The Restorer

October 24, 2011
Stevens kicks off her Graveyard Queen paranormal romance series with this disappointing entry. Cemetery restorer Amelia Gray has seen ghosts since she was a child faithfully following her father's strict rules to ignore them and avoid those who are haunted. However, when a girl is brutally murdered and her body dumped in a cemetery that she's restoring, Amelia breaks her rules and becomes involved with sexy police detective John Devlin, a man haunted by the ghosts of his dead wife and child. As Amelia digs deeper into the girl's murder, she grows closer to Devlin, unearths a number of secrets, and makes herself the killer's next target. Stevens serves up a sultry tale full of lush descriptions of Charleston, S.C. and the surrounding countryside, as well as interesting tidbits about cemeteries and gravestones. Unfortunately, the weak, rather abrupt resolution to the mystery and lack of answers about ghostsâincluding Amelia's ability to see themâultimately bury this creepy, atmospheric tale.