Former Army Medic, Tony Dozier, is accused of killing a member of the hate group that disrupted his (Muslim) wife's funeral. Tony says he saw his wife's ghost beckoning to him and came across the bleeding man & tried to save him. Tony's defense hires Death (deeth), to prove Tony insane.

Meanwhile, Death's fiancée, Wren, is cataloging the contents of the neighboring Hadleigh House and comes across detailed drawings from WW I depicting a soldier & his Angel of mercy, which turns out to be of the local Gravedigger's monument stone, which is what Tony saw the night of funeral.

Adding to the mystery is the newly dead man in a Confederate Uniform found on the Vengeance Trail: where legend tells of a Confederate Soldier that lost his life after robbing & killing the occupants of the house, then stealing a horse & riding to escape; only to have the horse run under a low branched tree, breaking the soldier's neck, knocking the soldier off, & leaving behind the body.

I liked the combined stories they held my interest. I liked most of the characters, however, I found Death's brother Randy was a constant source of irritation. His mouth was always sarcastic, putting Death down, and he little to do with anything other than being an irritating leftover from the previous book, which kept this from a 4th ★. The Keystone auctioneering family was funny as always. ( )

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Wren Morgan, her boyfriend Death (pronounced Deeth) Bogart and his brother Randy are making their way to Hadleigh House, an old abandoned mansion that's just been handed to the Keystone and Sons auction house. Wren works for them and is going to catalogue and pack up everything for auction. But while they are wending their way to the house, Death tells Wren about a recent event: it seems an old man wearing a Civil War uniform was killed on their path, also known as the Vengeance Trail. He was drunk, riding a stolen horse, and the horse ran him into a low-hanging branch and he had been killed. Then Death tells Wren the 'creepy' part, which is the fact the uniform was saturated with formaldehyde and traces of human decomposition - which means the dead guy removed the uniform from a recently-deceased corpse. Not a pretty picture to Wren (or to anyone, I would imagine).

The brothers leave Wren to her task and decide to explore the surrounding area, which (without going into great detail) puts them in contact with Kurt Robinson, who runs Warriors' Rest, a camp for wounded vets. When Kurt finds out that Death is a private investigator he asks for his help in proving his friend insane. It seems the friend, Anthony Dozier, is on trial for murder because he was found with a dying man in the back of his car. The man had been stabbed several times, because Tony was seen arguing with the man's father earlier - and here it gets a bit involved - at the funeral of Tony's wife. Tony married a Muslim woman who died in a car crash, and the CAC (Church of the Army of Christ) is a hate group that want to convert or eradicate anyone who isn't Christian, so they showed up to protest. Tyler Jones is the head of the church and the man Tony confronted. Tony was found the next morning, thinking he was back in Afghanistan with a wounded soldier in his car and was trying to find the base hospital. So the defense wants temporary insanity, and the prosecutor wants murder since he believes it was premeditated.

Meanwhile Wren, while going through the house finds an old sketchbook with a drawing of a woman and soldiers. The woman is holding her hair away from her face with one hand while holding a ladle in the other. Many of the drawings are similar, all with the woman, and it intrigues Wren to want to know more about the artist and occupier of the home.

Then Orly Jackson, the deputy sheriff of East Bledsoe Ferry, shows up asking Wren if she knew the man because he had a note in his pocket with her name on it and her handwriting. The note is a reference authenticating the uniform and would have been sold with it but neither Wren nor any of the Keystones remember him, which leaves Orly back where he started - trying to identify the dead man, and also the dead man the uniform was removed from. As I said, it gets pretty involved...

When Death visits Tony Dozier, Tony tells him he saw his dead wife, and when we went toward her, he found August bleeding and tried to help him. Death, hearing the story, is sure of one thing: he's convinced the man didn't kill August Jones, and sets out to find out who did.

When Wren shows Death the pictures she took of the sketchbook on her phone, they both agree that they've seen the woman somewhere before but can't remember; she eventually shows the sketchbook to Doris Keystone who also thinks she's seen the woman before. What she does tell Wren, however, is that Hadleigh House was also known as 'the gravedigger's house' since it belonged to an old man who lived there by himself and rarely spoke to anyone.

And this, my friends, leaves several mysteries to be uncovered: Who is the gravedigger? Who is the woman in the sketchbook? Who was the dead old man, and where did he get the uniform? And finally, if Tony didn't kill August, who did?

This was quite a book. The plot is complicated, detailed, and utterly fascinating. We have several subplots that are quite engaging also, and Ms. Ross weaves them together in a tapestry that threads suspense, mystery, and humor effortlessly to create a final product that is gratifying to read. The best of these (while they are all good) is "watching" Death come to some conclusions of his own (and I will let you find these out on your own).

I think of all the books in this series I enjoyed this one the most, because we are gaining more insight into our characters, and as I have a fondness for them (as one should in each book one reads) I was quite delighted with it. There are some very funny scenes which had me outright laughing; and I do love the fact that Wren is no shrinking violet - she's a woman who can think on her feet and stand on her own. There is genuine feeling between all the characters in the book, and you can feel the warmth come through the pages.

When the end comes, and everything ties together nicely, we are given a satisfying conclusion to a very good mystery indeed that keeps us intrigued throughout and leaves us waiting for the next in the series (which I hope is soon!) Highly recommended. ( )

Pardon me while I hop up on a soapbox.

Ladies and gentlemen, readers and especially writers of cozy mysteries, this – (allow me to wave a copy of Death and the Gravedigger's Angel in the air) this is how it's supposed to be done.

The object, last time I looked, of a cozy mystery is pure entertainment. They're supposed to have a main character who is not a cop but has some sort of access to mysteries that makes sense. They're supposed to be light in tone, or even funny. They're supposed to be long on characterization and charm; a twisty plot is a bonus, but not a necessity.

And The Gravedigger's Angel does it right, in spades. The titular main character, Death Bogart, is a private investigator, with an auctioneer girlfriend named Wren. Both are well-written and engaging, and are surrounded by characters I enjoy. I laughed out loud reading this, often. Do you have any idea how long it's been since that happened more than, say, once in a book? The flying buttresses. "Yaaaarrrrgh". The French lesson. And, best of all, the battle of the Bible verses – marvelous.

“Hit your head again?”
“Umm, no.”
“I wasn’t asking. I was offering.”

“I had a possessed rabbit once.”
“I’m not even surprised.”

It wasn't perfect. My eyebrows rose a little at the idea that someone could forget they had sold an authentic Civil War Confederate uniform, especially early on in her career – I can't believe I would ever forget about something like that – but I guess the reasoning was the sheer volume of stuff that was sold. And probably by the time of publication someone will fix the point that the auctioneers make that they keep records for six years, and the uniform was sold less than six years before what I assume is the setting for the book (2016-17).

But any quibbles I had with small plot holes or what-have-you were more than outweighed by the references to Star Trek and Tolkien, and indeed Lord Peter – and the fact that the story behind Death's name was not rehashed from the first book. (If Loretta Ross was trying to earn brownie points, she totally scored with me.) On the one hand, I'm wary of the trove of puns and wordplay that can (and do) spring from the name in a series of murder mysteries… the fact that that horse Death comes to know is a gray kind of made me sigh a little … but … how can I hold it against the author when a) the man is named for Lord Peter Wimsey, and b) it would really be inhuman for anyone to resist riffing on the name now and then. Just once and a while. I mean, really. And given the conceit of the main character's name being Death, how could anyone resist using it in the titles?

Woven in amongst the humor and book-geeky goodness is a very serious and very well handled exploration of PTSD and depression. Death has been broken, and while the pieces are coming back together, and he's beginning to be able to see daylight, still the depression never goes entirely away – "lurking like a dark, tentacled monster under the surface of a sunny pond". The PTSD never goes entirely away – it impacts every day. It's not the focus of the story. But it makes for a solid foundation, a gritty background for the froth and fun. And the joy. Just as there's a real strain of darkness in the book, so is there actual joy. That's an accomplishment.

And then there's a joke about teaching French using Lady Marmalade, and I'm giggling like a kid again.

And there's a bit of a clever mystery as well, in which the non-sleuthing main character only accidentally ends up in danger (as opposed to sticking her nose into places it has no business and ending up in danger). So, yes: this is my benchmark for a cozy mystery done well. I love this series, and I hope it keeps coming for a long time.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review. ( )

Death and the Gravedigger’s Angel by Loretta Ross is the third book in An Auction Block Mystery series. Wren Morgan and the Bogart brothers (Randy and Death) are heading to Hadleigh House. It is an 1800s plantation and the path leading up to the house is a local legend. Keystone and Sons, the auction company that Wren works for, has been contracted to sell the contents of the house. Wren needs to appraise and catalogue the items in the house. The area is a crime scene after hikers found a man dead on the Vengeance Path in a Confederate uniform. The man had stolen a horse from Warriors Rest, the vets camp next door, and ridden down the path into an overhanging branch. Duncan Reynolds, Chief of Police, is still trying to identify the deceased. While at Hadleigh House, Death is approached by Kurt Robinson (runs Warriors Rest with his wife). Kurt would like Death (a private investigator) to help Anthony Dozier who is accused of murdering August Jones, Jr. Anthony just lost his wife, Zahra and August Jones Jr. father, Tyler was protesting (with his group) at the funeral (he is against Muslims). After meeting Anthony, Death knows that the man could not commit murder. Death is determined to find out what really happened and get Anthony cleared of all charges. While going through the items in the house, Wren finds a sketchbook. It is full of beautiful sketches of a woman surrounded by soldiers. The woman looks very familiar to Wren. Wren knows there must be a story behind these sketches. Join Death, Randy and Wren in Death and the Gravedigger’s Angel as they search for answers.

Death and the Gravedigger’s Angel has a complex mystery and interesting characters. I did, though, have trouble getting into the story. I felt like I was missing something. While I have purchased the first two books in the series, I have not had an opportunity to read them. With the majority of cozy mystery series, you can pick up and read any book in the series (in any order). That is not true with An Auction Block Mystery series. I was confused in the beginning of the book. The author does provide some detail on the characters (their jobs, what happened to Randy, and the romance between Wren and Death). There are many characters in this story and it can be hard to keep them straight (the vets, the auction house family, the suspects). To me the characters lacked depth. Without more details, they feel (just a little) superficial. I give Death and the Gravedigger’s Angel 3.5 out of 5 stars. I appreciate the mystery in the novel. It was interesting to see how the author tied things together. A reader can, though, solve the mystery before they are halfway through the book (avid mystery readers will probably solve it earlier). The romance is very prominent in this story. Wren and Death are very lovey dovey (it is a little mushy actually). It is sweet, but the romance seems to have been pushed along rather quickly. There was one scene that I really enjoyed. Tyler Jones comes to the door of Hadleigh Manor demanding entrance. He keeps tossing out various Bible verses. Wren, with a little assistance, verbally spars with the minister. It was entertaining to read. I need to go back and read the first novel in the series. I can then form a better opinion about the series as a whole. ( )