Grave Expectations

By Alice Bell,

Book cover of Grave Expectations

Book description

A pacy and hilarious debut crime novel, in which a burnt-out Millennial medium must utilize her ability to see ghosts to figure out which member(s) of a posh English family are guilty of murder.

Almost-authentic medium Claire and her best friend, Sophie, agree to take on a seemingly simple job…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Grave Expectations as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I found Alice Bell's Grave Expectations books (the sequel, Displeasure Island, was published this September) quite by accident in a Little Free Library, and they're probably the most purely enjoyable writing that I've read this year.

A fascinating unique concept: a teenage girl's best friend vanishes, then her ghost re-appears, giving her the ability to see all ghosts, a skill she uses to earn a living as a medium, and solve murders on the side.

These books are very very funny. The humour is very millennial so people who enjoy their murder mysteries on the more traditional side might not…

Think Rentaghost, but with a dead, sulky teenager running the show.

I read this for review and I loved this book so much. It’s great fun and sassy as hell, and the deaths – and the dead – are very well written.

A play on the classic country house mystery, Grave Expectations pulls together nods to true crime and to clairvoyance, adding a dash of modern pop culture. 

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