Nice Day for a Funeral

Jamie Burger #1

by Alannah Rogers

Three generations of women. One family funeral business. Two suitors. And a very fat cat.

After living in Minneapolis for twenty years, forty-year-old Jamie Burger moves back to her hometown of Egg Harbor, Minnesota heartbroken and broke. Her only possessions: a small suitcase and her faithful friend Fat Bob the cat. Moving back in with her mom and grandma is hard enough, but she soon finds herself doing what she's always avoided—running the family funeral home.

Her first client: her best friend Duffy Davis, whose dad has just passed. But it seems like Mr. Davis had a few big skeletons in his closet, including a secret second family. As Jamie helps negotiate the ensuing court battle, she's also busy being romanced by her high school crush, falling for Duffy's brother, and trying to stay as far away from dead bodies as she possible can.

This full-length novel is both funny and poignant, featuring the lovable small town characters, cat hijinks, adventure, and sweet romance readers have come to expect from Alannah Rogers, author of the #1 Amazon bestselling Beatrice Young cozy cat mysteries.

Nice Day for a Funeral has no foul language, sex, or gratuitous violence. There is some minor gore associated with the natural process of death and all that funeral homes entail.

339 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 18, 2016

About the author

A retired librarian living in New Hampshire. Lives with three cats, Charlie, Wilkie, and Jane.

Reviews

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jamie Burger had had enough – another loser boyfriend gone; she headed for her hometown of Egg Harbor, broke and sad, her cat Fat Bob in his cage in the back of her car. But moving back into her old home with her Nana and mother was never going to work – though forty, they treated her like she was still a child. And wanted her to take over the funeral business as well. Jamie was frustrated and angry.

Jamie’s best friend, Duffy Davis’ dad had just passed away, so her first job was to organise his funeral. Duffy and her brother Cole had been through school with Jamie – now Duffy was married (to a jerk) with two teenage children (who hated her) and she wasn’t happy. Cole was divorced with shared custody of a child. And of course Jamie’s life was going nowhere…

But a dispute from a woman whom Cole and Duffy had never even heard of caused heartache and a ruckus in the small town – it needed to be solved. Could Jamie help her friends find a solution? Or would she create more problems?

Death at Egg Harbor by Alannah Rogers is a cosy mystery without much mystery – characters who had nothing going for them (except Cole; he was likeable enough) and a scrambled and mixed up plot. It’s an easy read, the first in the Jamie Burger series but it’s in desperate need of editing I’m afraid.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love the idea of crime stories but are not all that keen on being around dead bodies, maybe this isn't the book for you. The adventure starts when a lady in her middle years returns home to Egg Harbour, where a friend's father has died. She's going to the funeral, obviously. Snag is, her family are the funeral directors. Hands-on directors. Now you see.

I did skip pages. Multiple times, actually, because there's a good bit of repetition, drawn-out chatter and the aforementioned bodies as they arrive and are dealt with in person. Luckily, nobody turns out to have been murdered, although we can see why someone deserved such a fate. This is a suspense story and there are also personal issues to cover, like low self-esteem, overweight, dating only men who don't love the lady back, men who hide secrets, women expecting more from their daughters than they achieved themselves.

We meet a cat, Bob, a tabby who is happy to accompany his owner just about anywhere. If you're in two minds, maybe the cat will help you decide to read the book. The tale is well put together; the writing style does let it down at times. Writing just as you speak doesn't work all that well. We can all learn from this big-hearted short crime novel, not least what kind of licence a funeral director needs.

I downloaded an ARC from Instafreebie. This is an unbiased review.

[Jennifer Holzapfel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, something I rarely say. Jamie, the star of the book is a forty two year old single woman who is overweight and her best friend is her cat Fat Bob. She has been a waitress and stayed away from her hometown for twenty five years, until her best human friend and partner in crime, Duffy needs her support when her dad dies. Jamie's family run the funeral home and Jamie herself was forced to take the courses and become certified before she ran away to become a waitress. Her Nana and mom are determined to keep her in Egg Harbor, and use blackmail to do it. Now Jamie is attempting to run the funeral home. She is falling for Cole, who is Duffy's older brother. She has been facing all kinds of problems since coming home, especially when Duffy's dad had a secret family in Minneapolis. Jamie makes all kinds of mistakes while trying to find herself and help Duffy and Cole with the lawsuit over their father's estate. Dwight the wanna be sheriff has been hitting on Jamie, who is single because she always picks losers. Cole and Dwight have a knockdown fight over Jamie, will anything go right in Egg Harbor, or will she run away again?

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea what this book would be like as I received it as part of a authors giveaway. What a delightful book! I would give it 4.5 stars. I wouldn't really call it a mystery just a really entertaining story about Jamie a 40 something unmarried girl with a few pounds to lose who is very self conscious at the same time having no filter when she speaks. Her Nana and mother run a funeral home and they have decided enough is enough and when Jamie comes back after 20 years she is told she is now the w the new director of the funeral home since her Nana has decided she wants to get her hair done all day and do whatever. The situations in the funeral home are quite humourous though not for the families when embalming fluid leaks out of a body. All in all I find this an entertaining light read.

[Cheri Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining!

I did enjoy this first book in the new series. It
had a decent story line which was interesting.
The characters were interesting. I especially
liked Fat Bob, the cat. Need more of him in
future books. Hopefully there will be more to
this new series. Really good start to the series!!

[Bev Root · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read other books by Alannah Rogers so I was expecting a murder mystery but it wasn't quite that. There was a death and some mysterious complications afterwards but not a murder. It was a fun read and you really get to know the characters during the book.

[Linda Osgood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny

Very funny and off the wall at times. Combined the macabre with midlife crises for a fifth year old female. Hoping she finds a balance between her quirky family and job and a healthy relationship between her man and friends.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book I think because it was so different from other coxy mysteries. No murder but a really good story line. A little romance and a lot of good, believable characters. I can't wait to read another of Ms.Rogers books I really like her writing.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book. The Writing style was fine, but I was really irritated by the characters. Jamie is 42 years old and acts like she is 13. She comes home because her best friends' father has passed away. Her mother and Nana run the local funeral home. Jamie herself hates dead bodies and anything to do with them. At times there is too much information about the caring for a deceased body (I prefer not to know all the intricacies of embalming and how bodies decompose). There were problems with the words or editing of the book. Using "make" instead a "made" or referring to Cole when it was really Dwight. I got this book thinking it was a cozy. There really was no murder to solve, just issues regarding the dead father.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is OMG Funny

This book is absolutely hilarious. All 3 members of the Burger family are a hoot and I'm elated I'm not related to them. Jamie is a great character with many of the same issues the rest of us have. I definitely hope there are more books to come.

[jerrie calkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

I loved this book,it's a easy read, full of humor and love, and life's trials. I so hope there is more coming.

[Jill Pechauer]

I like it so well I bought more of her work.