A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer

Murder is not her department.

It's not like it used to be. Modern-day grim reapers wear business casual, not black cloaks, and they don't carry scythes, they work for S. C. Y. T. H. E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), where the Department of Natural Causes is the least exciting gig. And that's how Kathy Valence likes it: boring and predictable. She has enough stress in her personal life; she's mid-divorce, pregnant, and terrified she doesn't have what it takes to be a good mom.

Then, she goes to pick up a new client and finds his soul is missing. When she finally tracks down Conner Ortiz, he angrily insists he was murdered, and he refuses to move on until Kathy finds out why and by whom.

Kathy has only forty-five days to solve the mystery before the boy's soul is doomed to roam the earth as a ghost forever. To do that she'll have to call on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband--and, inconveniently, Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career . . . and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

Author: Maxie Dara
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 10/01/2024
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780593815793

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 09/01/2024 pg. 62
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2024
Booklist 09/01/2024 pg. 35
Shelf Awareness 10/21/2024

About the Author
Maxie Dara is a writer and actor from Ontario, Canada. She has been a freelance journalist focusing on the local arts and culture scene for more than five years, with bylines in publications such as Hamilton Magazine and Beyond James, among others. She is also a two-time award-winning playwright, taking home the Best of Fringe award at the 2017 Hamilton Fringe Festival for the musical comedy This Is Not a Musical: The Musical! and the 2020 Torpedo Prize for her play Alone Together, a pandemic drama. Maxie knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of seven, when she first fell in love with the written word. She also wanted to be a mermaid but has mostly focused on the writing side of things.