Grave Concerns - Hardcover

Tope, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312281277 ISBN 13: 9780312281274

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2002

Synopsis

With Peaceful Repose Cemetery, Drew Slocombe is determined to revolutionize the entire death industry and make cheap, ecologically sound burials a popular choice. Unfortunately, Drew's gravedigger has just discovered that their cemetery has one too many corpses. The body of an elderly woman has been occupying the field for months before Drew opened for business. The police don't appear to be particularly concerned by the death, and seem to think that the body is that of a vagrant. But for Drew, things don't add up: even if the woman died a natural death, someone was obviously responsible for burying her.

The mystery deepens when Genevieve Slater turns up at Drew's door. Drew has always fought an illicit attraction to Genevieve-an attraction that hasn't faded with time. But it's Drew's reputation for amateur detective work that Genevieve is now interested in. With reasons of her own for not wanting to contact the police, she wants to hire Drew to prove that the body is that of her missing mother. Drew realizes helping her might get him in trouble with the law, but, for a man looking to escape both money worries and marriage problems. Genevieve proves impossible to resist.

About this title

About the Author

Rebecca Tope grew up on a farm and has held a wide variety of jobs, such as a prenatal instructor, marriage counselor, and funeral director, all of which have taught her a great deal about human nature. In 1992, she founded Praxis books, a small British press. She is the author of A Dirty Death, Dark Undertakings, and A Death of a Friend.

Reviews

When undertaker Drew Slocome (who returns from Rebecca Tope's Dark Undertakings) discovers an extra body in his environmentally conscious Peaceful Repose Cemetery, he jumps at the chance to investigate, because "mysteries existed to be solved like Everest." The police only know that the unidentified old woman didn't die of natural causes, and as for what the townsfolk know well, several of them just aren't telling in Grave Concerns.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

This British whodunit features an unusual hero in Drew Slocombe, a former nurse who has become an undertaker and opened an alternative cemetery where he promotes ecologically sound, environmentally friendly (and much cheaper) burials. But just as business is picking up, the body of a woman is found in a shallow grave in an undeveloped part of the cemetery. She wears only a cotton shroud and an unusual necklace, with little else to identify her. When word about the discovery gets around, Drew receives a call from Genevieve Slater, whom Drew met (and was attracted to) when he and his wife wanted to buy the same house as Genevieve and her husband. The contact sets off warning bells for Drew, but when Genevieve offers him 2,000 to find out if the dead woman is her mother, Drew can't resist. Tope's fourth book is competently written, with offbeat characters, an inventive plot, and some biting commentary on the funeral business. A natural pairing with the genre's only other undertaker-sleuth, Tim Cockey's Hitchcock Sewell, although this series is less given to madcap humor. Emily Melton
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Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312281277
• ISBN 13: 9780312281274
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352