Walking on My Grave

Walking on My Grave by Carolyn Hart is the twenty-sixth (and last) novel in A Death on Demand Mystery series. When Rufus Roundtree passed away a year ago, he left his fortune to his sister, Ves. Upon Ves' death the money will pass to six heirs listed in the will. Four of the heirs need money and would like some of their inheritance now. Ves has no intention of parting with the money and as she is only in her 40s, Ves expects to live a long life. On the one year anniversary of Rufus' death, Ves holds a dinner at her home. She invites the six heirs—Curt Roundtree, Bob and Katherine Farley, Jane Wilson, Fred Butler, Adam Nash—along with Gretchen Roundtree (Curt's mother) and Tim Holt (Jane's boyfriend). When Jane brings in the dessert she feels a cold chill—like someone is walking on her grave—and knows that someone wishes to kill her. A few days later, Ves limps into Death on Demand to speak with Annie Darling. Ves confides that someone tried to killer her. Ves confronts the heirs with Max Darling present hoping to find the culprit. Fred Butler disappears and is discovered by a fisherman in the harbor. When Ves fails to show up at a meeting, Annie and Police Chief Bill Cameron go to her house. They find blood smears along with her purse, but they find no sign of Ves. Did the killer get to Ves? Annie, Max and their friends work together to find the guilty party before he strikes again. Will they succeed?

Walking on My Grave will appeal to the fans of A Death on Demand Mystery series. If you are new to the series, I suggest starting with Death on Demand (first book). Walking on My Grave is easy to read and has interesting main characters (Annie and Max Darling). It was nice to revisit Broward's Rock and the delightful characters in this series. I would love to visit Annie's bookstore Death on Demand. It would be paradise to visit a bookstore filled with just mystery novels. I also appreciate that Annie and Max work with the police. They may gather information and talk to suspects, but they share the intel with the local authorities. There are no mean or idiotic police in Carolyn Hart's series (for which I am very grateful). Unfortunately, Walking on My Grave was not on par with the previous books in the series. There is repetition of information throughout the story (especially about the case). I lost track of the number of times we are told about Max's cars. Do readers need to be told whether he is driving the Lamborghini or the VW (each and every time he goes out)? Annie is working on chapbooks for Laurel, Emma and Henny. We hear about them frequently throughout the book along with book titles and authors, Latin quotes, clothing descriptions and mystery quotes. It felt like the author was trying to pad the story. I found Laurel (Annie's mother-in-law) annoying and quickly tired of her nonsense (I do not know how Annie puts up with her). My rating for Walking on My Grave is 3 out of 5 stars. I wish I could say that the mystery redeemed Walking on My Grave, but that would be an untruth. I identified the perpetrator before Ves fell down the stairs. Only one suspect could commit the crimes and that person sticks out like an individual with fluorescent pink hair. It felt like the author's heart was not into this book knowing it was the last. I do wish there had been an epilogue, but I did like who identified the books that went with the watercolors.