What do you think?
Rate this book
Graveside Manner #1
October's Eve
Amanda Liesing had nowhere to look but down when she heard the thump at the door. Bodies were always being dropped off at Amanda's.
So begins Graveside Manner: October's Eve, a quirky murder mystery in the style of Murder She Wrote and Arsenic and Old Lace.
Join Prunella, police chief Jenkins, a cast of other characters, and Amanda as she solves the tuxedoed gentleman's murder and brings the killers to justice.
So begins Graveside Manner: October's Eve, a quirky murder mystery in the style of Murder She Wrote and Arsenic and Old Lace.
Join Prunella, police chief Jenkins, a cast of other characters, and Amanda as she solves the tuxedoed gentleman's murder and brings the killers to justice.
- GenresCozy MysteryHumorMystery
213 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 30, 2013
17 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 7, 2013
A murder mystery plot with spunky senior citizens. This was a fun mystery. I especially liked the fact that the book has characters who are openly Christians and often pray or speak of God. This is not a Christian story per se, the main story line doesn't revolve around Christianity or anything, but it's a real-life kind of story with some characters who acknowledge belief in God and that Christianity is part of their lives.
Amanda, a detective's widow, continues his work unofficially. Some unknown person for some unknown reason drops dead bodies at her door for her to investigate. It happens often enough in fact that she even has a sling & pulley system set up near her door and a specially made gurney for hauling the bodies in then moving them out again. It's a fun premise, but leaves a some of unanswered questions...
The dead body in question in this book leads Amanda to investigate a local officials and a law firm in connection with the death of one of their own. As her investigation turns up new clues, she works to point the police in the right direction, and to convince her oldest and dearest friend Prunella that she's not up to anything. Amanda never quits - she's brassy and unafraid to face any bad guy. She is up against the investigation of her life though because someone wants her out of the way, and will stop at nothing to ensure she doesn't expose truth.
(Spoiler Alert)
I haven't been able to tell if this book is part of a series or not, but there's never any explanation as to how the bodies get to her door... or why law enforcement never questions the fact that bodies are often not discovered at crime scenes, but rather they often turn up purposely placed in plain sight in this small town... or why the police never find any evidence linking Amanda to these bodies (she investigates them, makes a file on them, then dumps them on the police station doorstep, the police chief's doorstep, or some other public place for the local citizens to find and call in.
Amanda, a detective's widow, continues his work unofficially. Some unknown person for some unknown reason drops dead bodies at her door for her to investigate. It happens often enough in fact that she even has a sling & pulley system set up near her door and a specially made gurney for hauling the bodies in then moving them out again. It's a fun premise, but leaves a some of unanswered questions...
The dead body in question in this book leads Amanda to investigate a local officials and a law firm in connection with the death of one of their own. As her investigation turns up new clues, she works to point the police in the right direction, and to convince her oldest and dearest friend Prunella that she's not up to anything. Amanda never quits - she's brassy and unafraid to face any bad guy. She is up against the investigation of her life though because someone wants her out of the way, and will stop at nothing to ensure she doesn't expose truth.
(Spoiler Alert)
I haven't been able to tell if this book is part of a series or not, but there's never any explanation as to how the bodies get to her door... or why law enforcement never questions the fact that bodies are often not discovered at crime scenes, but rather they often turn up purposely placed in plain sight in this small town... or why the police never find any evidence linking Amanda to these bodies (she investigates them, makes a file on them, then dumps them on the police station doorstep, the police chief's doorstep, or some other public place for the local citizens to find and call in.
October 24, 2013
This book was quite different than what I had expected from reading the reviews. It turned out to be a "cozy" mystery with an older woman as the "detective." It needed a little more attention to the editing. I did enjoy reading it and thought the book led me to believe there were previous books about the same character, but apparently this is not true. If there are more in the future, I would like to read them. Because of these issues, my real rating might be 3.5 stars.
August 30, 2018
The geriatric ninja getting the better of the Police Chief is awesome!
What a fabulous read - humour, a great storyline and wonderful characters. Since her detective husband was killed she has had a couple of dead bodies dumped on her doorstep. (Wonderful scenes as she tries to keep the fact from her neighbour and when she tries to find somewhere to leave the body) Now her interest has been peaked. The more she investigates the more murky dirty dealings she unravels. Attempts on her life come from all sides and the Police Chief is not amused (now reaching 60 he wonders if he is past his best and trying to hide the crush that's he's had on her since High School) and as she nearly unravels the answers, there's a strange twist. Who made the shot?
What a fabulous read - humour, a great storyline and wonderful characters. Since her detective husband was killed she has had a couple of dead bodies dumped on her doorstep. (Wonderful scenes as she tries to keep the fact from her neighbour and when she tries to find somewhere to leave the body) Now her interest has been peaked. The more she investigates the more murky dirty dealings she unravels. Attempts on her life come from all sides and the Police Chief is not amused (now reaching 60 he wonders if he is past his best and trying to hide the crush that's he's had on her since High School) and as she nearly unravels the answers, there's a strange twist. Who made the shot?
Read
December 30, 2017A quirky and different sleuth! Meet Amanda Liesing who gets bodies of murder victims dropped on her porch in the middle of the night. She has no idea who is leaving them but she is enjoying examining them to find clues to their killers. I really enjoyed this first of two books. It was totally unique in its plot. I enjoyed the characters very much. Amanda is an older sleuth with lots of wisdom and life experiences to draw on. This is sure to keep your interest and leave you wanting more.
July 2, 2013
I got this book for free and I did not expect much from it. It was a nice surprise, though. Although improbable, the characters were interesting as well as the plot. I will read more of this author...
October 4, 2014
It was a cute mystery that definitely needs a bit more editing. From the descriptions of some characters, I expected them to be much older. For instance, but I would not consider a person on the eve of her 60th birthday to be "geriatric". Other than those points, it was a relaxing read.
October 22, 2013
very good
October 26, 2013
Nice read!
December 20, 2014
Cozy mystery..beach read..
July 8, 2017
Loved this book!
Joyce Scott is a gifted writer. I fell in love with her characters and couldn't wait to find out "who done it".
Treat yourself and pick up a copy of Joyce's book.
Joyce Scott is a gifted writer. I fell in love with her characters and couldn't wait to find out "who done it".
Treat yourself and pick up a copy of Joyce's book.
October 10, 2018
Never underestimate an old lady
A very well written Cozy Mystery with great developed characters. A strong plot that worked itself out up until the end of the book.
A very well written Cozy Mystery with great developed characters. A strong plot that worked itself out up until the end of the book.
apuntados
March 21, 2017Amazon - 08/09/2016
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2013
Page 2 or 3 ... I cant figure out what a cut up macintosh is, is it one of those hard carmel bars in the red and green plaid box? Or did they cut up a raincoat?
Why the eff does this woman have a sneaked in tricked out gurney and pulley sytem ... Some hints woyldnt be out of place.
What is a rotarian? Isnt it some kind of pasta? The kindle dictionary is having a zillion issues here.
Now onto chapter 3.5 ... Whered the cop come from and whats an expired tab?
....
Next, something seems off. The numbers onthe card keep chamging, sometimes 0710, sometimes 0407 and sometimes 0410 .... Plus she knows the bodys name before its even speculated upon. Plus theres lots of odd terms like its trying to be written inamericanese but uses abunxh of british words. I amnot going back to spell check.. Trust me when i type a sentence and wait five minutes for all the letters to show on the screen i just want to scrwM and forgwt about it rather than gi back and redo the whole gd thing.
Also what the hell is a ten key?
....
Ch. 13. More things are not adding up. A. The attitude towards computers .. I mean in this day and age who the eff hasnt heard of a mouse? And do people really still use internet explorer anymore? Really? Also it mentions she will phone the celise number again and it sounds like she argued with some woman on the other end, but between her leaving thevlibrary and going to the law office theres no mention even of a furst ohone call, so what the hay, did someone not edit this book or did they just cut and paste whole chaoters in randomly or chop out vital text to make it fit a word count. There is either way to much detail missing or it was just not writ well. I am kinda regretti g picking this one up at this point.
....
Halfway through now. The celise ad changed words from looking to waiting. The light on the answering machine changed from green to red and hey Amanda had her first convo finally with the celise ad phone number, im thinking they either moved the lawyer scene rather than the celise call scene. And yeah im prolly going to continue picking the rest of the book apart. Who let it get published like this? Hopefully not one of the big brands.
....
Ch 35.5 is missing and the end is missing too. Oh and Celise is a dick, and not in the good way.
Why the eff does this woman have a sneaked in tricked out gurney and pulley sytem ... Some hints woyldnt be out of place.
What is a rotarian? Isnt it some kind of pasta? The kindle dictionary is having a zillion issues here.
Now onto chapter 3.5 ... Whered the cop come from and whats an expired tab?
....
Next, something seems off. The numbers onthe card keep chamging, sometimes 0710, sometimes 0407 and sometimes 0410 .... Plus she knows the bodys name before its even speculated upon. Plus theres lots of odd terms like its trying to be written inamericanese but uses abunxh of british words. I amnot going back to spell check.. Trust me when i type a sentence and wait five minutes for all the letters to show on the screen i just want to scrwM and forgwt about it rather than gi back and redo the whole gd thing.
Also what the hell is a ten key?
....
Ch. 13. More things are not adding up. A. The attitude towards computers .. I mean in this day and age who the eff hasnt heard of a mouse? And do people really still use internet explorer anymore? Really? Also it mentions she will phone the celise number again and it sounds like she argued with some woman on the other end, but between her leaving thevlibrary and going to the law office theres no mention even of a furst ohone call, so what the hay, did someone not edit this book or did they just cut and paste whole chaoters in randomly or chop out vital text to make it fit a word count. There is either way to much detail missing or it was just not writ well. I am kinda regretti g picking this one up at this point.
....
Halfway through now. The celise ad changed words from looking to waiting. The light on the answering machine changed from green to red and hey Amanda had her first convo finally with the celise ad phone number, im thinking they either moved the lawyer scene rather than the celise call scene. And yeah im prolly going to continue picking the rest of the book apart. Who let it get published like this? Hopefully not one of the big brands.
....
Ch 35.5 is missing and the end is missing too. Oh and Celise is a dick, and not in the good way.
December 10, 2013
Quirky characters, But, I liked it!
April 12, 2015
Cute little cozy mystery with engaging senior citizen and other characters, but a few questions were left unanswered.
Read
April 10, 2017A charming detective story with a thoroughly likable protagonist and interesting supporting cast.
Read
June 6, 2018Not finish
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews