Claire and Sophie, her deceased 17 year old best friend and spirit guide are tasked with investigating who is responsible for the death of the now traumatised ghost haunting the library; a ghost presumed murdered by a member of the family. I will say that I think the humour is pitched at fairly specific audience of nerdy/online millennials, so if you're not in that cohort some of this may not work for you. Claire runs herself ragged up and down the south coast of England looking for a posh murderer, and the cast of characters and ghosts she meets along the way are fabulous. Claire has been booked by the Wellington-Forge family to act as a medium at their nana's birthday celebrations. The exploits of Clare and Sophie as they try to solve this mystery form the backbone of the story but the characters and the dialogue are as much fun as the plot.

That's perhaps the thing that will most determine whether you like Grave Expectations, actually: up with how much fairly specific cultural humour are you willing to put? On arrival at The Cloisters it quickly becomes clear that this family is hiding more than just the good china, as Claire learns someone has recently met an untimely end at the house. This book positively lit up my weekends with its cosy, affectionate, funny, awkward brand of ghostly crime-solving.But then she and her ghost-sidekick Sophie find out that someone was murdered by a family member at last year's party. A fun take on a cozy mystery, where the lead "detectives" are Claire, a thirtysomething Londoner who can see ghosts, and her teenage BFF Sophie, who's been haunting Claire since Sophie's unsolved murder when they were teens.

This slowed the pace down a bit, but also added an extra dimension and helped me to be more invested in the outcome. That's actually quite a dark premise and we definitely touch into quite how screwed up Claire is, but it's well balanced with the enjoyable elements.

It mostly lacked in some pacing and some predictability throughout it, but I will still say it’s a pretty good one - just didn’t wow me!

As Claire desperately tries to keep Given her obsession with crime shows—not to mention Sophie’s ability to walk through walls—Claire decides they’re the best people to solve the case. It's definitely more of a cosy mystery but with some dark elements, like Sophie, the ghost who knows she was murdered but doesn't remember the how/why/who and whose body has never been discovered. Given her obsession with crime shows—not to mention Sophie's ability to walk through walls—Claire decides they're the best people to solve the case. When she is Invited to an old university friend's country pile to provide entertainment for a family party, her best friend Sophie tags along.Figgy has asked her to provide the 'entertainment' at her grandmother's birthday party as Claire works as a medium so a paid séance is in the offing. I found myself enjoying the mystery, but I didn’t care for any of the characters so there were times where I didn’t feel super invested in this book. The narrative voice is a delight, as is all the dialogue, but what really elevated this for me was the thread of genuine pathos running through it.