Winter Snow is busy building her obituary writing business when a burning building and a dead body send their town of Ridgefield, CT, into investigation mode. Good friend and reporter Scoop knows some incriminating details, but he is reluctant to share and reveal his source. Can Winter solve the crime and keep Scoop out of jail in GRAVE WORDS, the second Deadly Deadline Mystery by Gerri Lewis?

When it is revealed the dead body is a local homeless man named Chester, Winter’s friend Carla asks her to write the man’s obituary. As Winter starts looking into Chester’s life, she finds out a lot about the man no one really knew. As she digs deeper and searches the obituaries for other clues, she finds herself being followed by a black truck, uncovering a shady cemetery plot business, receiving threatening letters, getting trapped in a coffin, learning about collectibles, and catching a killer’s attention. Can she put all the pieces together before someone writes Winter’s obituary next?

GRAVE WORDS is a fun, atmospheric East Coast cozy with small-town charm, familiar hangouts, and colorful locals that create a warm and engaging mystery. The plot is well-developed with several layers that include a multitude of players with different motivations. From Winter’s lakeside cottage to Pop’s Place and the funeral home, Winter navigates a complex puzzle of scam artists and insurance fraudsters to uncover the truth. Her friends, Carla and Scoop, are in on the action and provide some levity, while the professional boundaries between Winter and her detective boyfriend, Kip, add a nice layer of tension to the storytelling. GRAVE WORDS is a strong and entertaining second entry in this delightful series that will have readers looking forward to future installments.