[ARC Review] Grave New World by Gena Showalter & Jill Monroe
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- Actually plan the festivities
- Find a way to pay for said festivities
- Avoid finding a dead body. OOPS! Solve a murder
As the owner of a landlocked cemetery and self-proclaimed expert amateur sleuth, Jane knows death inside and out. After receiving an invite to speak at a local writer’s club, she discovers a dead body upon arrival, plus an invitation from the killer.
Player one is ready. Are you?
Now the game is on!
With a newly elected (smoking hot) sheriff who doubles as her overprotective fiancé, a gaggle of enabling best friends, and a lovingly vicious guardcat at her side, the intrepid Jane has no doubt she’ll win. But as clues lead everywhere and nowhere at once, another victim is discovered, and an ancient family curse rears its ugly head. Jane realizes she’s caught in a battle between cat and mouse. To succeed, she’ll have to lay a trap of her own…MY THOUGHTS: Grave New World was a bittersweet read. I love Jane and Conrad and all their friends, and it was sad to know while reading this one that it would be their last adventure together. I was not ready for Jane to set her investigative nature aside, so I definitely took my time reading this one, savoring it instead of devouring it like I have all the other Jane Ladling mysteries.
Showalter and Monroe gave Jane a whirlwind of a final crime to investigate; I had no idea who the culprit would end up being, and I wasn't at all disappointed when we got to the big reveal. These cozy mysteries have always been a great blend of serious case solving coupled with Jane's effervescent personality, and those two elements combined better than ever in this final installment.
Outside of the crime solving and investigation, I loved that we finally got to the endgame for Jane and Conrad. This romance has been building since the very first book, and it was so obvious just how gone Conrad was for Jane throughout this entire story. As a character who started off as more reserved, it was great to see just how much Conrad changed throughout his series' story arc.
Grave New World was a fantastic way to end the Jane Ladling series. Jane and Conrad are just the sweetest couple and are surrounded by a wonderful cast of characters. This finale gave me everything I could've wanted while wrapping the series up nicely. If you're looking for a cozy mystery with an unlikely crime solver, look no further than Jane Ladling.
[A huge thank you to both Gena Showalter and Jill Monroe for providing a review copy of this story. All opinions are my own.]
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Release date: 4/29/24
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: AuthorTalk Media
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