Grace McGill cleans up after the dead. Sometimes old or lonely people die at home but are not found for some time. After police and SOCOs are done, and the body has gone, there is always residual organic material contaminating surfaces, furniture, carpets and other fomites, seeping into floorboards and corners, carrying with it all manner of toxic, poisonous and pathogenic materials. Grace is a one woman business employed to decontaminate, deep clean and return the premises to a habitable state. Her latest job is the flat in which Thomas Agnew died in his bed – 5 months ago! After the major cleaning operation, she also has to tidy the place, removing items that might be of value to any family members that can be traced. She is intrigued by a collection of newspapers from the same date but different years and an old photograph with a smashed glass frame, wrapped in a similar newspaper and hidden in a drawer, and takes them for own, private, collection of memorabilia from her jobs. She also notices and bags a single, dead, daisy. She has found a flower like this at previous scenes! Is there a serial killer on the loose, noticed by her but missed by the professionals? Intrigued by Tommy’s paper collection and the photograph, she embarks on an investigation which leads her to a possible murder and the likelihood that she will meet a similar fate.
The story is narrated by Grace, who is a unique creation, deeply philosophical, shy but bold, with a complex back story, and a fascination with the homes of these undiscovered corpses. The writing is extremely skilful, poetic and pictorial, and with a solid and authentic rhythm of Glasgow (I was born and spent many years living in these streets) without resorting to alternative spellings. The plot seems to be unfold in a light, slightly darkly comedic, but as we sink in it becomes darker and more complex and then there are at least three twists in row which take the reader into new and uncharted waters. And then a couple more. I’d give it 6 stars if that was allowed.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

What an original and unusual book. Grace is a medical cleaner of houses where bodies have lain undiscovered for weeks or months. Expert at what she does, she is a perfectionist in her standards and cares about the loneliness that caused them to lie unfound. At the heart of the book is a mystery that gradually unravels and things become very different. I found it a gripping read; Grace starts as a sympathetic character but there is a dark twist. I recommend it as a very different thriller.
Thanks to Hodder&Stoughton and NetGalley for an ARC. The opinions are my own.

Loved this quirky and creepy book! Great cast of characters in this one. I loved the POVs as well. A cracker of a read and huge on the creep factor.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

I don’t know where to start with this review. To be honest I just want to say:

Don’t read anything about this story.

Avoid all spoilers.

Just start reading and don’t stop.

Thank me later.



I’m not sure that will be quite enough. Even if I add *****Five Stars***** you would probably want a bit more. Okay I will do what I can but seriously, avoid spoilers.

Grace McGill lives in Glasgow. She works for herself and offers a specialist cleaning service – she cleans houses which have been neglected for prolonged periods of time and need to made habitable for a new resident. Often the reason the houses need a particularly deep clean is because the prevoius resident of the house has died in the house and nobody has noticed for a lengthy period of time. The Undiscovered Deaths part of the title suddenly clicks with the reader.

Needless to say the content of this story can be and may be upsetting for some readers. I don’t often include warnings when putting together a review but this time I feel it important to highlight that C.S. Robertson does not shy away from the work Grace McGill undertakes and the steps she may need to take to clean a home. It’s not detail which is included for shits and giggles, it forms an important part of understanding Grace and is dealt with factually and then the story proceeds.

Grace herself is a fascinating and unforgettable character. She lives alone (with a cat) and knows that people have trouble accepting what she does for a living. Even the cops who will contact her with new work can find her tricky to engage with. But Grace takes her work very seriously and wants to ensure she does right by the people she is cleaning up behind. She gets a quite unique insight into their lives and she is always respectful to their memory.

But Grace is now facing a strange dilemma. She has noticed something in one of the houses she is cleaning which does not seem to belong there. It is similar to an item she found at a previous house-clean. Curiosity leads Grace to a funeral and in turn she heads out of Glasgow to the Isle of Bute. Many years ago the island made the news and Grace has to consider the possibility a long-forgotten story may have a resolution in an untidy Glasgow flat.

I can’t say much more and I don’t want to say much more about the story. I DO want to say more about the writing which I found to be gobsmackingly good. C.S. Robertson tells a compassionate, haunting and unforgettable story and I loved reading about Grace. She dominates the story and shows a savvy inner strength when facing very challenging circumstances.

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is out in January – I cannot wait for everyone to read this too.

OMG WHAT A READ!!!
For a start the blurb actually lived upto the book. Grace is a wonderful but flawed character with a job that would leave most people cold. Grace is a death cleaner. She cleans up the home after someone has passed away. The story is not for the squeamish and is quite dark in places. As far as Grace is concerned it is just a job until she clears the home of an old man and decides to investigate how this man passed away. This is a masterpiece of story telling, emotional, shocking and full of surprises and little gems. This book will stay with me long after I have turned the last page. Fantastic and a very happy reader.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Really good book different from what I've read lately,dark and weird and very original.
Gripping and fast paced.
If you like something a bit out there then this book will be for you.
Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. This book wasn’t for me to be honest. It just seemed to drag on a bit. I didn’t know what to expect from it. I’ve cleaned up after a death of a man who was dead 2 weeks before been found, it’s not the job I’d like on the long term. The worst part is the smell it lingers on everything for a long time even after the cleaning process. The storyline was good but just not for me.

Loved, loved, loved this book!! The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is such a breath of fresh air. Told from Grace’s perspective and the work she does for those people who lay for months undiscovered. There is a dark twist which seems perfectly plausible to Grace. One boom you can devour in the day.

I absolutely loved this book - I didn’t see where it was going and it took me completely by surprise!

Gripping, dark and creepy, I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a slightly different type of thriller.

What a very unusual book. More importantly, what a very unusual, fascinating book; and Grace certainly had a very unusual job. Unusual is a funny word – it can be good unusual, or weird unusual. In this instance it is both.

Grace is a cleaner – she is employed to go into homes where somebody had died and remained undiscovered for weeks and she is employed to sanitise the house and remove all harmful toxins, or what have you.

Incidentally, I spent quite a lot of time dwelling on the amount of research the author had to undertake to learn a) how they go about cleaning up and b) all the science about decomposition. Then I got to pondering ‘why’ would you think of researching that, then I got to thinking ‘ what a surprising subject to come up with as a plot.

Then I just got onto reading and enjoying the book. It took very surprising turns. Now what is weird is that I really liked Grace. Wouldn’t want her as my BFF but …

Thank you to the author publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Grace McGill is a death cleaner who deep cleans the property once the body has been removed having been left for some weeks. Although she appears a loner as the story unfolds it takes an unexpected turn showing her true seedy and dark personality which was disturbing to appreciate. I found it an usual plot and gripping. Thanks for an ARC. I look forward to more from this author.

Given the choice, you wouldn’t swap lives with Grace McGill. She’s a trauma cleaner - cleaning up wheb someone dies and is left undiscovered for months after their death. This, whilst trying to handle her past and the emotionally abusive father who expects to be waited on hand and foot. But one day during a cleaning job she stumbles across something which sets Grace off on a path for answers.

Wow this book blew me away! Grace McGill is a such a gift of a character. I could not get enough of her captivating narrative, enriched with dark gallows humour. The plot drew me in straight away with its grisly details and then kept me turning the page as quickly as I could with the mystery of past events and the shocking revelations that come think and fast. And that ending! It’s the most apt, haunting ending I have read all year. Grace McGill will stay with me for a long, long time.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. It starts off great, introducing us to Grace McGill, a 35 year old whose profession is to clean properties where the dead have remained undiscovered for weeks, sometimes months.

Told from her perspective, she’s a socially impotent person, full of anxiety when interacting with people. She prefers to try and honour these deceased people who she has to clean up after. Mostly elderly and alone, no one cared enough to even miss them when they were gone.

Grace as a character is awkward, withdrawn and slightly “off” at this stage. It’s a fascinating set up and it had me intrigued.

As the book progresses though and Grace starts her “investigation” and we slowly realize she is an unreliable narrator, it loses what impact it had at the start as it turns into a convoluted and slightly predictable legacy murder case. The reveals and twists aren’t surprising in the least and the character of Grace varies wildly depending what part of the book you are reading.

It’s a decent read, just about. The first few chapters are where the book shines but for me it went south after that and ended up in utter mediocrity. It’s more the disappointment as those first few chapters are so interesting and promised what might have been.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

This is a dark and haunting book. Grace is not a likeable character and becomes less likeable as you read.

The story is compelling in a grim, dark way. Grace’s job is grim enough, cleaning up after lonely people have died and not been discovered for weeks or even months on end.

As you read you learn more about why Grace does the job she does, but you also discover that her job is not the darkest part of her.

A cross between CSI and Greg Davis's The Cleaner.
Actually I really enjoyed this book and thought it was well executed, The characters were well developed and the plot intriguing. Some reviewers have said this book is slow going but I completely disagree. Just because 10 people don't die on the first page doesn't make it slow. The plot reaches out and grabs you, tentacle by tentacle until all eight are holding you prisoner. You just can't let go of the book until you've finished. Everyone seems to want to label Grace as autistic but I don't believe she is. She is, definitely one hugely fascinating character. I really enjoyed the way the story progressed and we became more attune to what makes up Grace as a person. The fact that a large part of it is set "doon the watter" on the Isle of Bute a place I know extremely well made it for me.. The atmosphere created was so full on I was back there in an instant, walking the same streets. Wemyss is pronounced Weemz for the uninitiated. I liked Grace. Yes, she is an enigma and complicated but despite everything I found myself liking her very much. The ending I was unsure about but after thinking about it, I do think it was the right thing to do, the right way to end the book. A very good read

Grace McGill has a job that very few of us could do. She cleans the places where people have died, people who didn’t have anyone who cared enough to worry about them. She literally cleans where they were found, and takes each death to heart.

This is such a good book, told in the first person, which, for the tale it is, is ideal. I probably know more about the decomposition of a human body than I really wanted to know, but it certainly plays a large part of explaining Graces’ character and reasoning. How she explains, to herself and to the readers how she copes with the nature of the job. Very few of us could. I thought I knew where this book was going, then suddenly it went somewhere so unexpected, I really had to keep reading to see how it resolved itself. And again, the ending, so unexpected. Excellent read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Graces cleans homes for a living, well exhomes as the owners all have one thing in common their dead and lay undetected for some time, from weeks to months. It's a specialist job more than i ever realised!

There are similarities with a number of them, I simple daisy. Another of Grace's time consumption is making models of the scenes rooms she had cleaned just certain ones to keep their memory alive. The story takes a turn when Grace attends the funeral of one of the men whose body laid undetected for 5 months. She meets two of his friends and the adventure begins the search for truth.

This is a gritty thriller set in Glasgow and some hair raising twists that will match with stories of old from the old city. I feel this is more than worthy of 5 stars so sit back and enjoy I hope you do.

Grace McGill has a strange profession. Grace is a cleaner for places that someone has died and been undiscovered for some time. When cleaning an apartment she discovers a mystery from decades ago and sets out to solve it. I want to thank NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an early copy to review.

This is a very dark and controversial story, which needs someone who is into this kind of thing. Thankfully I like forensics, serial killers and the dark sides of humanity so this book was right up my alley.

If I have to compare it to something it would be the movie “Se7en”, in tone and subject matter. I saw this story in the same visual style as the film.

Grace is a very sad but memorable character, she cleans up after dead people. Because of her solitary lifestyle she gets obsessed with these people she works on and their stories lead her to a mystery. I think that’s all you need to know to get immersed in her life story.

It’s not a feel good book, it’s very real and extremely dark. I really liked it and would recommend it for people into thrillers and dark themes.

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill by C.S.Robertson is certainly different, it's also extremely good.

Grace is a death cleaner, when a body has been discovered in a property she goes in and deep cleans the premises after the cadaver has been removed. Author C.S. Robertson delights in detailing the smells,bugs,germs and toxic hazards left in such premises after human bodily fluids have seeped into the furnishings and decor of these places after a body has lain there,often for weeks or even months.

Grace is a strange character to say the least but she does empathise and respect her "clients", even though they're no longer alive. While cleaning one "client's" premises Grace finds tantalising clues about events he appears to have been involved in several decades earlier and decides to investigate.
Just when the reader thinks they know Grace and her quirks they discover a whole new side to her,a real curveball.
As Grace follows the trail of the age old mystery she discovers that there are those who want the past to stay in the past and she's in danger.

This is a quite amazing book,bordering on the dysfunctional Grace is not the most likeable character but you certainly won't forget her, aside from her soul-mate George no-one seems to understand her,including herself. Author Robertson skilfully takes us inside Grace's head,and trust me that's a very strange place to visit indeed.

Clever stuff,a fantastic read and a book that deserves massive success.