Review: The Curse of Tenth Grave

Author: Darynda Jones

Series: Charley Davidson, #10

Released: June 28th 2016

Publisher: St.Martin's 

Length: 352 pages

Source: Publisher for review

Buy: Amazon

As a Part-time PI and fulltime grim reaper, Charley Davidson has asked a lot of questions throughout her life: Why can I see dead people? Who is the hot supernatural entity following me? How do I get gum out of my sister’s hair before she wakes up? But, “How do I trap not one malevolent god, but three?” was never among them. Until now. And since those gods are on earth to kill her daughter, she has little choice but to track them down, trap them, and cast them from this dimension.

There’s just one problem. One of the three stole her heart a very long time ago. Can the Razer, a god of absolute death and destruction, change his omniscient spots, or will his allegiances lie with his brothers?

Those are just a few of the questions Charley must answer, and quick. Add to that a homeless girl running for her life, an innocent man who’s been charged with murder, and a pendant made from god glass that has the entire supernatural world in an uproar, and Charley has her hands full. If she can manage to take care of the whole world-destroying-gods thing, we’re saved. If not, well… 

It’s always so good to be back with our Charley. Even after ten books, she’s still such a breath of fresh air and she always makes us laugh. There’s been a lot of heartbreak in her life lately, but she always manages to stay upbeat and spread sarcasm wherever she turns. It could be the ADD, or maybe she’s just certifiably insane. Either way, it works for her, and it definitely works for us.

Charley is working on one of those cases only she could possibly solve. Emery Adams is dead, her fiancé accused of murder in what appears to be a slam dunk case. However, Charley is less than convinced, and so are Emery’s friends and family. The mystery takes some time to unravel, especially for an investigator with ADD, but as usual, it’s a good one. In addition, Charley stumbles upon a young homeless girl with a curse. If she is to save the girl’s life, she has to dig out the truth about a group home called Harbor House. Cookie is there to help, of course, but even then it’s a race against time.

The worlds of Charley Davidson (and there are now many) are becoming complicated. The number of her enemies and allies both is constantly growing. Now that some of her allies are guarding Beep, though, new people are showing up to fill in for them. I can never get enough of Darynda’s secondary characters, starting with Cookie and ending with Pari the tattoo artist. Fortunately, both of them get plenty of page time in this book.

I’m afraid I also have to address a pet peeve of mine, which takes up a lot of this book. For such a strong, practically destined couple, Charley and Reyes spend very little time actually talking to each other. In fact, most of their marriage is a series of ridiculous misunderstandings, made that much more difficult by Charley’s tendency to hide things and investigate behind Reyes’ back. She is the queen of wrong conclusions, and his avoidance techniques certainly don’t help. Fortunately for them, a wicked game of Twister can solve a lot, and the rest kind of takes care of itself.

Without another word, he stepped forward, and while still holding a plate in each hand, he bent down and put his mouth on mine. I raised half-closed fists to his chest and melted into him. Most of me did, anyway. Some of me melted into my panties.

I’m not sure how many more books we’ll be getting about Charley, but a spin-off is definitely in the works. All the signs are there, and while I’m sure no one could ever replace our Charley, her daughter at least deserves a chance to try.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.