Tam Chronin is a mainstay at local author events and I'm long overdue starting into one of her series. This seems like the easiest one to tackle because it's the first but currently only book in her 'Graceful Death' series, with 'Zombies Half Price' forthcoming.

It's a strong urban fantasy novel: a bit sassy, a bit weird and a bit emotional, and it didn't go in all the directions that I thought it would. I like books that keep me guessing, though I'm eager to see what the landscape for Grace Llewellyn—I presume that's her surname, even if it wasn't mentioned—will look like as of book two. All I know for sure now is that she'll be the centre of it as the current most powerful necromancer in the state of Arizona. When this first book begins, that's her uncle Brian, but, when he dies, his power transfers over to her to add to her own.

Chronin is building a whole structure around necromancy here and it's fascinating but there's a long way to go there, because this is an introductory volume to let us get to know Grace and the world and a bunch of other characters and, well, a heck of a lot, really, so we'll have to wait until next time to find out how a dedicated case will work. And that's fine. I'll happily pick up the next book whenever it comes out and the one after that too.

The most important thing here is to get to know Grace, because she's the only character I can be absolutely sure will continue onward. I like her, not least because she's clearly neurodivergent but just as clearly talented and capable. She shuts down when things get too much, as happens a few times here. She stops conversing when it's clear there's no point continuing, resorting to "yes" answers on out. She isn't most people and that's refreshing.

One of the other things that puzzled me for a moment but soon became a highlight is that the information presented to Grace and thus us isn't always reliable. And I don't mean a note in her e-mail. I mean what she sees and hears and feels. That's because of Geoff Markel, who shows up at the very start of the book on top of South Mountain. Grace is there to investigate some sort of ritual that's left behind gobbets of flesh, but Geoff shows up out of nowhere to threaten her. That's weird, because he's an old friend she's known for ever, but it's even weirder because we soon learn that he isn't. She doesn't know who he is.

Initially, it feels like this discombobulation is likely due to Uncle Brian dying somewhere and his power transferring to her. I saw the end of 'Highlander'. That's got to be very traumatic, right? No wonder it messes with her mind. However, over time, we realise that, while that transfer of power did happen right then and there, it didn't affect what happened with Geoff. She believes that he's an old friend but she doesn't know who he is. And when other people starting asking about him too, it's clear that something's going on and we, along with Grace, have to figure out what.

These scenes of confusion are wonderfully handled and blend nicely into those around them. It makes us pay attention all the more, because we can clearly trust most of what we're reading but not all of it and we have to distinguish between the two. That's not an easy feat for writers to get away with and it's all the more impressive for an indie author who's self-publishing. It's something I hope continues, even though it might inherently be restricted to this book.

As to Geoff, the possibilities aren't endless, so the revelations to come aren't entirely shocking, but I must say that Chronin kept me on the hop. When Grace moves out of her place in Maryvale into a mansion with six acres in Scottsdale that Uncle Brian left her in his will, she quickly figures out that he had a demon in his attic, one who isn't there any more so was presumably set free inadvertently by her father when he stored some particularly powerful stuff up there. I knew at this point that Geoff either had to be the demon or Grace's new sidekick and tried to figure out which.

I also quickly realised that Dwight the Wight and Adiel, the unusual being known for centuries under a different name and in a different form, would become part of this growing team. Now, just in case you think I'm hurling out spoilers here, I should point out that I got the majority of that horribly wrong. Not all of it, mind you, but most of it. Just because it seemed likely doesn't mean that that's the path that Chronin took. And that's a good thing. I like being wrong when thinking ahead from where I'm at in a story, as long as what's right makes sense. It does here.

In fact, I got it so wrong that perhaps the only other character who will become part of a team I imagined Grace putting together is her friend Rachel, a lesbian medium married to Sabrina. Is this an established trope for Arizona authors writing in supernatural genres? There's a lesbian medium married to a woman in the 'Eternal Rest Bed and Breakfast' series that I started last month. Now, I'm not complaining! I see no reason why married lesbian mediums shouldn't slip into more novels. They would certainly have improved a number of books I've read recently!

There's not much else I can tell you without venturing into spoiler territory, but I can add that a constant background to Grace's life as a necromancer is the ability to see and talk with ghosts, which manifests rather like 'Ghost Whisperer'. Some of these ghosts come and go, as you might expect, but others hang around and become protective of her. Chelsey resides—I can hardly say "lives"—at Grace's old place in Maryvale, which leads to a touching scene when she moves out. Claire resides in her car, like a supernatural KITT. I liked this angle and look forward to seeing it grow, just as it's growing in those 'Eternal Rest Bed and Breakfast' books.

Beyond that, this is a self-published book by a local indie author so I can't just comment on the writing, I have to look at the publishing too and that's reasonably well-done. The punctuation is not smart but it is consistent and the font is large and wide but eminently readable. There's no hyphenation, so some lines look sparse, and there are no headers or footers on the right hand page of every spread, meaning that only the left has page numbers. That's a new one on me!

Oh, and the cover looks pretty bare on a physical copy, just a silhouette of a girl in white with a chip of her floating off into the large black background. However, if you look at it online, you'll see a second character behind the girl, one with horns and wings who's very dark black against a backdrop that's far less so. And that white chip? It's his eye. It's a clever cover, one that plays with the concepts of ying and yang, while presumably representing Grace and the demon. I'm sad that it doesn't print well through KDP. Fortunately, the book is just as good however you read it. ~~ Hal C F Astell