This book seemed quite straight forward if a little odd with the line of work Grace did but things took a sinister turn. The book kept you engaged although was slightly concerning as time went on that she felt she was both judge and jury for people.

A good read.

It's not often you come across a book that's completely different but this fits the bill. Grace McGill cleans up after people have died. Not just any old people but those who have lain undiscovered for weeks, perhaps months. I've never wondered who did this sort of job but it's one that needs doing and thank goodness for those who do. Grace is meticulous in her cleaning, taking great care and showing respect to those who have died. She also makes models of the rooms where the bodies were found, reproducing everything in them in detail. After visiting and cleaning the home of an elderly man, Tommy Agnew, she becomes obsessed with a photo she finds there and its possible links to the disappearance of a young girl over fifty years ago. She decides to investigate but in doing so she is putting herself in danger.

There's so much I love about this book: the character of Grace, the details of her job, the descriptions of Glasgow. It is quite unique. I couldn't help being a little disappointed at the turn the book takes towards the end but that's probably just me. If you're looking for something different, go for this. You won't be disappointed. Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC.

Just when I thought I had figured out where the story was going I turned the page and I was so wrong. An unusual occupation, a missing girl from the 1960s. What is the link?
A very unique and gripping tale to the very last page.
I will be looking out for more bokkd by C. S. ROBERTSON.

I was not sure what to expect from The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill but wow what a book it is. It follows Grace in her chosen career as someone who cleans the houses of people who have died and laid undiscovered for some time. It is a very unique story and Grace is a very quirky character. On the whole I really enjoyed it and am glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my ARC.

A powerful book detailing Grace’s role in cleaning properties wherein people have not only died, but quite often have been lying undiscovered for some time. She appears caring and thoughtful as she makes dioramas so families can picture their relatives abodes- or so she says. Grace decides to try and discover what happened to a girl who went missing, including travelling to where she was last seen. Tension and suspense build as the mystery unravels with a real twisty ending.

Wow! Got to say this certainly packed a punch. No idea what I was expecting (a bit of a murder mystery maybe), what I got was a whole lot more. It took a good few chapters for me to warm up to it, and then, BAM!!! The hits just kept coming. The more that Grace uncovered, the more questions I had. She’s a true anti-heroine, if there’s such a thing. Her job as a ‘cleaner’ alerts her to an unsolved crime from over 50 years earlier, and as Grace investigates this mystery we learn more about her, and her dark dark thoughts. I was on the edge of my seat, I was thinking I knew what was coming next, but I really didn’t have a clue. A thrilling, emotional, and completely addictive, unpredictable mystery. I loved it.

A totally new take on the detective thriller - an original story and I loved it!

The story takes place in the present time and is narrated by Grace. I loved her! She’s funny, smart, determined and the type of woman I’d like to spend a day with – although she is socially awkward and has no close relationships! She tells her story with love and compassion for her “clients” and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

The detective work is exactly like I imagine an amateur sleuth would perform, so it kept the story believable, and it is easy to empathise with the characters. Each character is also well developed, and it was easy to forget that some of them were actually dead!

The story is filled with unexpected disclosures, little nuggets of treasures, that keep you delighted and wanting more.

I am so glad I found this author – I will definitely add her to my authors TBR list!

#netgalley #theundiscovereddeathsofgracemcgill #csrobertson #Hodder&Stoughton

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughon for the ARC of this book.
I absolutely loved this book. A very different take on the subject of death / murder. Grace was so caring in her specialised cleaning job and her subsequent building of the dioramas of the subject’s rooms seemed a perfect but slightly strange continuation of their lives. I didn’t expect that she had been killing them although I do understand why she had been doing it. The ending was just superb, more like this please.

This was so good! A very unique story about Grace McGill and her unusual job of deep cleaning the homes of people who have died and been left undiscovered sometimes for several months. Grace lives a lonely life with her cat George with as little contact with others as she can manage. After cleaning the home of a man who lay dead in his home for 5 months, Grace notices that something of importance is lurking among the dead man’s belonging. Finding a daisy by his pillow reminds her of previous cleanings that she’s done and leads her on a trail that becomes dangerous and very personal.

If you enjoy a good mystery, this will be a book to keep you guessing and evoke lots of emotions along the way.

Grace McGill is a 'death cleaner'; if someone dies alone and their body remains undiscovered for some time, Grace is called in to clean up what's left behind. Strictly speaking, the clean up would be to thoroughly remove all traces of bodily fluids etc - but Grace takes a stronger interest in the passing of some of those lonely people.

We meet Grace as she goes to clean up the flat of an old man who's death was unnoticed for several months - but as the story unfolds there are a lot of secrets to be uncovered and a twist in the tale that really did take me by surprise.

A well-written and unusual thriller - I confess to starting to lose interest about a third of the way through but then the story took an unexpected turn and I raced through to the end. I would recommend.

This is a twisty, strange story with a quirky character.

Grace is complex and her narrative reflects that. Grace's differences and loneliness is somewhat reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant although I found Grace largely unlikeable

It was interesting learning about the job of a "death cleaner" and an inspired role and theme for the novel.

In places it felt convoluted and the ending longer than I could maintain interest for.

This dark, gripping, and entertaining read is a classic page-turner! I really enjoyed the storyline and was eager to finish it.

Grace McGill is a cleaner who has the job of clearing up after a person has died at home but has been left undiscovered for some time. A highly sickly job but needs are a must. However, there is plenty bubbling under the surface that is revealed as the book progresses. Utterly absorbing!

The narrative takes the reader on a whirlwind adventure and there are twists and turns and the conclusion left me feeling torn about how I felt about Grace.

A highly recommended read which would be great for book club discussions.

This is an interesting story narrated by self-styled introvert Grace McGill, a cleaner of houses after people have died and not been discovered for a long time.

After discovering a mystery at one of the flats she cleans, she overcomes her discomfort at talking to others and turns detective to solve the clues.

As the book progresses you learn not just about the unravelling mystery but also more about Grace and what has led her to this point. An quick-tempo plot with a great twist.

I was very happy to receive this book from NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.
It’s a quick enough read even if the pace is slow at the beginning but keeps you wondering what on earth is coming next!
Grace comes across as a socially isolated girl snd it’s hard to make her out or warm to her. Then when the revelation comes you your interest is roused again.
A very very good story!
I have no hesitation in giving it 5 stars and I look forward to reading more by C.S. Robertson.
Reviews will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon and my Instagram page.

It’s taken a global pandemic to make death a more frequent, if not always acceptable, topic of conversation we’ve become more accustomed to talking about. But what if death wasn’t just a scary, inconvenient truth we’d rather ignore but a major factor of your chosen career?

Because Grace McGill is a specialist cleaner who scours homes after a resident has moved on or a deceased occupant’s body has been removed. One unifying theme in her work is how often those of a certain age especially die alone, unnoticed, unmissed. Grace acts compassionately, wanting to honour their memory.

Left undiscovered for weeks or months at a time, she has the grisly, thankless task of professionally disinfecting and rigorously cleaning a house, and safely disposing of the toxic evidence of a death. The well researched factual details provide evidence of just how thorough and vital a job it is.

Once she returns home, with only her cat for company, Grace’s way of honouring the dead, apart from rescuing a few personal tokens to pass on to family or loved ones, is to create a precise diorama of the area as she has left it. Spotless and bodiless but accurate to the tiniest detail.

But one death in particular causes her to sense a connection to the mysterious disappearance of a young girl decades ago on the Isle of Bute. She attends the deceased’s funeral, notes who is there —as seen in a group photograph in the house—and starts to stalk them with intent to search for answers.

This beautifully written novel dives into dark territory but never loses its grip on the essence of great storytelling. As threads join, unravel, and twist again, the gripping narrative shifts into something unforeseen, taking Grace and the reader into a clever play on the title. A stunning, compelling read, but not one for the faint hearted or squeamish. Grateful thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC.

I have to be honest - I definitely do not envy Grace McGill her choice of career. Cleaning is far from my favoured pass time on a good day, but going to the homes of the not-so-recently deceased and making good what remains is most certainly not on my list of things to do if ever seeking unemployment. But Grace McGill is a very different personality to me, perhaps more empathetic, certainly more strong stomached, actively seeking out the cases of those who have lain undiscovered for many months after their death, taking the time to find out about the deceased and taking each of their stories to heart. She is a fascinating character indeed, multi-layered and so well imagined that going on this journey of discovery with her, following her all the way to Bute as she tries to learn more about the past of one of her 'clients', seems the most natural thing in the world. Sort of.

There is so much I could say a bout this book but I don't want to journey into spoiler territory. The lion's share of the book centres around Grace's infatuation with a photograph that she discovers during a clean up, her bid to discover it's origins, it's meaning and to identify the other people in the picture. Although this may seem a very strange obsession - most of us can likely imagine a passing interest in a person's story but perhaps not the level of scrutiny Grace engages in - but the more I learned of Grace, the more natural and understandable her actions became. And as the story progresses, the tension and the mystery really start to develop, Grace uncovering loose threads that threaten to see her whole existence unravel when pulled upon.

The author is adept at creating memorable characters who really draw you into a story and grace is no exception. She has a very complicated past, and a troubled relationship with her own father which goes some way to explaining her actions. There is a great deal of empathy with her, but also a whole host of contradictions and her ways of coping with the atrocities she must see are fascinating and yet authentic. I was really drawn to her, keen to see her uncover the truth, even if she was somewhat less confident or outgoing than the typical amateur detective, for that is surely what she is.

There is a mystery at the heart of this whole story, with a fated summer on Bute playing a key part in the progression of the story. I loved the nod to the wonderful town of Rothesay, and the island as a whole, to the residents and businesses that make it a truly special place to visit. With one quite important exception, CS Robertson has captured the heart and spirit of the place, and I could picture each of the landmarks as he described them, bringing a smile to my face, and a pang of regret too that the pandemic has prevented any trips to the island the last couple of years. Knowing how welcoming a place it is, the sense of threat that the author manages to underline the narrative with gave it an extra edginess that just made the tension greater and my need to get to the truth grow.

This is a perfectly paced read, a blend of suspense and threat, moments of pulse pounding tension and atmosphere, and an underlying of melancholy and inevitability that held my attention to the very last page. There were scenes in the book that caught me unawares, but parts which seemed sadly anticipated. And that ending, understated and yet emotionally powerful at the same time. Definitely recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC of this book. Whilst this is the first novel by CS Roberton, there are a number of previous novels as Craig Robertson, including the Narey & Winter books which I cannot recommend highly enough. The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill shares some themes with the earlier stories - death, photography and a slightly morbid obsession with collecting things. However, this is an entirely different animal - the majority of the book is viewed almost entirely from Grace's perception and as it develops the reader becomes aware that this is not always entirely healthy. The ending, whilst it has a sense of inevitability is still shocking and is just right considering what has gone before. Read this book - yes it verges on the unpleasant at times but Grace is such a well-realised character that you will be carried along on her journey. I wish I could give this an extra star just because of the subtle double meaning in the title but I'll make do with 5.

Such a twisted story with so many different threads to it, is all as it seems, apparantly not.... A gripping story while you understand what really happened

This was a very unusual book with a story line you rarely see. Our heroine, Grace, cleans up properties where people have died. I honestly believed that this job was done in pairs, having seen some reality crime programmes on television, although in the recent Greg Davies series, he does this job in his own too, but I suspect this is to support the script as with this book. I did find it quite slow at the beginning and not as gripping as other reviewers stated. But an interesting read nevertheless. It does make us realise that we need to make sure that our homes are personal clutter free, an impossible task, if we should find ourselves with the real version of Grace.

C.S. Robertson is a prolific crime writer but I have not read any of his previous works, so had no expectations. I thought this was original and quirky and I enjoyed it for what it was. Grace, the narrator, takes us into her own world and gradually reveals her true self in the pursuit of a 50 year old missing person story. Most of it was predictable and my interest dipped a little in places, but the ending was a surprise. So I enjoyed it but it is not my favourite genre.