Judy Clemens

Review: Flowers For Her Grave by Judy Clemens.

I have to say the writing was fair but the story was enjoyable and fun. The story flowed right along and kept my attention to the end. The characters were cleverly developed and stood apart from each other. The setting was a resort of three different buildings of condo style living among a private community in Raceda, Florida. The main building is where all the activities, exercise rooms and the most active prominent wealthy women lived who were men crazy no matter what their age was. The other two buildings were for the retirees and the yuppies. This was the first Reaper book I have read and the third book of this series and I didn’t miss out by not reading the two earlier books.

Casey Maldonado character began in the first book grieving the lost of her husband and son. She fled Kansas to avoid a murder charge which, she didn’t commit and found herself jumping into a box car and realizing she was not alone; her company was a drunken hobo singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall as the train headed south. Without fail the grim-reaper who is called “Death” throughout the book was with her when she reached her destiny. Once off the train Casey calls the only person she trust, her brother, to get money and a few things she needed to make a new start in her life. Casey changes her identity to Daisy Gray, a fitness trainer and finds a job from an on-line site that would give her room and board at the Florida Resort. She knew it was going to be a lot of hard work and leave her little time for thinking about anything else and that’s what she needed. However, a change in name and place does not help Casey (Daisy) to stay out of trouble.

Filled with humor mostly due to the relationship Casey has with Death and how he consistently popped in and out, changing his comical ridiculous outfit each time to fit the atmosphere of consequence he entered into. Some people think Casey is a lunatic arguing with herself since they cannot see or hear the grim Reaper. When Casey did get the job she felt it was perfect for this time in her life, even though some of the staff and residents were a little on the eccentric side but it really didn’t matter because she had a grim Reaper towing behind her. Casey got through her first day exhausted and needing sleep but she couldn’t sleep and decided to go to the exercise room and loosen up her stressed body muscles. Casey’s first day, she was accepted completely by the residents until that first night when she discovered a dead body of a prominent lady in the locker room shower stall….Now comes the mystery of “whodunit “!! With a lot of adventure, gossiping, secret rendezvous uncovered, comical behaviors, and adjusting attitudes from the community to choose from, many decided on the one new staff person, Casey….

I enjoyed the way the story was told with human travesties through the eyes of the grim Reaper, Death. He enhanced the story just by being at the right place at the right time…..
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