Grave words

Obituary writer Winter Snow is tasked by her friend Carla, who manages a funeral home, with writing the obituary for Wandering Chester, a homeless man who recently died in a suspicious fire. Winter's boyfriend, police detective Kip Michaels, asks her not to investigate Chester's background, but needing material for the obituary, she ignores him. This fire follows two previous arson fires. Winter's friend Scoop published detailed investigative pieces on the fires, including information not yet released by the authorities, but he refuses to reveal his source, leaving him a suspect. Winter investigates to clear him, but she is frustrated by the fact Kip won't share confidential police information with her, believing he doesn't trust her. However, she retaliates by not sharing her findings with him. This second in a series (after The Last Word, 2024), with its unusual obituary-writing frame, lovingly described small-town setting, well-delineated characters, and trust issues between Winter and Kip is an entertaining cozy.

A freelance obituary writer pursues her side gig as an amateur sleuth. Winter Snow has already helped solve a murder, but her boyfriend, Det. Kip Michaels, wishes she would stick to writing. When her friend Carla lets Winter know that an obit she wrote has been totally messed up, naming Winter herself as the deceased, she rushes to get it quashed before it ruins her reputation. Meanwhile, she's received a text from Scoop, a reporter friend who covered a fire that resulted in the death of an unhoused man known around Ridgefield, Connecticut, as Wandering Chester. Scoop is a person of interest in a few fires he's covered, though he thinks this one doesn't fit the pattern and has refused to reveal his source to Kip. Winter's Uncle Richard and her neighbor are protective of her but happy to help with sleuthing. When Kip asks her not to release Chester's obit, her curiosity gets the better of her, putting her at odds with Kip. Her discovery that Chester was murdered explains Kip's silence, as he clearly wants to protect her. Tracking down Chester's background, Winter learns from a woman whose recently deceased son was his friend that his last name was Halliday. And Chester's sister-in-law reveals that he was a private detective working undercover, nosing around and asking Carla questions about burials as he searched for the schemers planning to sell and resell burial plots to unsuspecting people. As they unearth more clues, Scoop begins getting threatening messages, and someone starts following Winter. Are the fires related to Chester's murder? The answer may be the death of them all. An engrossing mystery with plenty of engaging characters and a romance fraught with trust issues. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.