. It is the first book I have read by this author. I like the short chapters and can feel the fear Winter experiences in the funeral home’s basement with the coffins .

I like the characters - obituary writer, Winter Snow, her best friend and reporter Scoop, Uncle Richard and Horace the friendly neighbour, and the dogs.

Grave Words: A Deadly Deadlines Mystery by Gerri Lewis is the book to read if you are looking for a contemporary cozy mystery with a hint of humour. This was a quick fun read! 3.8 stars

Thanks to @NetGalley and publisher #CrookedLaneBooks for providing me the opportunity to read the advanced reading copy of #GraveWords by #GerriLewis and write an honest review of my thoughts about the book.
#NetGalley November
#GoodReads November

I received a free copy of, Grave Words, by Gerri Lewis, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is book two in The Deadly Deadline Mystery Series. Winter Snow is listed as deceased, but she is very much alive, Thank you very much! Winter is trying to write an obituary for a local man named Chester, but is having a very hard time of it. love the names in this book, Winter Snow, Scoop, Winfred, etc. This was an interesting murder mystery.

What about a murder story where the first person to die is you?

Such a cool way to introduce our character, Winter Snow, her job as an obituary writer and the first people in her entourage.

I must say that I was hooked from the first line—I really loved this book!

Although I had already read the first installment, I thoroughly enjoyed this second adventure. The characters are well introduced, and their relationships develop in a way that you can feel what Winter Snow is going through and how she struggles.

I enjoyed watching the police officers do their job professionally, without divulging information about an ongoing investigation, even though Winter and Kip are a newly formed couple.


I liked how her role as an obituary writer forced her to find alternative ways to gather clues and solve mysteries in order to complete her job, rather than just acting like an amateur sleuth.

I also enjoyed the writing, which is often lacking in depth in this kind of novel.

Thank you #CrookedLaneBooks and #Netgally for this for this discovery. And of course, to #GerriLewis for writing so beautifully!

4 Stars. This is the second book in the Deadly Deadlines series. I did not read book 1 and had no issue understanding this book. We have Winter Snow, a Living Legacy and Obituary writer who works for the local funeral home since the newspaper she worked for went under. This is a quaint cozy mystery and humor and plot twists. I used to read cozy mysteries all of the time. I need to get back to that as I totally enjoyed this. This plot was a bit convoluted for a cozy mystery, but overall it's a solid 4 star book.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the ARC. I greatly appreciate it. I do recommend this book.

This was a great cozy mystery, the story seemed short and left you wanting more. The story had solid reasoning and didn't come of as far fetched which made it such an enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with is arc for my honest review!

Rating 1 star

I went into this book thinking it was going to be a cozy mystery which it has the element of but it just didn't give me that cozy mystery vibe. The book also lost my interest quickly and I just couldn't become engaged in the story. The storyline seemed cluttered from early on making it difficult to stay engaged in the story. I didn't feel a connection between the characters which made me feel disconnected to the story.

Thanks to author, Gerri Lewis and NetGalley for providing this light, entertaining ARC. Let me begin with my rating of 3.5, bordering on a 4.0 at times. GRAVE WORDS never commanded my complete attention, but had moments of being an entertaining murder mystery. The plot sets up like a modern day "CLUE" who-done-it, with sufficient character development to keep the reader's interest....at times.

Periodically, the storyline would jump the tracks and ramble on with dialogue and conversational text. Was the reference on p.166 to "Kettle One vodka" instead of "Ketel One" and use of Gladys Night meant to add to the lightness and humor of the story?

Again the storyline seemed cluttered early on, making it difficult to stay engaged in the story, eventually pulling together at the conclusion.

I want to first say that I read this book while cruising in the Mediterranean, so I read it disjointedly. Having disclosed that, I could not become engaged. The book failed to keep my interest. I usually enjoy “cozy mysteries” and I did enjoy these characters very much but the book, not so much. Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. #GraveWords, #NetGalley, #CrookedLaneBooks.

amateur-sleuth, arson, Connecticut, contemporary, cozy-mystery, family, friends, friendship, investigations, local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, murder, newspapers, obituary-writer, read, relationship-issues, relationships, reporter, rural, siblings, small-business, small-town*****

Winter Snow a Living Legacy and Obituary writer working for the local funeral home and freelance since the paper she worked for went out. She also has this huge Great Pyrenees puppy who is the best comic relief. The cast of characters in a little convoluted and the storyline is fairly steady with intriguing twists and nutsy red herrings. Loved it every bit as much as the first and looking forward to the next in series!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected ebook file from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
Avail Jun 10, 2025 #GraveWords by Gerri Lewis #DeadlyDeadlinesMysteriesBk2 @crookedlanebks #NetGalley #CozyMystery

The description had promise and made me intrigued to read Grave Words by Gerri Lewis. However, I found the writing very dry and had a hard time willing myself to continue the book. The main character, Winter, did not really seem to have a personality and the whole "has an obituary written about herself but she is not actually dead" premise somehow was not made a bigger deal. I was a bit disappointed about this book and maybe it is because I am so used to more descriptive and not so matter of fact writing.

Almost exactly a year ago, I found myself up all night reading Book 1 - The Last Word. I completed this, Book 2, in one sitting except I had intended to read a couple of chapters with my morning coffee and put it down until bedtime.  That did not happen, I could not put it down.

This story about Winter Snow (love the name) a Living Legacy and Obituary writer poking into the lives of those she is writing about, is in the middle of arsons and murders in this one.

It was a slow burn that picked up nicely. This story is set in current times, post-pandemic with YouTube Reels and AI references, even a nod to Air Tags. It was nice to see them woven into a story without being forced.

I liked that Winter owned up to her mistakes. She’s had some significant losses in her relatively young life that her uncle and father figure Richard, thinks helps her do her job so well. 

Poor Kip, boyfriend to Winter and police detective who is stuck between a rock and hard place, trying to do his job and keep Winter safe. Their relationship has some growing pains and they seemed to come through them ok.

Horace and Richard, to have people who care about you so much is a blessing.

Scoop, wow, what a time he had of things. To be a person of interest in the arsons and murder - yikes!  He wants to cooperate with the police but how can he reveal his source if he wants to continue his career as a journalist.

There are wonderful characters and relationships that are not perfect but relatable. Winter’s thoughts tend to wander but she does come back and as she takes you along for the ride, it seems like she is inviting you to help solve with her. 

A heady mystery that I could not put down until the end.

Thank you to #NetGalley  and #CrookedLaneBooks  for the opportunity to do an early read and share my thoughts on the story. 

Happy Reading!

This was great for mystery lovers. there were a lot of suspicions of Winter's friend Scoop and she sets out to find out if he is involved in the arsons or not. This was a fast read and cute read. This was a lighthearted and clean mystery.

Another visit with Winter Snow, the obituary writer. It is a unique job which makes doe an interesting premise. I really liked the characters and the comedic relief of the dogs thrown in. This time we find Winter's fried Scoop in the thick of it when an article he posts about an arsonist can only come from the arsonist themselves. Pressured to tell who his source is, things get more complicated when someone dies in a fire. It is up to Winter to find who did it while protecting herself and those she loves. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

This was a strong sequel in the Deadly Deadline Mystery series, it had a great mystery going on and thought the overall story worked well and left me wanting more in this series.

An involved storyline but I feel the ending is a bit rushed. The connection of obituary writing and a funeral parlour to the deaths in the community is credible, giving a solid reason for the protagonist to be involved. There are a number of homonym errors which I assume will be remedied in the final copy. I received this as an advance copy from NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Grave Words is the first book in the deadly Deadline Mysteries. It takes place in the town of Ridgefield, CT. Winter Snow is the main character in the story. She writes personal obituaries for people as a business. She use to be a newspaper reporter but left when it was sold. She took their buyout. She has a best friend, Carla who works as an assistant for a local funeral home. Kip Michaels is a police detective for the Ridgefield Police Department and also dating Winter. Tony works for the fire department and is Carla's brother.

Carla calls Winter and tells her about two obituaries that were in the paper. One was one on Winter and the other was written by a client who left on a cruise for the month. Both were not right with what was written. She had to contact the newspaper and straighten it all out. Scoop whose real name is Kevin Blake was a friend who worked with her at the paper. He was still a reporter. He was doing an articles on fire arsonists in town. The first fire was burned to the ground. Mrs. Mean was away visiting her daughter when it happened. The second fire was two weeks later. It was a spec house which burned down to the foundation. Again the owner, the contractor was away visiting his brother. The 3rd fire was Pop's Place. Jimmy who owns it was financially sound as did his landlord. A homeless man named Chester was killed in the fire. The 4th fire was an apartment over a garage.

Richard is her uncle who raised her when her parents died. He gave Winter his cottage near the water when he moved into Village Square retirement home. He loved coming there to cook meals. Horace Winter's next door neighbor is good friends of Richarad. Carp is a carpenter who is working on her house. Winter helped him expand his business and he did work for her in exchange. Carp has only eyes for Carla.

The retirement home has a monthly speaker for series for residents called Village Voices. Their speaker is not able to do it so Richard calls Winter and asks her to be the speaker. She goes and gives speech on Obituaries, The residents asked her questions about her own obit they saw in the paper. She makes it into the reason why obits can be done wrong to her advantage.

Richard and Horace had invited people to the cottage for dinner. Sister's Abbie and Gabby were there. They were the town's gossips. They told Winter that Scoop was holding back information. He was the last person who saw Chester alive. Winter and Kip went into her library and found Scoop sitting looking at her computer. He was acting strange. She tells him that Chester had been murdered. Kip asked her to not investigate as it could get her and her friends all in danger.

This is where the story takes off. There is so much to tell that I will leave it to the reader to enjoy to the exciting ending. This was a fun read. I look forward to the next installment of the series.