The Restorer

The Graveyard Queen, Book 1

By: Amanda Stevens

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

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)

Fantastic & Spooky, Looking forward for more books

Ms Steven has written two great mystery stories. Both books are fantastic & spooky, Ms. Steven write the kind of stories that will pull you in and not let you go! I purchase the two books without knowing her because of the prior contribution by other reader. I am glad I did take the chance. I am hoping she will write the next book(s) real soon.

About the Narrator, Ms. Hyam, she provided final vocal ingredients to this books. She brought the characters into life. I feel she is in the category of James Master (Destren Files), and Johanna Parker (Sookie Stackhouse).

A great job, Please keep them coming!!

the narration is believable.

Khristine Hvam gives dimension to a really good story with her superb narration. Well worth the time.

so good!

I will be buying the next one! It has just a tad of creepy and is very well written.

Interesting with some issues

I liked the story; the premise was well-considered and fairly well executed. Unfortunately the author deals in some awful stereotypes about suicide, and they were almost enough to make this a DNF for me. You could make the argument that it was the opinion of a character, except that what was said was accepted without argument or discussion and repeated later. It was awkward at best. Hopefully this sort of thing improves as the series develops. Looking forward to watching the heroine grow.

As a mystery it was good,

but I wanted an interesting relationship, either romance or friendship, which it did not have.

This is told in first person. It reminded me of the TV show Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury - but a younger heroine. Amelia is 27. Her job is researching and restoring cemeteries. Bodies are found by the police in a cemetery she is restoring. So the detective asks her advice about things in the cemetery. She also gives him copies of the photographs she took. She is curious and asks questions of other people. There are mysteries about multiple bodies. Two were killed years ago, others were killed recently. So what is this book about? Someone who is not a police detective or private investigator who investigates and solves mysteries. In the process she may be in danger as she gets close to figuring things out. By the end one mystery is solved, but there are other mysteries about other characters which I assume will be solved in sequels.

What makes this mystery unique is that Amelia can see ghosts. But she must never let the ghosts know she can see them. If they know they will latch onto her forever. They will be with her and touch her and take energy from her - forever. Another character in the story has ghosts that have latched onto him, and Amelia is worried about it.

It was pretty good. It kept my interest. I think the author has an excellent writing style and a good voice. But I wanted some kind of interesting relationship, even if it were with a friend or coworker. Although there is some lust between Amelia and John, there is no relationship development. This is not a romance.

The ending climax with the bad guy was not well done. Some of his actions did not make sense. I wanted more explanation of things, for example. Why put an external bolt on a door, then leave it open for a victim to escape?

NARRATOR:
The narrator Khristine Hyam was excellent. I enjoyed her southern accent.

Genre: fantasy mystery.