"Third Grave Dead Ahead" by Darynda Jones

4.5 of 5 stars. 

The Basics: The Charley Davidson saga continues. Charley takes on a new case involving a missing wife. She suspects the wife's husband, of course, based on the guilt emanating from him. As she investigates the case she realizes that Dr. Yost is hiding much more than he leads on. In Reyes news, he is still upset about being bound to his corporeal body so much so that he escapes from prison. He enlist Charley to help locate Earl Walker, the man he was accused of murdering 10 years earlier. Charley also meets Mistress Marigold, who is actually a young nun who hears angels. This nun enlightens Charley to the fact that she will soon have a guardian, who she will indirectly be responsible for killing. And the plot thickens...

My Thoughts: *Spoilers Ahead* So during the latter part of the novel I kept trying to figure out who this guardian would be. I almost cried when Swopes "died" because I kind of figured the guardian would be either him or Cookie. I have never felt so emotionally tied to characters so when Swopes died, a part of me died too. But luckily he was resuscitated. I did like that he was able to "see" what Charley sees so that when he wakes up he will firmly believe in her abilities. Either way, that part of the book had be completely sad for a good while. But, is cute that Artemis is Charley's new guardian, I didn't see that coming.
On to Reyes, I really started to dislike him in this book. He was awful. Absolutely awful. He threatened Charley, threatened her family, punched her in the face, and almost got her killed. Though I understand why he did much of what he did I still feel some resentment toward him and obviously Charley does too.
I did like the plot of this book tremendously. It definitely wasn't as action-packed as book two but I just love to see these characters develop. I love Cookie, but that's a given, I can't believe Reyes's father was still alive (though he is the scum of the earth), and I am completely put off from Charley's dad Leland. How could he do that to Charley? I'm happy she has Uncle Bob to counteract the craziness of her father's actions. To actually try to get his daughter arrested so she can't practice her private investigating is horrible. I understand his concern but Charley's career choice is not his decision.
I love how Darynda Jones weaves in all of the subplots seamlessly. Everything fit together so well in this book which is nice because the opposite was my complaint for book 2. The case of Dr. Yost and his missing wife was intriguing and it allowed Charley to continue to see what she is capable of doing professionally and grim reaperly (lol). I was so happy she was able to save Cookie in that mine, hopefully she can continue to learn how to control her abilities.
I'm so ready for book 4!

~Remember, teachers read fun stuff too!