Darynda Jones – Third Grave Dead Ahead

The third book in the Charley Davidson series, published January 31, 2012.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: love it.



Paranormal private eye. Grim reaper extraordinaire. Whatever. Charley Davidson is back! And she's drinking copious amounts of caffeine to stay awake because, every time she closes her eyes, she sees him: Reyes Farrow, the sexy Son of Satan who’s part human, part supermodel and all fired up. Yes, she did imprison him for all eternity, but come on. How is she supposed to solve a missing persons case, deal with an ego-driven doctor, calm her curmudgeonly dad, and take on a motorcycle gang hell-bent on murder when the devil's son just won't give up on his plan of seduction … and revenge?


I know, everyone is reading the fourth book, but I just read the third book. That is because I buy the paperback ones, and those are released a lot later. But I don’t really mind, I have lots of goodness to look forward to.
The blurb tells you a lot, so I am not really going to summarize the book.

Okay, I did enjoy this one a lot more than the previous two books. Perhaps because the obsessive humor is toned down a bit, but perhaps I just got used to the writing style. Charley is growing in character, and in her powers as the grim reaper. I still love her interactions with Cookie, which are so very much fun, they know each other so very well. They are protective of the other, and just good friends, colleagues, and neighbours. Garrett is an irritant in this book, tailing her again on her uncle’s orders, and making fun of her being the grim reaper.

But of course the most important secondary character is Reyes. Son of Satan, and wrongfully imprisoned for killing his abusive foster father. The man is still alive, and Reyes wants to find him. He is also extremely angry with Charlie for binding him to his corporeal body, and he wants her to free him again. Only she doesn’t know how! So he keeps haunting her every sleeping moment, forcing her to stay awake for days. Yes, she is of course still attracted to him, but she can’t forgive his deceiving her.

What I liked most though, were the interactions with the biker gang. I really wish I could have seen that.

Of course, Charlie is also trying to solve a PI case, a rich doctor’s wife is missing, and Charlie can feel the guilt poor off of the man. So instead of working for him, she starts working for the missing wife’s brother and sister, after she convinces them of her point of view. Which was fun. And digging deeper in the evil doctor’s past, she finds a lot of corpses. But how to prove he killed them all? And most importantly, if his wife is still alive, where is she? Can Charlie find her in time?


I really enjoyed this third book, and it made me put Darynda Jones firmly on my autobuy list. The last few chapters were really great, and it even made me cry. I am very much looking forward to the fourth book, and the things that will have to change for Charlie.

9 stars

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian