A Grave Issue by Lillian Bell

I enjoyed reading "A Grave Issue" by Lillian Bell. This is the first book in her new Funeral Parlor Mystery series. Starting a new series should leave the reader wanting more: more of the main character, more of the secondary characters, more of the town (in the case of cozies anyway), just more. I am totally curious about future shenanigans with Death Ray...err.. sorry. Desiree. DESIREE Turner (*grin*) and her friends and family. As a former reporter, Desiree returns home to help her sister and uncle run the family business, a funeral parlor. For Desiree, returning home to her small town is difficult. I can totally understand Desiree's dislike of everyone using her old nickname (Death Ray), running into old acquaintances, and noticing the changes in town like what businesses had popped up, and even discovering a murdered body. Having Desiree's family own the local funeral home allows for a very interesting look into a world most wouldn't see. In addition, we witness some crazy antics by the visitors to various wakes and funerals. We witness a fight over a dead emu, a grieving grown child jumping into a casket, a trio of gossiping old ladies who show up to all the funerals of townspeople hoping for cookies and then there’s Desiree's link to all of the above, including getting a nice shiner for her efforts. Add in the local newspaper guy who happens to notice everything she does and writes about it in the paper, and our poor girl is getting more attention than she wants. We also get the beginnings of a love quadrangle: the old high school sweetheart, the old school rival, and the new guy in town. I love reading cozies for the romantic interests, and I'm definitely curious about how this will all play out! I’ll admit I was kept guessing who the murderer was up until the end, and I even ended up wrong at that. I genuinely enjoyed reading this funny, sweet and intriguing book and had trouble putting this book down. Ms Bell kept me on my toes guessing who the killer was, until I turned the last page. The secondary characters were all welcome additions fitting in both Desiree's life and the town. I definitely recommend this book to other readers look forward to the next book in this series.