Didn't really live up to my expectations. Great premise but didn't really fulfil potential. I got quite confused with who was who in the book and things that happened appeared not to have several pages later. Sophie's "omigosh" all the time was incredibly annoying. I lost track of what was happening and had to reread bits,
The characters weren't very likeable.
2.5 stars

.This was an okay read, I did struggle with remembering who all the family members were . Some dialogue was funny, but I felt some may have been directed at a younger market? Many reviewers have really loved this, so I would recommend reading other reviews before making a decision on whether to read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read an early copy of this novel.

This book had me hooked from a few pages in, when a character is described as "not just a mum, but an M&S mum." From then on, it was a delight in so many ways.

On reading the synopsis for this book, I assumed I'd be getting into a Richard Osman-esque, Great British Murder Mystery tale - that assumption wasn't too far off, but this book is far better, in my opinion. All of the characters are wonderfully realised (even the ones who can walk through walls) and Alice Bell really masters the "show don't tell, but make it British colloquialism" tone of voice. Looking at you, pheasants, "like chicken, but if hens voted Tory." Claire runs herself ragged up and down the south coast of England looking for a posh murderer, and the cast of characters and ghosts she meets along the way are fabulous. We've all seen a depressed octopus at the aquarium and wished it well.

The murder mystery itself was plausible, and I thought I'd had it twigged quite early on. No spoilers, but I definitely did - but was thrown by a few red herrings along the way. I'd recommend this to anyone who self-identifies as a member of the Spice Girls Generation; you'll laugh out loud and hope for a sequel by the time you're halfway through.

Alice Bell writes an entertaining and fun cosy mystery set in the remote rural country house with many a ghost, The Cloisters, home of a nightmare dysfunctional wealthy Wellington-Forge family. 30 year old Claire Hendricks is a woman with few friends and prospects, struggling to make a living as a medium, aided by her once best friend from childhood, killed at 17 years old, now an unabashed, in your face, teen spirit guide called Sophie, who is with her night and day. When Claire is offered a birthday party entertainment gig for Nana at the home of an old university friend, Figgy, she is in no position to turn it down, travelling there by train. She meets the family, that include the parents, Hugh and Clementine. Used to being met by disbelief, Claire ends up running a seance the night before the actual party for the ghastly family members, who only come together when they absolutely have to.

The following morning there is the shocking news of a death, at first there are suspicions, it seems there appear to be good reasons for it to be viewed as a case of murder. However, given Claire's ability to see ghosts, it soon becomes clear it is a natural death, but she and Sophie learn of the lost traumatised spirit of the skeleton in the library, who it seems has been killed and it must have been by a member of the family! So begins a murder inquiry, although it is a little awkward, as Claire has no experience as a detective, she even finds herself being terrorised by a Clementine busy making chicken soup. Helped by Sophie, along with the keen young Alex, and his reluctant Uncle Basher (Sebastian), an ex-police detective, their first task is to identify the victim, and why anyone would want to kil them.

In the process of the investigation, numerous other family secrets are revealed, such as financial irregularities, sexuality and more, and Claire is not always great at intuiting what is in front of her, she ends up embarrassed when it comes to Basher. This was an okay read, but I did not really feel like I was the target audience for the novel, I felt it was more for a younger age group. Humour is a tricky thing that does not work for everyone, and here it often missed for me. Whilst this was an okayish read for me, I note there are many reviewers who have really loved this, so I would recommend reading other reviews before making a decision on whether to read this. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Grave Expectations is a thoroughly modern murder mystery.

We follow Claire, a 30 something psychic, who is providing entertainment for an old uni friends family party and her best friend Sophie tags along, but then Sophie is always tagging along because she’s been haunting Claire since her death when they were 17.

We are introduced to a great cast of characters, a grumpy ex-cop and his teenage nibling, a terrifying monk, a helpful, albeit slightly pervy ghostly gardener and some truly awful home counties toffs who all convene at Nana’s birthday party where Claire uncovers a murder… maybe? 

Without a body or a motive Claire and Sophie are determined to solve this murder.

It's a quirky and clever take on a classic whodunnit and a light cosy read that I am undoubtedly the target audience for.  Think Thursday Murder Club, sitcom Ghosts and some Reece Shearsmith-esque darkness with hilarious take downs of millennials which left me feeling personally victimised and searing insults that can only be delivered by a 17 year old.

I wanted to be Claire's mate, she is funny, flighty and a bit weird and as the story unfolds you discover more about her issues and her lifestyle which keep you firmly on her side and invested in her success. I hope that Bell continues Claire and Sophie’s story as I would love to hang out with them again.

Sophie and Claire are inseparable. Best friends since primary school they now share a tiny grotty flat and spend twenty four hours a day together. It's a little claustrophobic but it can't be helped - because Sophie died at seventeen, murdered after going missing. She can't remember how she died but it was clearly traumatic as she is now a ghost tethered to Claire. As a result Claire can now see and talk to ghosts which is why she has few friends, is distanced from her family and makes a meagre living as a medium.

Employed to provide entertainment for an old university friend's family weekend at her family's lavish estate, Claire and Sophie see a spirit in great distress. A murder has happened recently and the ghost can't be free until the body has found and so the duo turn their hand to detective work. First job, identify the victim. They are soon aided by ex detective and family black sheep Basher and teen Alex in their search for the truth.

I had mixed feelings about this book. Good points - it is a really well written book with a fabulous dark humour and original concept. The mutually co dependent link between Sophie and Claire as the latter ages and the former stays forever seventeen is poignant as well as often funny, and Sophie's trauma cleverly depicted. I wasn't so keen on the sidekicks. Alex is the kind of irritatingly overly mature teen only found in books and Basher needed to be a decade older than twenty eight to be believable. And even if their family is ghastly they both enter into cherchez le victim and murderer with a bit too much gusto considering it's their parents and siblings they suspect.

Grave Expectations was an intriguing book which on the whole I did enjoy. Recommended.

When medium Claire and her best friend (deceased), Sophie, arrive at the country home of Claire’s university friend Figgy to conduct a séance as a bit of weekend entertainment, they don’t expect to uncover a potential murder that took place the year before. However, when another ghost appears to them in much distress, they must work together to find out who the ghost is, what happened to them, and why.

To aid Claire and Sophie in the matter are Figgy’s younger brother, Basher, and their older sibling’s teenaged child, Alex, both of whom gradually lose their scepticism around Claire’s “gift” as they dig deeper into the mystery of what happened at the house the previous year.

This is a really fun twist on a traditional country manor whodunit. The characters are relatable in all being a bit useless, but pull together in a way that lets each of them shine in a different way. There is a lot of humour (and even more swearing!) throughout, and I enjoyed the plot overall.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and – the publisher for the arc to review.

This book was entertainment plus. It was so unique and I loved its style.

It was a laugh out load, fun, whodunnit murder mystery with a bunch of posh toffs and a train wreck of a rich family, with maybe just a hint of murder? Oh yeah, and lots of ghosts.

Claire and Sophie made for a great team and I loved the dynamic between them both. The writing style was fun and the whole plot set up was great. Alex & bash too added a great element to it. It was one of those books where you have to keep reading because you need to see it settled! I had no idea how things were going to end. And as I huge fan of the bbc ghosts tv series, it channeled elements of that along with a fantasy murder mystery element. It made for great reading.

It’s definitely ripe to be made into a series and I’d so follow up to see what ghostly adventures they’d get themselves into next time. The book flew by!

What a fun book .something different from the usual murder mysery story .Light and engaging with great characters ,if you like the TV Series Ghost you will love this book it is charming funny clever and a great read Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC .

Enjoyable but could have been solved almost immediately. It is a light hearted, slightly humourous tale of finding a murderer when you don't even know who's been murdered except for what their ghost has indicated. It would make a better TV programme as there are a lot of characters and a few ghosts.

I started this with high hopes as it was compared to the TV series Ghosts, which I loved for its humour and pathos. Unfortunately, this book did not compare well. I loved the idea of a young ghost haunting Claire, who was invited to stay at a grand house for her ability to see into the spirit world. The disastrous family dinner scene was wryly amusing but the story tailed off after that. Shame because the book had promise.

I thought this had a really great premise. The promise of hints of BBCs Ghosts had me sold. Whilst I think there is the workings of greatness in it..I don't think it was executed great. Why didn't they utilise the fact Claire can literally see and talk to ghosts? When you discover at the end that it could have easily been solved I just found myself thinking why?
I think it was a bit long and could have benefited from a further edit. I'd be interested to read another by the author as her ideas are great I just wasn't sold on this

I always say that I don't like ghost stories and yet the comedy series on BBC, Ghosts, is one of my favourite shows. So, when Grave Expectations popped up in my email and was compared to Ghosts, I had to request it.

Claire is thirtyish and makes her living as a medium. She is helped in this by Sophie, who is seventeen. Twist? Sophie is a ghost which gives Claire a bit of an advantage in the spirit world. She is asked by an old friend, Figgy, to provide the entertainment at a party at Figgy''s family pile. While there, Claire discovers that there is an unsettled ghost who may have been murdered. She sets out to investigate this with the help of Basher and Alex, both family members.

I found this to be a charming, entertaining read. Sophie is a great character and I imagine/hope we will be seeing more of her and Claire, Basher and Alex in further books. The author is very good with astute observations on modern life and pointed comments about the upper classes. I really enjoyed this book. Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was drawn into this book by its description, and whilst I did enjoy the first few chapters I personally started to loose interest as it went on. So unfortunately I had to DNF which I hate to do. No hate towards the actual book but it just personaly wasn't for me.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this arc.

I was hooked by the characters and story from the very first page. It starts with a family celebration at Halloween in a run down country mansion. The celebration is for Nana’s birthday with family members from four generations. To provide the entertainment a medium, Claire, is hired, accompanied by her spirit partner the ghost of a 17 year old girl. Within 24 hours Nana is dead and her ghost appears briefly and hints of a possible murder involving the family in the past. Claire, her ghostly companion, Nana’s great grandchild and a grandson take on the challenge of establishing who might have been murdered.

The dialogue is fast paced and engaging with a good balance of humour and suspense. The quirky relationships of the main characters and the unfolding mystery made this a hard book to put down

Grave expectations

This is a light-hearted contemporary comedy mystery. There is a twist from the star as Claire, the main character, is a medium who can actually see and talk with ghosts. And she has one ghost in particular, Sophie, who walks alongside her. Sophie had been her best friend at school and is stuck at being 17 whilst Claire is now 30.

Invited to earn money by appearing as an ‘act’ at a birthday party in a manor house, Claire thinks something bad has happened and she starts to investigate. And so does Sophie.

I quite enjoyed this as an easy read and would recommend it. I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers.

Ah, when one of your favourite writers from Rock Paper Shotgun plugs their first novel on the podcast I thought I’d check it out - and am I glad I did? Well, yeah! This was a fun mystery novel with a ghostly twist and some damn funny lines within as well. I often find it difficult to write interesting blurb about novels that hasn’t been said before so I’m not going to try. I suggest you pick this book up if you’re a fan of mysteries, ghostly goings on, cosy cottage-core, snarky one liners and cracking comeuppances. Fun times indeed.

Alice, thank you so much for such an entertaining book! It's a novel premise but with cosy mystery vibes. The characters were likeable and the storyline moved at a good pace. Some of the clues were a little easy to pick out, which meant I was silently shouting at Claire if she missed them. The atmos of the book made me think of channel 4 comedy, and loved the bits of slapstick comedy sprinkled in. I'd like to know more about what happened to Sophie if there is another book.

Like others, I was drawn to this book by the premise. However I really didn’t enjoy it. I found the whole book rather slow pace, couldn’t engage with the characters and found didn’t enjoy the writing style. Thank you to NetGalley, Atlantic Books and the author for the chance to review.

Claire sees ghosts. In particular,the ghost of her childhood friend Sophie, who died as a teenager and has been following her round ever since. When a ghost reveals to them both that a murder occurred a year ago and the murderer is still at large, they try to solve case - without even knowing who the victim is ...

This is a quick, fun, cozy mystery with a hint of the supernatural. I didn't really like Sophie or Basher, but Claire and Alex were brilliant characters and I loved their interactions!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review