“Life is for making messes, my girl. That’s living. That’s a privilege we only get for maybe eighty years at a go. We’re given this wonderful, beautiful sandbox to play in, and what a waste it is to never try and build something from it, even if the rain sweeps it away in the end.”
― Maxie Dara, A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer

In A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer, author Maxie Dara takes the concept of grim reapers and flips it on its head. This delightful series debut introduces readers to the employees of S.C.Y.T.H.E., also known as Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences. These employees are modern day grim reapers without the black cloaks and scythes. Instead they are handled the case files of the recently departed, tasked with finding their souls and delivering them to processing as soon as they can. They must complete their jobs within 45 days or the souls are trapped on Earth, forced to haunt as ghosts.

Kathy Valence is in her early forties going through a divorce from her almost ex-husband Simon. Her job at S.C.Y.T.H.E. is the easiest part of her life, at least until she goes to collect the soul of her latest client, seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, and discovers that his soul is missing. Kathy must track down Conner in 45 days, but this proves tricky. When she eventually finds Conner, he is beyond angry. He insists that someone who works with Kathy killed him. Conner refuses to go with Kathy until she figures out who killed him and why.

This series debut was hilarious. Each character’s backstory was fascinating and allowed room for growth in the next books. While this book is billed as a paranormal mystery, that was not the vibe. This book read more as introductions to each of the characters with less focus on the mystery. I would have liked more information about S.C.Y.T.H.E. though! Kathy didn’t know much about how S.C.Y.T.H.E. actually worked, which was a red flag for me, but the ending made it seem like she was interested in finding out. The relationship between Connor and Kathy, plus how Kathy’s coworker Jo played into the story, kept me reading. Solid 4 star read!