Grave Expectations

Grave Expectations is a speedy read in the genre of “cosy crime” which makes me think of tea-drinking, unassuming nerds who have finally had enough and end up throttling a bad driver or slow walker with a chunky, hand-knitted scarf. In winter. However, Wikipedia tells me that the genre of cosy crime is “a sub-genre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur offstage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community.”

Grave Expectations is the debut novel of writer Alice Bell and has all the characteristics of the above definition, with a tiny twist. The premise grabbed me immediately: Claire is a thirtysomething freelance medium (how’s that for a job title?) who works with her best friend, Sophie. But Sophie is a ghost. She was murdered when she was seventeen.

Claire is invited to The Cloisters, a stately home in the English countryside, by her old university friend. Claire has been invited as the entertainment for the Wellington-Forge family matriarch’s birthday party where she is expected to perform a séance. She quickly realises that this posh family is hiding a sneaky little secret (could it be MURDER?) and along with some less annoying members of the family, she and Sophie decide to solve the mystery.

What I liked about this novel was the idea. The execution? Well, not so much. Because of the fact that Sophie started haunting Claire shortly after her death, Claire can see ghosts. This means that the readers meet some fun and entertaining ghost-characters. This was probably my favourite part of the book. I liked the ghosts.

Bell was clearly going for a quirky and funny vibe with this story, but a lot of it comes across as pretty forced. The plot (the murder mystery) is not really the focus of the novel (which is fine), but rather the characters and the friendships that are formed seem to be more important. The blurb mentions the university friend who invites Claire to her home, but then the “friend” (Figgy – her name is FIGGY) does not really feature as an important character again. Okay, fine.

And then there’s Claire. The main character – the very, very, very amateur sleuth. Oh man, she is actually so painfully inept and irritating that is not funny, but rather jarring. I suppose this could be because her best friend dies and then haunts her and makes her a bit of an oddball. I could be more sympathetic. I think knowing a bit more of Claire’s history would have made her a bit more of a sympathetic character. The same goes for Sophie – I do not want to give much away here because her story is quite compelling, but I wanted more. And less of her saying “Ohmigod” repeatedly. I get that she died as a teenager, but it eventually becomes rather silly. I suppose that would be the summary of this book? Rather silly?

Much of the writing IS clever and funny, but many of the jokes, much like the protagonist, are kind of lame. There are many ham-fisted jokes about how uncool and out of touch millennials are and this just feels like tired humour in the form of cheap shots. It does not come across as self-deprecating and just elicited a deep sigh from me as I read it while wearing my skinny jeans and invisible socks. HAHA, HILARIOUS! I hope that Bell got over that in the sequel, Displeasure Island.

All in all? This was a fun read, but certainly not the “addictive, hilarious and rollicking debut” that was promised by Sam Blake on the cover.