Book 54, 2022
Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I finished reading Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones last night. This is the sixth (obviously!) book in the "Charley Davidson" series of urban fantasy lite. Story is in first person pov by the mc, Charlotte "Charley" Davidson--PI and grim reaper.
While Charley contemplates how to respond to a marriage proposal from Reyes Farrow, the son of Satan, she is keeping busy with her PI work. Charley has her hands full when a client claims to have lost his soul in a card game and wants it back, an FBI agent has dumped a cold case on her lap, which turns out to involve Reyes, and a local crime lord threatens to kill her friend if Charley doesn't find out the location of a woman who plans to testify against the crime lord in an upcoming trial. On top of all that, Charley is intent on setting up her Uncle Bob with her BFF, Cookie, since neither of them can seem to make the first move. It's a good thing for Charley that she has coffee to get her through.
This book was a hilarious romp, as the others in the series have been. If I have a complaint, it's that there wasn't one dominant story line so much as a smattering of plotlines, not all of which were resolved by the end of the book. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and laughed out loud more than once while reading it.
Favorite lines:
♦ "I sold my soul to the devil and I need you to get it back for me." // That was new. I blinked a few times, took a slow sip, then asked, "Did it fetch a good price?"
♦ "What are you doing?" // "What?" // "You're intimidating him." // "I'm standing here." // "Yes, intimidatingly."
♦ Life was good. Until I lost seventeen million dollars in a card game.
♦ "He can be the sweetest thing when he's not killing demons and shit."
♦ "We should grab a bite. Talk about it." // "What about Muffy?" I asked Garrett. // "Who's Muffy?" // "Daniel's Yorkie." // "Well, okay, but only one. I'm not that hungry."
♦ "Oh my god, I will give you a million dollars if you just tell me." // "You don't have a million dollars." // "Fine," I said, patting my pockets. I brought out what I did have: three ones, some spare change, and a watermelon Jolly Rancher. "I'll give you three dollars, fifty-two cents, and a Jolly Rancher." // "I was going to say no, but since you threw in the Jolly Rancher..."
♦ The man beside me spoke. "Would you like to switch?" // "Absolutely, but I don't think you can wear my clothes. You're more of an eight, maybe?" // He was even more uncomfortable. And confused. And he clearly had no sense of humor. "I meant stools. Would you like to switch barstools?"
♦ "You forgot something." He tucked something into my hands. A bra. My bra! What the--? I wiggled my shoulders, testing Danger and Will. Yep, no support whatsoever. // He watched me for a sec, then said, "Want me to put it on for you?" // "Okay, but I doubt it's your size."
♦ "This is Pari. She's a killer tattoo artist and has only been to prison twice."
This line sent me into gales of laughter! I totally want to introduce people like that from now on.
Amazing fun! Five stars.