Dorian Box’s FUNERAL DAZE appears at first to be a relatively long novel for a mystery, but there’s nothing extraneous or dull here – once picked up, its energetic plot, quirky and engaging characters, and lively humor will keep the pages turning until the end. The two characters at the heart of the novel, Danny Teakwell and Jessica Jewell, are a perfectly-matched pair, with Jessica nearly-forcibly dragging Danny out of the grief-laden stupor he’s lived in since his wife’s death, and Danny providing the understanding ear, adult-level respect, and gentle, patient support that the eccentric, brilliant, and secretly lonely Jessica deeply needs. Background characters, from Jessica’s late grandfather who used to nap in a coffin to the too-clever-for-his-own-good lawyer, Benjamin “Fink” Finkel, brighten the page with colorful personalities and charm, bringing additional life and vibrancy to the tale. The plot is fast-moving, full of bizarre twists and turns, without slowing or becoming dull even for a moment.
Box does an excellent job of balancing humor with pathos, using the laughter to heighten rather than detract from the genuine heart at the center of this story. Jessica is a brilliant character, with a straightforward, direct, and occasionally prickly exterior combined with a surprisingly vulnerable core. She’s an oddball but thoroughly believable teenager torn between her adult-level intelligence, inherited hyperfixation on death and mortuary science, and tough survival skills, and the need her still-fragile, still-developing heart retains for adult affection, approval, and support. Danny is perfectly placed to balance her, with his own grief leaving him vulnerable to affection (and incidentally making his healing a Project she can devote her fierce energy to), while his very inexperience with young children leads him to give Jessica the adult respect and adult treatment she craves so badly.
The story isn’t exactly light, bright, and sparkling in its entirety – there are some horribly tragic and brutal moments, but they’re made bearable by the humor and the tenderness both. The message conveyed is that yes, this is a brutal life in which terrible things happen, but that people who can keep caring about and for each other, and who can laugh at themselves and at the world, can still manage to survive, heal from their wounds, and even thrive. Life and love are worth fighting for. And for those who like their mysteries with humor, head, and heart, FUNERAL DAZE is well worth reading.
FUNERAL DAZE by Dorian Box manages to be laugh-out-loud funny, heartwarmingly tender, and full of lively action and suspense, all at once – a thoroughly entertaining and engaging read.
~Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader