Restrained Crying: $50Banshee Wailing: $100Crying & Rolling on the Ground: $150Threatening to Jump in the Grave: $250Uncovering a Murder Mystery: PRICELESS Kitty Crawford reached for stardom and fell hard. Now, in desperate need of some way to make ends meet, she skulks back to her hometown of Asheville. Unfortunately, the employment offers are slim pickings for a has-been whose sole talent … are slim pickings for a has-been whose sole talent is being able to cry on cue.
That is, until one odd turn leads to another, which leads to the little-known profession of Personal Mourning. Here, the better Kitty can fake it, the more dollars she’ll find stacked up in her bereft bank account. Talk about a role she was born to play!
And townsfolk are just dying to hire her. Her first gig casts her as the bereaved girlfriend of one newly deceased Chase McCormick, someone she would never have dated in life. Still, Kitty will have to act like her life depends on it, because–OMG!–it does.
Can she perform an investigation that could turn out to be murder before she gets her own curtain call? Find out whodunit in this hilarious mystery series filled with fake tears and a very real body count… Order your copy and start reading today!
Mourning Routine is book one in The Funeral Fakers series. Each book stands completely on its own, but you’ll have more fun if you read them all together!
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Funny with a capital F-U-N!
I loved this story! Imagine, a job as a mourner! Quirky characters and fast past interesting storyline. I could not wait to get to the next page! Lots of twists and turns. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series!
Exciting!
My first thought when I started this book was ‘This is gonna be goooood!’ Written in a way that immediately pulled me in and had me turning those pages like a mad woman.
Kitty, a former Hollywood actress, though neither very experienced nor very successful, is back at her parents’ and needs a job. And she finds one: at Exit Stage Left (love that name!) as a personal mourner/funeral faker. Not a popular job, but I liked that it’s so different from your usual bakery or B&B owner (which is also nice, but I liked the different-ness of this). And Kitty’s acting experience comes in really handy! Although you’d expect her to be a better liar, she’s terrible at lying when she’s not in character, lol. And her new job’s kind of fun…until…she finds some things that just don’t add up. Something smells funny…and it ain’t the casserole ‘cause that was delish.
Oh my. This was such fun. I loveloveloveloveloved it! It was exciiiiiting! A good cozy mystery that was different in a good way. Pageturner-y and unputdownable. Can’t wait for more!
A great start to a new cozy series!
Kitty Crawford’s big break in Hollywood didn’t quite go as planned. She’s back home in Marshall North Carolina unemployed, out of money, and living with her parents. Since her only skills are crying on-demand and acting she’s a little limited in the job market. At least working as a professional mourner for Exit Stage Left will give her a chance to keep her acting skills honed. It turns out to be a lot more complicated then it seemed at first glance and her first job could turn out to be her last one.
This book has so many great parts, but I do not want to be a spoiler. Kitty is a great leading lady in this theater of the Absurd. The characters are relatable and likable. There is good humor a little bit of mystery and a hint of a possible future romance. This is a really good start to the series!
Mourning Routine is a wonderful, fun start to this series of Funeral Fakers written by different authors. The concept of an agency hiring personal mourners is a unique idea to base mysteries. Kitty’s dreams of being an actress are destroyed in LA so she returns home to Asheville, North Carolina and is hired to play the part of Chase McCormick’s grieving girlfriend. Something didn’t seem right about Chase’s death and Kitty finds herself investigating a potential murder. Well written, hysterical, awesome characters- an all around fun, clean read and I can’t wait to see where this series goes next. This is a cozy mystery above the rest- a definite must read for mystery lovers!
This actually is the second book in the Funeral Fakers book series; I read the second one first. It is an enjoyable book, easy to read and a strange concept to understand, hiring someone to pretend to be someone else at a funeral. That’s what the main character does since she left Hollywood after a terrible embarrassment and finding it hard to get other acting jobs. The book was good, the characters were okay but it didn’t grab my attention that much. I did like the surprise ending. If you want an easy read, this one will do it for you.
I enjoyed this book and I liked the characters. Though I found the mystery a bit slow at times. I also would have liked a bit more detail about the crime itself and the motive. I am interested to see what happens in the next book in the series.
Very intriguing concept for a book, beautiful city, fun characters! Who knew there was such a thing as a professional mourner? In this book, an out of work actress moves back home and gets a job being a professional mourner. She plays the girlfriend of the deceased and ends up discovering he was murdered. I will definitely be reading the rest of this entertaining series!
I’m a big fan of shared worlds and cozy mysteries so when I saw that Sweet Promise Press was releasing the Funeral Fakers series shared world of unusual cozy-style mysteries, I jumped on board. Mourning Routine introduced me to the concept of what a funeral faker is – a person paid to show up at a funeral to mourn for someone they don’t know. But this particular job is a little different.
Kitty Crawford finds herself hired to play the part of the deceased’s girlfriend – a girlfriend that no one really liked. But as she gets to know the family, she begins to think there’s more to this death than it seems. Kitty begins to investigate with the unwelcome (but very handsome) help of the very man that ended her budding acting career.
I loved the playful feeling of Mourning Routine. There was a ton of great banter the characters, and the mystery, while not so mysterious, was fun to watch play out through Kitty’s eyes. I had a big question mark after one scene though, and it still bothers me after finishing the book. If you get something poisonous on your hands, how does throwing up help expel it from your system? Did I totally miss something? I feel like I might have, so feel free to jump in and tell me what it was.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
I received an ARC for an honest review.
I really liked this starter book. Kitty as an actress did a wonderful job transforming into Candy. Her curiosity opened up a true crime.
This was filled with a mix of humor, love, and mystery. I look forward to reading more in this series.
Kitty has returned home literally living with her mom and dad. She needs a job so she can move out on her own but she has no experience at anything. Imagine being an out of work actress and being paid to go to funerals. But kitty finds a mystery to solve and solve it she must. A fun and witty story.
Who knew there are actual paying jobs for actresses in the funeral business? This is a fun story with an inept actress trying to solve a mystery. The humor in this one is the ever present Sean who was the destruction of Kitty’s career in Hollywood.
MOURNING ROUTINE is the first book in the Funeral Fakers series. I believe they’ll each stand on their own, but that is yet to be seen.
I love Kitty Crawford and Chase McCormick, individually and together. I hope they make appearances in some of the other books in the series (even though they are each written by different authors). I want to know more about his mother and her plants!
This story was fun, funny, and unique. It was also a little twisted and couldn’t avoid a bit of gallows humor. It made me laugh and cringe at some of the over-the-top antics of people acting as real people do – especially when facing mortality.
I lived in North Carolina for a few years and I had no problem imagining the accents in every one of these voices. These people exist!
This was an excellent start to the series. I loved this story and I am looking forward to more from this series. Not only is it a new series, but it is also a whole group of new-to-me authors and I’m looking forward to reading from each of them.
Note: While I received this book as a gifted ARC, my opinions are my own and are given freely.
Kitty is back in her hometown, Ashville, after her failure in her acting career. She is desperate to find a work so when she has an offer to act as a fake mourner in an funeral, what can go wrong? A funny story. Looking forward to read more of Kitty’s adventures
Wow!!!! Fun read! Had me laughing in some spots. Full of surprises!!!! Wonderful book!!!
The first book in a collection by different authors, all about “Funeral Fakers”. Out of work, or disillusioned actresses being hired to professionally mourn at funerals. Kitty is a down on her luck actress who moved home after being “blacklisted” in LA. After finding a discarded want ad, she applies to “Exit Stage Left”. Being hired to work a funeral as the girlfriend of a recently deceased gentleman, she goes to meet his family and learn to be the woman she is impersonating. Along the way, she begins to suspect foul play. She explores, the mystery unfolds… My only complaint is I want to know what happens to Kitty and Seth!!! 🙂