Cause of Death: ???

by K.N. Salustro

Between the endless, exhausting work of harvesting souls and keeping the balance between the mortal world and the Forces that inhabit Eternity, Death just wants a break. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Death wants someone else doing their job for them. So, naturally, when a soul is taken before its time and Death had nothing to do with the reaping, there’s only one course of figure out who is responsible, and make sure this never happens again. Armed with their trusted scythe and a bad temper, Death sets out to find the culprit, only to fall upon a tangled trail that leads to more and more unnerving discoveries on the mortal world, and across Death’s home realm. If Death doesn’t find the truth soon, both may be destroyed. Nothing says “hurry up” like the threat of an apocalypse!**Fantasy Category Winner in the 2021 Discovering IndieReader Book Awards****Silver Medal winner in the 2020 Global eBook Awards - Fantasy/Contemporary**

321 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 24, 2020

About the author

K.N. Salustro is a science fiction and fantasy writer who loves outer space, dragons, and stories that include at least one of those things. When not writing, she can often be found drawing or painting, designing and sewing plushies, or trying to play video games while her cat demands her attention. (She doesn't play a lot these days.)

Her science fiction trilogy The Star Hunters has been nominated for the Cygnus Awards, with each book in the trilogy receiving its own accolades. Most recently, Light Runner (the third book of the series) received an honorable mention in the Global eBook Awards.Chasing Shadows, the first book in the trilogy and K.N. Salustro's debut novel, was also a quarter-finalist in the 2018 Screencraft Cinematic Book Contest, and won a silver medal in the 2019 Readers Favorite book awards in addition to receiving a 5-star review from the same platform.

K.N. Salustro has also written a spinoff novella called The Arkin Races, and made her fantasy debut with Cause of Death: ???, a murder mystery starring and narrated by Death. She is now working on her Southern Echo pirate fantasy series.

Reviews

[Billie Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The character and location descriptions were so rich you felt like you were right there on death's journey. And the book definitely gave a new meaning to flirting with death. unfortunately the foreshadowing gave a bit too much away so the story felt like it started slow as you waited for death to catch up, but once death did I felt vested to see how things would end.

[Sheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the concept of this book and enjoyed it's foray into the story.

I must add a precursor, I am a huge fan of "Death" in Terry Pratchett's books.

Non corporeal entities are an interesting read for me. I found these characters a little "too human". Anxiety ridden, leaning on short cuts, surely if you have been around long enough, you have worked out the kinks. They just did not having enough omnipotence. Too human

Years ago I learned that I didn't have to finish every book that I started. Having discounted myself for the entire book, I read maybe 1/3. Then lost interest, that Terry Pratchett, ruins a lot of fantasy for me.

[Emma Wong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book at a book fair, because the cover intrigued me and so did the opening chapter. I would give this book 5-stars for being original. I liked the header introducing each chapter. I thought they helped set the scene and were funny and quirky. I am only giving three stars for the following reasons. This is all intended as constructive criticism, from a fellow author who is also trying to improve her craft. First, I think a professional editor would have trimmed about 75 pages from this book. Every author needs to set the mood and also, in a mystery like this, intentionally direct the reader down paths that may not necessarily advance the plot. Nevertheless, I felt like that there was a bit too much description of the glamours and the day-to-day activities of the characters. In the first and second chapters, reading about their world was quirky and funny. After that, it felt like work. Second, the ending was not very satisfying for me. The reason, I think, is that the book should have ultimately been about the mortal who jumped souls and not the various forces (Life, Death, Destiny, etc.). In other words, its fine to speak from Death's first person point of view. I liked that. It was weird and interesting. I like weird and quirky and off-the-beaten path. But the actual point of the book should have (this is just one person's opinion) ultimately been about the mortal who jumped souls - that person's life, their ups and downs, and struggles and failures, and the fierce desire to live despite obstacles. Had it tied back to that, even if we never heard from the mortal from their own lips, I think it would have been a far more compelling book.

Why? Because that is, ultimately, the only character the reader can really relate to. I analogize it to writing War of the Worlds from the point of view of the alien invaders. If you were to write War of the Worlds from the point of view of the aliens, that's fine. But, then (in my opinion), either, you have to somehow anthropomorphize (spelling?) the aliens to make them relatable so we can identify with them, or you need to indirectly make the story about us humans (albeit told through the lens of an alien species looking at us). Again, this is just one person's point of view. I only mention because I was really into the book in the first three chapters. Then, as it seemed to be almost entirely about the forces, I just lost interest and slogged my way to the end.

[Tabatha Shipley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I Did Like:
+A compelling mystery. You are just as invested as Death in finding out what is happening and what it could all mean. The clues sprinkled throughout the plot are intriguing and keep you turning pages.
+Lots of great characterizations of the traits or other fantasy beings. My personal favorites were the twins, I feel like I would get wrapped up in wasting time betting with them.
+The ending works. It made the contract pieces scattered through the story important, gave closure where it was necessary, and worked for the story in a very bittersweet sort of way.

Who Should Read This One:
-Fans of sort of supernatural fantasy, this embodies Death, Life and their crew in a beautiful way.

My Rating: 4 Stars

For Full Review: https://alltherightreads.com/2025/12/...

[Liam Dwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice digestible mystery novel with an interesting hook. The main character of death was well-formed, and I really enjoyed tagging along on the adventure. The worldbuilding is also really well done and thought-out, and you feel it in the unique and differing personalities of each Force. With that in mind, the middle of the book gets very repetitive, and it was tough to push through at times. It essentially boiled down to Meet Force - Exposition/History of the Force - Find Clue - Repeat. While that had its moments, it could really have benefited from switching things up. Still, I enjoyed it overall and any fan of mystery novels will probably too.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so fun to read and left me with so many emotions. I loved the way the Forces were portrayed and honestly couldn't get enough of the dynamics between all of them, which made me laugh out loud more than once.
Definitely one of the best books I've read so far this year.

[Nikki Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart goes out to Death. This is a fantasy/mystery involving the personifications of abstract concepts. Each character was charming in their own way.
A decently quick read; great to get out of a reading slump.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a big fan of the personifications of, not just Life and Death but everything in between: Sins, Virtues, Blessings. The author brought to life a whole new world through a who-dunnit mystery.

[Elysse Power · Rating 5 out of 5]

So unique and imaginative!!

[Lyric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun read! At first I was worried that we would follow the mystery on Earth and it'd end up being more NCIS but paranormal, so I was relieved that 90% of the story took place in the realm of Eternity. The world building was so rich, and each representation of the Sins, Riders, and Virtues were so unique in appearance, and I was surprised at some of the choices for those who were personified. The queer rep in this is also amazing, adding a little cherry on top.

I think the thing this book struggled with the most was the whole wild-goose-chase format. There was a lot of build up with going to places only for it to be fruitless. I get that in a mystery like this, there has to be a decent amount of that, but sometimes it made the story drag a bit. However, it's fun seeing the interpersonal relationships Death has with some of them, and putting the pieces together at the end.

Overall, this is a really intriguing story with a world that's fresh and brand new, I'd definitely recommend it.