Second Grave on the Left

Starred review from June 20, 2011
Jones perfectly balances humor and suspense in her tight second paranormal thriller featuring grim reaper, PI, and "all-around badass" Charley Davidson (after First Grave on the Right). In separate cases, smart-mouthed Charley pursues two missing persons by using a mix of ghostly informants, family police contacts, quick thinking, and just plain luck. The first, Mimi Jacobs, disappeared just as several of her old high school classmates met untimely deaths; the second, Charley's frustrating but sexy sometimes stalker and occasional lover, Reyes Farrow, who's literally the son of Satan, decided to permanently leave his body to demons and live in the immaterial realm. To complicate Charley's quest, Reyes has hidden his body so she can't find it. The fiery relationship between Charley and Reyes will satisfy paranormal romance fans, but it's the distinctive characters, dead and alive, and the almost constant laughs that will leave readers eager for the next installment.

May 1, 2011

Grim Reaper Charley Davidson (First Grave on the Right, 2011) returns to solve a missing-person case and to protect the Son of Satan Reyes Farrow from demons. 

Private investigator Charley Davidson, otherwise known as the Grim Reaper, is woken in the middle of the night by her assistant Cookie, frantically explaining that her friend Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she received a text message to meet her at a coffee shop. When the two women arrive at their destination, they discover no Mimi, but Charley finds a cryptic message scrawled on the bathroom wall—a clue that will eventually lead them to a tragic event that occurred at a party when Mimi was in high school. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Reyes Alexander Farrow, who has been Charley's protector and is the Son of Satan, has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. In a seductive moment between the two, Farrow confesses that he has left his body because he's being tortured by demons who want to lure and use Charley as their portal to heaven. Terrified to lose him, Charley insists that he tell her where he has hidden his body to save him from a grisly death. Interwoven subplots include finding out the mysterious identity of Cookie's ghostly passenger, who resides in the trunk of her car and refuses to crossover, and Charley's strained relationship with her family. Jones includes back story in this sequel that explains Charley's powers as the Grim Reaper and her complex relationship with Farrow. Much of that information does little to enlighten new readers to the series.

An onslaught of over-the-top, sarcastic and infantile one-liners and observations become increasingly tedious. These inconsequential comments have little connection to the story, and the reader grows weary to not care whether Charley will save Farrow from his demonic torturers or whether she will find the missing Mimi. 

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March 15, 2011

As we learned in First Grave on the Right, winner in manuscript of the RWA 2009 Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance, P.I. Charley Davidson works part-time as a grim reaper, escorting the recently deceased upward. Here, she tracks down a missing woman while contending with love-interest Reyes, who happens to be the son of Satan and who's currently left his body behind. Seems that he'd like to avoid being tortured by demons wanting to use him to get to Charley, whom they see as a stepping stone to heaven. First Grave got some nice reviews, and this is getting a nice push, so listen up for fans who like fantasy, romance, and a bit of humor.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.