Pepper Martin never planned on using her college degree.
Like her mother before her, she would marry into what she'd
been bred for: a rich Country Club Wife. When her father is
arrested for medicare fraud and sent to jail, Pepper finds
herself penniless and in need of a job. Any job. She is
hired by Garden View Cemetery. After a nasty fall and
bumping her head against a headstone (ironic, yes), she sees
ghosts.
The impossible stood before her. Gus Scarpetti, dead for
thirty years, is talking to her as if it were just another
day from the midst of the Cleveland's Famous Dead tour. Down
on his luck is an understatement when your body is six feet
under, and his only lucky charm is Pepper Martin.
There has to be a logical explanation for the vision, but
medical science's only hypothesis comes from Doctor Dan
Callahan. The x-rays and scans have revealed an abnormality
in her brain. Seeing ghosts is not her top priority as she
scopes out the good doctor. Her rebound period is over, and
she finds herself attracted, but all her usual
flirtatiousness doesn't seem to affect the geek-like god. He
wants her for her mind if that don't beat all.
Gus hires Pepper to investigate his murder. Talk about your
cold case. For a ghost who suddenly wants to be one of the
truly departed, Pepper thought he'd be more forthcoming, but
there's information Gus isn't sharing. What could he be
hiding that made a difference now?
Desperate for some peace (and sanity), she agrees to doing a
little harmless research. Anybody involved is old and grey,
in jail, gone legit (if you choose to believe that, she has
a bridge for sale) or is under the ground themselves. Using
a pretense of writing a book, she goes to a museum on a fact
finding mission.
Here she meets Quinn Harrison, a cop who is on suspension
and turns up at opportune moments. She also finds more
information about Gus, his life, his family, and a lot more
questions.
Gus isn't keeping himself at his grave, or the grounds. He's
making impromptu appearances at her office, he's at his
son's home, and he's at her apartment. Just when things were
heating up with the cop! And he is not shy about stating his
opinions on premarital sex by nice girls. Not that it
bothers anybody else because she's the only one who can see
or hear him!
Even though it's been 30 years since the hit and run,
somebody is dead set against Pepper learning the truth, and
they are willing to murder again to keep that reason and
identity a secret. Even the good doctor has his surprises.
The writing in DON OF THE DEAD is fun and quirky. That's
what got me past the first hurtle. I didn't like Pepper
Martin. Nope, but the situation she was in, and the further
she fell into it, made me keep reading. Somewhere this woman
had to have some redeeming qualities. And luckily Casey
Daniels came through. Pepper is one of those memorable
characters that you want to hate, and yet find yourself
laughing along with her. I kept waiting to see what trouble
she got into next, and how she would get out of it.
Pepper Martin's big-bucks daddy is headed to the clink on
fraud charges. Her rich and handsome fiance has just dropped
her like a bad habit. And the only job the
never-before-employed Pepper can score is tour guide at a
local cemetery. The job seems as easy as filing your nails
until she bumps her head on a gravestone and a long-dead
gangster named Gus Scarpetti appears of of thin air and begs
her to solve his murder...
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