The Restorer

The Graveyard Queen, Book 1

By: Amanda Stevens

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Audie Award Nominee, Fantasy, 2013

Never acknowledge the dead.
Never stray far from hallowed ground.
Never get close to the haunted.
Never, ever tempt fate.

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to these rules passed down from my father…until now.

Detective John Devlin needs my help to find a killer, but he is haunted by ghosts who shadow his every move. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the headstone symbols lead me closer to truth and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

©2012 Amanda Stevens (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Khristine Hvam draws the listener in with a Charleston twang and a variety of Southern dialects, including Gullah, each slightly and delightfully different. She speaks with a vulnerability that creates an affection for the characters, especially Amelia." ( AudioFile)

Graveyard ghosts

A medium who is uneducated about her gifts gets involved in a murder case. I really enjoyed this book and the second book!

Slowly draws you in...

Once I got into the story, I was hooked. The story is paced well, and the author does an excellent job of painting a picture of what is going on in this story. I quickly had a vivid picture in my mind of the lush, mysterious, dark charm of the story's setting. The imagery is just creepy enough to have the listener hanging on every word, but not so much as to be aversive. I am already on book #3 of the series, and without giving anything away, I recommend to keep going. Each book seamlessly blends into the next, just the sort of series I love to follow. Finally, the narrator is absolute perfection! Her voice is smooth as silk and she does a variety of characters well, mostly all of them with the gorgeous accent of the southeast.

A Spellbinding Southern Gothic Mystery

Amelia Gray is a woman with a special gift. She sees ghosts, an ability that sometimes interferes with her profession as a restorer of historic cemeteries. The Restorer is the first installment in the atmospheric paranormal mystery series, The Graveyard Queen. Amanda Stevens does an exceptional job of conveying Charleston’s interesting history & local color. Additionally, the narrator dramatically brings the story alive with different voices for the various characters. I highly recommend this audiobook for anyone who enjoys a deep-fried slice of Southern gothic along with their cozy mysteries.

Good story, blah characters

A little slow-paced, and characters don't have all that much personality (except for secondary characters who are more like caricatures), but the storyline was interesting enough to get me to keep listening and I'll likely try the second book in the series.

Very good book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
It was easy listening with a compelling story. The narrator was excellent. On to book 2 for me.

Different kind of ghost story

I really liked that this story had a really mystery as well as romance and paranormal elements.
I’m hoping there are more continuing stories in this series

Absolutely wonderful

I loved it. kept me in suspense the whole time. very well written. can't wait to read the next book in this series.

Rough narration can't spoil this story

Narrator struggles with her southern accents, but, the plot stays alive with undercurrents of desire and mystery. I would recommend!

Totally enjoyed

Where does The Restorer rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I enjoyed this book because it had a different 'take off' than many of the other 'ghost stories' that you read.

What other book might you compare The Restorer to and why?

I don't compare this too much with any others. I try to be even and individual about each book. As I said, this book had a nicely done different take off than other books I have read in this genre.

Which character – as performed by Khristine Hvam – was your favorite?

The main character....I enjoyed her very much.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I love my graveyard

Any additional comments?

I think I most enjoyed the way the author had a different take on the whole ghost story/graveyard theme. Very nicely done.

Completely riveting, excellent narrator

Never acknowledge the dead. Never stray far from hallowed ground. Never get close to the haunted. Never, ever tempt fate. These were the rules Amelia Gray lived by. When she was nine years old, and she saw her first ghost while helping her father in an old cemetery, he taught her these rules, for he, too, saw ghosts. It meant a somewhat lonely existence, since it was difficult to get really close to another human being while keeping your guard up at all times.

Amelia Gray is a cemetery restorer. And she sees ghosts. She has followed her father’s rules all her life, until now. She has just started working in a cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina. She has walked the cemetery and photographed it, but then heavy rains stopped her until the ground could dry. She gets a call from police detective John Devlin that could not wait. He must see her photographs that night. They meet but Amelia’s car is broken into and her briefcase stolen. Someone doesn’t want the detective to see those photos. Since they were taken with a digital camera, Amelia is still able to share the pictures but wonders why the urgency. The police found a recently deceased woman in the cemetery and wonder if Amelia caught any clues in her work.

Amelia feels a deep attraction for John Devlin, but he is haunted by a woman and a child who are draining his life force. She cannot acknowledge their presence or they might latch onto her. She tries to avoid seeing him after twilight when the veil is dropped, but that isn’t always possible. Devlin asks Amelia to walk the cemetery with the police looking for evidence. Amelia teaches Devlin about tombstones and inscriptions and the art upon them. She teaches us as well in her southern drawl with a quiet passion in her descriptions. She may only be 27 but her knowledge is vast. Amelia writes a blog where she has become known as “The Graveyard Queen” to the many taphophiles (cemetery enthusiasts) who read it.

Another recently deceased body is found in the cemetery. Amelia and Devlin make a gruesome discovery in one of the mausoleums. They both have their own sets of friends, but they overlap in many ways. Devlin doesn’t believe in the paranormal yet Amelia looks for answers in the field. In her quest to learn more about Devlin, she discovers who his ghosts are and continues to learn more about them. And still more bodies are found.

This is a gothic romantic ghost story that pulled me in with its slow Southern appeal and the accent of the narrator. Khristine Hvam seemed to roll the words about in her mouth before releasing them with a sensual, hair raising quality. The team of author and narrator made this a spooky, tingling, leave the lights on ghost story that was very compelling. The pace didn’t seem fast, but there was a lot of action, emotion, and twists in this story. The ultimate solution was a surprise. Completely riveting.