Welcome to my review of Letters from the Dead. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I intend to review the books I’m reading, at least those that are on-topic.
I recently received a review copy of Letters from the Dead by Dawn Meredith. I’ve met Dawn at a couple of writers events and online, and because of that I’m potentially a little biased.
Regardless, I did like liked Letters from the Dead, particularly as I’ve got a thing for urban fantasy stories that are a little bit offbeat.
On with the review:
Delia Fox is a young woman with a gift – she can see the memories of the recently dead. This leads her to solving murders via consulting work with the local police.
Her ability to see the memories of murder victims is something that many people, including members of the criminal underworld, aren’t fond of.
Letters from the Dead is a character-based story with the main focus on Delia’s attempts to navigate family issues, friendships, old relationships, a budding romance, and problems with her developing professional life.
Her main issue is the unsolved death of her younger brother in a hit-and-run accident many years ago, something she’d love to solve, but unfortunately her gift only allows her to read memories of the dead for about six hours after they pass away.
Despite being able to help with many cases, her brother’s is beyond her reach.
The story begins as Delia chooses to give up her university studies, something her parents aren’t happy with. When they cut her off financially to try to force her to return to study, their actions along with unforeseen events puts her onto her true career path – speaking for the dead.
This marks the beginning of Delia’s troubles, however.
With a stalker for an ex who tries to force her back into a relationship with him, media who hate her and call her Ghoul Girl, a police force that largely dislikes her because she does their job better than they can, and the rising threat from the criminal underworld, Delia’s story is as much about dealing with life, responsibility, and finding one’s place in the world, as it is with reading the memories of the dead.
Overall, I found Letters from the Dead to be an enjoyable, easy read set at a good pace, with a narrative structure that leans more toward literary end of the reading spectrum rather than what you might expect from a standard genre story (ie, the Evil Overlord scenario).
If you’re looking for something a little bit different in the urban fantasy realm, Letters from the Dead might be just for you.
I give it four stars.
You can get Letters from the Dead on Amazon.
