When Marabella Vinegar’s favorite neighbor, Sam Lipschitz, dies, everyone, including the NYPD, thinks it was natural causes. After all, Sam was pushing eighty, with a heart condition. But Marabella knows Sam’s heart problem was mild and under control with medication—and she’s already acquainted with Sam’s greedy relatives—so she doesn’t think there was anything natural about it. Neither does her … her sleuthing sidekick, her mother-the-ghost-detective, who has recently dropped back into Marabella’s life, happy to interfere again. Not only that, but Rose, another elderly neighbor, tells Marabella she overheard Sam arguing with someone in his apartment about money, and was threatening to change his will. Rose caught a shadowy glimpse of the person fleeing Sam’s apartment and is worried the person saw her. The next day, Marabella finds Rose, severely injured, on the floor of the building’s laundry room, saying she was pushed. Marabella can’t convince her old nemesis, NYPD Detective, now Lieutenant, Rivera, that people are being murdered. So she vows to track the killer down with her mother’s help, by investigating the heirs to Sam’s considerable estate. Can she and her mother find the killer and get enough evidence to convince Rivera? Or is Marabella doomed to become the next victim?
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“Grave Expectations” earns 5/5 Hooded Figures…Clever, Engaging!
“Clunk!” She’s baaaack! “Am I in trouble again?” Although the details behind how her mother can make the ghostly journey is complicated, her appearance seems to herald dire events. “No, it’s Sam. Go check on Sam.” Sam, her senior-citizen neighbor, nice companion for Marabella’s mother before she got sick, and and in many ways a substitute father had trusted her more than family to act as the executor of his substantial estate, so she ran to Sam’s apartment banging on the door loudly calling his name…no answer. After a 9-1-1 call and getting the super to open the door, they discover Sam…too late. EMTs say it appears to be a heart attack. But, a close companion heard an argument, relatives are set to inherit a lot, someone in a hoodie is seen lurking, questions rise about his last will, sadly more dead pop up, and Lieutenant Rivera is so antagonistic…Wow!
I loved Sandra Gardner’s second book with so much drama, conflict, mystery, humor, and touching moments of friendships and love to keep me totally engaged! I was fascinated by her twist on “ghost” mythology giving those from the beyond with more corporeal abilities: changing attire, napping, retrieving objects, eating, and cooking (although don’t expect a lousy cook to be anything other than a lousy cook). Each family member may have a reason to speed up receiving their inheritance, but someone with money could be just a target. The “who” and “why” was a delightful challenge for my inner detective. But, other events fill out this 300-page “page” turner. Her job, her friends, her mother, and “Mr. Right.” There’s so much more to enjoy and a “Nailed it!” ending to top it off. #GottaReadThisBook
My two favorite genres are mystery and fantasy. Give me a book that has a foot in both, I’m happy. Give me one that’s a part of series, hello, heaven. Main character, Marabella Vinegar, named after her grandparents on her mother’s side: Marvin and Bella, last name courtesy of an Ellis Island official misspelling the Polish surname, Vinnaucyur, is delightful. The author has created a sympathetic character with surprising strengths and loyalty to others—one you’d be happy to join for a chat and chocolate brownies.
Marabella knows something’s amiss when her dearly departed mother appears in her living room—again. Mom missed out on the memo, RIP. Her last visit to her daughter culminated in two murders and an arrest, unfortunately, of Marabella, and not the culprit. This one begins with the demise of Marabella’s dear neighbor, Sam.
As Marabella investigates, she is supported by not only her mother, but her loyal bestie, Toniann and her luscious boyfriend, John Adriance. Being a feline aficionado, I loved the addition of a roommate, cattus horribilis, Zilla. The plot was well-paced and the characters strongly written. (I initially worried that I would mix up the suspects, but had no trouble keeping them apart.) I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery laced with heaping doses of humor and strongly recommend it.