Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope

Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 510

Publisher - Allison & Busby

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Fifty-five-year-old Jim Lapsford makes an unusually healthy-looking corpse. A life-long devotee of vitamin pills and herbal remedies, it seems almost ironic that he has succumbed to a heart attack. His GP is convinced that this is the case but trainee undertaker Drew Slocombe isn't so sure and he is convinced that there is enough conflicting medical evidence to merit a coroner's inquest at least. And then there's Jim's personal life: in addition to a long suffering wife, two sons and a grieving terrier, Jim appears to have left behind a series of scorned mistresses. It seems everyone else is happy enough to accept the doctor's verdict and Drew shouldn't really rock the boat, but can he really turn his back on murder? Jim Lapsford may already be dead but surely he deserves to have his killer caught? Even so, Drew may have plenty of suspects but he has no proof. And Jim's cremation is days away...



My Review

Jim Lapsford is the last person you expect to die in his sleep, or die at such a young age. A picture of health it is a shock to the town that he has died. Trainee undertaker and ex nurse Drew Slocombe isn't as convinced and feels something is a miss, no postmortem no one seems concerned by him, Drew starts investigating himself. Could someone have killed Jim? As Drew starts digging it becomes clear there are many with potential motives for taking Jim out but has someone really committed murder or is Drew just hung up on his own past?

I flipped back and forth on 2.5/3 stars for this, the majority of characters I just couldn't get my head around their attitudes. Even with the coroner being told to cut down on post mortems, this is a relatively young gentleman who has died unexpectedly. Then when concerns are raised the families attitude, anyone close to him, no one seems fussed. Some of their reactions are perplexing, irritating or out right annoying.

Drew really goes a bit on the ledge for this one, to the point of obsessive but even some of his actions or reactions you are like, really??? Then things that come to light or happen after Drew shakes it up and people's behaviour is just really bizarre. I did wonder if it was to make you think X person was guilty hence acting like they were. I just found the whole thing, from the living characters, their behaviours, attitudes, actions all a bit hard to swallow.

Other than that I was pretty curious as to what had happened, if it was some kind of skulduggery. I would read this author again but this wasn't one I loved at all, 2.5/5 for me this time. Have you read it? What did you think?

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