Audiobook Review – First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, Book 1) by Darynda Jones, narrated by Lorelei King (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 8 hours and 58 minutes (315 pages)
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: February 9, 2011
ASIN: B004LQ6M60
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Charley Davidson series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual. Or a diagram of some kind. A flow chart would have been nice.

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice.

Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can’t she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?”

This was a great start to a fun urban fantasy series. I really enjoyed the humor, the characters, and the world.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator is exactly how I imagine Charley would sound and does a great job with other character voices as well.

Charley is a grim reaper; meaning that she serves as a doorway to the dead and also..unfortunately…as a ghost problem solver when ghosts aren’t ready to move on . Charley is incredibly snarky, off-beat, and funny. I enjoyed her as a character a lot.

I also really enjoyed the surrounding characters. Charley’s best friend Cookie is a lot of fun. Then there is the sexy skip tracer Garrett who has a sort of love/hate relationship with Charley. Of course there is the dark and literally dreamy Reyes who has an incredibly mysterious history and past that seems to involve Charley. There is also the funny ghost boy Angel who helps Charley out when he can. Also her wonderful uncle who knows Charley is different and trusts her completely. There are just so many fun and wonderful character in here.

Jones’ writing style reminds me a lot of Molly Harper’s. The humor in this story is incredibly funny (sometimes almost slapstickish) and very offbeat and silly.

The story is well done and engaging. This is definitely a blend of investigative urban fantasy with some paranormal romance as well. The romance isn’t the focus of the story but there are some very explicit and steamy scenes which were well done.

I enjoyed the whole story but absolutely loved some of the twists that happen at the end. These really hooked me on this series. I like that there was a main mystery that was solved in this book but that there is also a bigger story that will continue in book 2.

Overall I really enjoyed this series and I plan to continue reading this series in the future. It’s a hilarious series with some creative world-building, a great mystery, and wonderful characters. I would recommend to those who enjoy lighter urban fantasy and don’t mind some romance in their story.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Audiobook Reading Challenge