Nancy G. (ComfyReader) reviewed on 3/30/2011 + 330 more book reviews

Called the Graveyard Queen, Amelia Grey has been working alongside her father, the local cemetery grounds keeper since she was a child. All grown up, she is now a renowned historian and restorer of cemeteries but being able to care for the hollowed land is not the only thing she can do, both Amelia and her father can see the dead.

"I was twenty-seven years old and Id never had a best friend, never had a real confidant and had never once fallen in love. From the time I was nine years old, the dead that walk among us had isolated me from the living. With that first sighting, my life had been changed forever. Like my father, Id learned to live with my secret, had even come to embrace the solitude, but there were times, like tonight, when I wondered if madness might not also wait for me behind the veil."

There are very strict rules when it comes to having this gift; one is never to make contact. Second, do not let them know that you can see them or they will attach to you and you will never get away. The third is to never get close to a person who has a ghost attached to them." That one is a bit harder for Amelia since she has feelings for John Devlin, a police detective, assigned to investigate the recent body that has turned up in the cemetery after a storm. Of course, it cannot be as simple as a washed up casket; this is definitely a newly deceased person who did not have a proper burial. But of course, that isnt the only body in this story. Just when you think you have all the creepiness tied up Tom Gerrity, an ex-police officer who wants to torment Devlin shows up with some information of his own. Who is the Prophet and why does it set John Devlin off?

What does bother me about this story is that both Amelia and her father have the same ability, but yet Amelia is adopted. It hit me as strange that two people who are unrelated coincidently have the same gift, but now I am wondering if there is more to this story that will be revealed in future installments. Just one more twist in a very interesting tale.

We can learn so much from the dead

The end is quite twisty so be prepared to pay close attention. Things that you think are, arent, things that didnt make sense are left dangling for the next in this planned trilogy, so be prepared to be left questioning and having to draw your own conclusions until next time.

Amanda Stevens definitely has a series to keep any eye out for.

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